The familiar sounds of whistles and grunting players returned to the fields across the area as fall sports practices took place.

For players and coaches it was a chance to reconnect after the summer hiatus and an opportunity to work on fundamentals.

“It’s good to see all the teams starting up,” said Albert Lea head football coach Clay Anderson. “The beginning of the fall season is kind of like the beginning of school. When everybody gets back in action it’s always an exciting time.”

Anderson and his Tigers squad worked on conditioning and going through the playbook to try to knock out the cobwebs.

“In football you start out real slow and you try to gradually work into everything,” Anderson said. “Sometimes you don’t know what you have more until the second week when you can see the pads on. We’re real excited. We had some wins last year and the kids kind of got a taste of that.”

Albert Lea had three wins on season last year and is trying to replace last year’s starting quarterback Logan Ferrie.

While Anderson has plenty of decisions to make about personnel over the next few weeks, Monday was all about the basics.

“We line up in the right position, get our numbering system down, talk about how to stand when you’re a center or a running back, how to receive the ball as a quarterback, take snaps, work on that, how to receive a football, how to take a handoff,” Anderson said. “All basics and fundamentals is really the gist for the first three days. It slowly builds every day.”

Alden-Conger and head coach Chad Mattson were holding an evening session Monday night after a morning practice and it felt good to be back for the Knights.

“It’s always fun to be out here,” Mattson said. “Summer kind of flew by and all of a sudden its here. You don’t know quite if you’re ready yet or not, but you might as well go with it.”

Alden-Conger worked on its conditioning during the morning practice and turned its focus to the football ins and outs during the evening, working on footwork and agility.

“Mornings are pretty intense for the kids, they get a little nervous then,” Mattson said. “Nights are pretty relaxed.”

The evening session certainly had a relaxed feel as the players joked around with each other before practice started, but quickly got serious once the sprints started.

The Knights lost in the section semifinals to Cleveland, giving them an overall record of 6-4. Alden-Conger also has to replace a starting quarterback.

“We lost some talent this year,” Mattson said. “We’ve got some good young guys coming back.”

So the process of finding the right combination, the right person for the position started Monday and will continue until the team gets into the regular season, which is just around the corner.