In the pre­sea­son lead­ing up to the new foot­ball sea­son, it was evi­dent that the team had trans­formed from the pre­vi­ous year’s per­for­mance. Notably, under the guid­ance of strength coach Galvin Drake, the play­ers had col­lec­tive­ly increased their strength by forty pounds. This new­found seri­ous­ness fol­lowed their loss in the cham­pi­onship, lead­ing them to approach their train­ing with greater matu­ri­ty and focus.

Cal­i­for­nia law dic­tat­ed the struc­ture of their prac­tice, espe­cial­ly with strict reg­u­la­tions regard­ing full-con­tact ses­sions due to increas­ing con­cus­sion con­cerns. Lim­it­ed to two full-con­tact prac­tices per week, the rules spec­i­fied that only appro­pri­ate equip­ment could be used dur­ing the con­di­tion­ing peri­od. The inten­tion behind these laws was clear: to ensure play­er safe­ty while pro­mot­ing the sport’s integri­ty.

As the team pre­pared for their first ses­sion wear­ing full pads, they elect­ed their cap­tains: Trevin, Jory, Felix, and Kaden. The play­ers par­tic­i­pat­ed in ener­getic drills led by Michael Mabashov, who instilled a hun­gry and aggres­sive spir­it, urg­ing them to “be hun­gry for it! Be angry!” Felix Gon­za­les stood out dur­ing a two-on-two drill for his impres­sive leap to evade a tack­le, inspir­ing excite­ment from his team­mates who cel­e­brat­ed his ath­leti­cism.

Along­side this com­pet­i­tive atmos­phere, senior play­er Andrei Voinea put in efforts to refine his skills as the back­up cen­ter. Despite not being a starter, his phys­i­cal pres­ence at six feet, four inch­es made him a key asset. Voinea’s back­ground includ­ed tran­si­tion­ing from a hear­ing school with no sports teams, which fueled his deter­mi­na­tion to excel with the Cubs. Not only was he a ded­i­cat­ed foot­ball play­er, but he also excelled as a video game pro­gram­mer and aspired to work for Dis­ney.

Nav­i­gat­ing his life as a deaf indi­vid­ual, Voinea faced chal­lenges in com­mu­ni­ca­tion, espe­cial­ly in school set­tings where inter­ac­tions were often fil­tered through inter­preters. At the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf, River­side (CSDR), he found cama­raderie and deep­er friend­ships, fuel­ing his pas­sion for foot­ball. Despite his tal­ent, coach­es encour­aged him to embrace a more aggres­sive dis­po­si­tion on the field.

As pre­sea­son wrapped up, Coach Kei­th Adams pre­pared his team for a chal­leng­ing open­er against Chad­wick School. He empha­sized the impor­tance of study­ing game film and main­tain­ing phys­i­cal aggres­sion. Strength coach Galvin Drake chal­lenged the play­ers to improve their eat­ing habits, while Mabashov praised their ded­i­ca­tion dur­ing the rig­or­ous drills. With the pre­sea­son con­clud­ed, the team looked ahead, eager for anoth­er shot at the cham­pi­onship .