Wednesday, August 20, 2025
www.thepapersonline.com
Serving Kosciusko County and parts of Elkhart, Marshall & Noble Counties Know Your Neighbor . . . . . 2†Good Neighbors . . . . . . . . 4 Entertainment . . . . . . . 6
Vol. 55, No. 8
Milford (574) 658-4111 ⢠Warsaw (574) 269-2932 ⢠Syracuse (574) 457-3666
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
NEW HELMET â Gerald OâShea tries on his new helmet to see how it fits. OâShea will be playing football for the first time.
RUN IT AGAIN â The Kosciusko Thunder football team practices in Etna Green and will begin its second season Saturday, Aug. 30.
Home-school football team giving area kids
A SHOT
Text and Photos By NATHAN PACE Staff Writer A downside for home-schooled students has traditionally been not being able to play a team sport, such as football . The Kosciusko Thunder Football team has been aiming to remedy this situation . âHonestly, most of these kids thought they would never get the opportunity to play football,â Coach Derek Hockemeyer said . âA lot of them had played pee weeage level but if you canât go to middle school, you canât get on a team . This has been an opportunity to have that bit of a dream that they werenât going to be able to exercise otherwise .â Hockemeyer is the coach of the Thunder and is beginning the second season of its existence . The Thunder currently is just a middle school age level but has hopes to expand into high school . Hockemeyer and parents of other homeschooled students discussed starting a home-schooled team early last year . âLast spring, one of the homeschool moms started talking, and we put together a community meeting,â Hockemeyer said . âI was the only guy at the meeting with
any coaching experience . It kind of fell to me to take the lead on coaching from there .â His wife, Beth, and daughter, Britney, help with the administration elements of the team . Hockemeyer also coaches his son, Brady, on the team Thanks to a $5,000 donation from a sponsor, the new football team was able to get off the ground just in time to play the 2024 season . The Thunder had 14 players and played four games and one scrimmage in its season debut . The Thunder holds practices in Etna Green at the town park on High Street . For the upcoming 2025 season, the Thunder are now up to 19 players . One of those players is Gerald OâShea, Warsaw . âItâs full of very good boys that are a lot of fun to play with . Itâs my first year of football, so I just wanted to try it out,â OâShea said . OâShea said there are benefits to just interacting with his teammates . âPlaying with a team will help yourself . I am just excited to play my first game,â OâShea said . The Warsaw and Syracuse areas produced the most players for the team; however, the Kosciusko Thunder do have to travel a little
EQUIPMENT DAY â Jack Hurst, left, receives his pads for the new season from Beth Hockemeyer.
JET SWEEP â Levi Scholl takes the football on a rushing play during a practice session for the Kosciusko Thunder football team.
bit for games . The closest opponent is in Osceola . Two Fort Wayne programs are also on the schedule and new this year is a game against a team from Noblesville .
Sponsorships have helped cover the cost of the equipment and there is a $125 fee to join the team for the season . Hockemeyer has said the team will also give a donation to Etna Green for use
of the field . âSo far, weâve been very welcomed here at Etna Green and able to make it a permanent home,â Hockemeyer said . Continued on page 2