Wow. Next Tuesday (May1st) life returns to normal for me. This is the day that we can officially begin to have football practice. We are pretty lucky here in Florida, for we are allowed to have spring football. Not every state allows it. Most of our kids participate in other sports during the off-season; however, we do have a few athletes who are strictly football players. These are the same kids who you will see in the weight room all year long. We really encourage our skill kids (RB's, WR's, QB's, DB's, etc...) to run track. At Sebastian River High School (SRHS) we have a GREAT track program and this is where a player really learns how to run. We have one of my young QB's running hurdles right now, and this kid is going to mess around and be one of the best hurdlers in the state someday. Truthfully, most of the elite skill kids in the state run track as well.
I have completely changed my mind about high school wrestling. I used to dislike when a player decided to wrestle (mostly because of cutting weight) but all that has changed. Wrestling is great for upper body strength and keeping a low center of gravity and balance. These kids understand leverage and thinking one step ahead. Besides, the wrestling head-coach is a former player, and he encourages his athletes to play football as well.
Here is something which may surprise you. I also like to have surfers on the team. You can thank my younger brother (Donnie) for that. These kids all have great upper body strength from paddling the board all day in the ocean. Also, their balance and body control is generally very good. HOWEVER, if the waves happen to be good, we may not see them until it flattens out a little LOL. Luckily, during the summer the ocean is generally flat and bad for surfing. Hurricanes create HUGE waves which are great for surfing. You can guess the rest!
The kids at SRHS are student/athletes, not athletic/students. There is a difference. Our kids must maintain a 2.0 GPA to be eligible to play. No exceptions. If necessary, we will check grades every week if we have to. Football players have a giant target on their backs anyway, so we have to do things better and cleaner than everyone else. I seems like some people just LOVE to see football players get into trouble. If there is an issue in the classroom, we have ways of getting the student/athlete's attention. We have 4 of these giant tractor tires on the practice field. I bet these things weigh 300lbs a piece. We will make the player flip these tires (up and down the field) to "encourage" the player to do better. This motivation technique always seems to work. LOL.
At the high school level, at least we have some sort of control over the player. This has not always been the case for me. When I was a young-buck, I was coaching at the Jr high level down in the town just south of us.. I had a player who was arrested and charged with robbing a Pizza delivery driver. I appeared and spoke in court on behalf (of the character) of my player. Somehow, the judge decided to give this player in-house probation, and the only place he was allowed to go (outside the house) was to football practice and games. I guess the judge thought that football was the perfect way to keep this kid busy...... and it was. His probation officer used to come and remove the player's ankle monitor in order to practice and participate in games. This young man reveled in the heavy discipline I used to give unruly players. He did make it through the season without getting into more trouble (that I know of)
Believe it or not, I used to be pretty intense!! I was a cocky, intense,young football coach trying to win football games. I used to demand respect from my players. Unfortunately, the City knew this as well, so they used to bring me all of their troubled kids to be a part of my team. They knew I could control the troubled youths, and I never really had any issues. Now, dealing with the families of these troubled lids was a different story. Sometimes it was a free-for-all on the sidelines during games. Parents, aunts and uncles would be screaming on the sidelines and yelling and cursing at the referees. Unfortunately, the head coach was required to control his sideline. Like I said, I was pretty intense, so it made for some interesting afternoons. Hard lessons for a young ignorant coach.
One day I received a phone call from the Director of Recreation. She asked me if I would accompany them (the recreation department (RD) to the home of a new family in town. The RD wanted me to speak with the the boys about participating in the football league. We arrive at the home located not far from the high school. The father meets us at the front door and stuck out his giant hand to shake mine. He spoke no English at all. He was a French Canadian lumberjack/carpenter from Canada and he was only fluent in French. He had two rough looking boys about a year apart in age. Each boy had scars all over their chest and back. I spoke to each boy about playing football and getting to know the kids in this area. I guess I did a good job, because when finally asked if they wanted to play football, each boy said YES.......IF they could play on my team! OH CRAP, I thought. I did not want to deal with this stuff! Too late. It was a done deal.
Both boys showed up for the next practice. They were rough, rough, rough. I later found out that while in Canada, their mother took a knife and tried to kill the boys by stabbing each boy repeatedly; thus, this explained the scars all over their torso. Somehow the boys got involved in Golden Gloves Boxing, and each brother would fight on a dime. They were just mean and nasty, and I loved them. One time the younger of the two brothers came running (out of the game) toward the sidelines. I asked what was wrong? His mouth was all bloody. He came to me and said: "Tooth knocked out!" He spat the tooth on the sideline, rinsed out his mouth and went right back into the game. His father just shrugged his shoulders....unreal! The boys were finally able to put their misguided aggression toward something positive.
The father was living with his girlfriend while raising his boys down here in Florida. Both boys made it through most of the season. One day, they just missed practice....very unusual for them. So, I called the house. The Grandmother answers the phone and says: " Laura ( the girlfriend-made up name) killed the baby and they all left!" I have no idea what happened on that day, true or not, but I do know that each brother ended up in prison. I bet they are still fighting to this day.....if they are still on this earth.
Later.
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