Teaching Kids How to Achieve Success in Football

From August to November 2017, I was an assistant coach for the Conestoga Valley football D team. As you may already know, the D team is the youngest team for any midgets football program, so we had our work cut out for us. For the majority of the kids, this was the first time they had ever participated in an organized sport. We started out slow, teaching them fundamentals such as working as a team and listening to the coach when they’re talking, as well as light conditioning to get them used to running. As the season progressed, we started teaching them basic plays, specific positions in offense and defense, and how to tackle and play properly. By the end of the season, we looked like a football team.

This experience was important to me because I’ve been wanting to coach football since as long as I can remember. This was a great introduction for me and I got to see the intricacies and challenges that a coach would face even at the lowest level of coaching. It showed me that coaching a team is not a “check in and check out” involvement. It’s an ongoing thing that you need to be invested in. I believe that we have taught the kids not only how to play safe and smart, but more importantly, what it takes to achieve success. Success is never handed to you on a silver platter, and the kids learned that soon after their first loss of the season. We taught them hard work and determination, and I truly believe they bought into that mentality, not just on the field, but off of it and in their daily lives as well.

My in-class learning helped prepare me for the stress and responsibility of coaching. Whenever I would start feeling overwhelmed, I could always fall back on what my academics have taught me, which is to stay calm even when it feels like there’s too much to do. There were times where I would remember my stress in class and relate it to coaching. In those moments, I did what I would do in school (take a deep breath, reinforce yourself with positive thinking, and carry on).

I learned a great deal about what it takes to be a football coach, including the importance of involvement, commitment, and time management. It takes a lot of patience, especially when coaching such a young team. It’s not as easy as saying, “Hey, run this play.” You have to connect with the players, understand what viewpoint they see the game from, and go from there. Even though it took a lot of my time and may have brought me a little closer to having gray hair early than I want, I consider coaching the midgets team a great learning experience and a tremendous honor.