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I'm not quite sure what drove me to become a pants kicker (coach). Perhaps it was the numerous hits to the head over the years; it definitely wasn't money because my bank account seems to have developed a large hole. For me, coaching high school football hasn't been all give though; I've received a mental and physical rejuvenation from the players, a kind of youthful osmosis.
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I remember the first time I became reacquainted with a football helmet after many years. I was the spring of 2005 and the Johoku football team was scrimmaging and I noticed an unattended helmet on the ground. Like a giant hermit crab, I walked over and tried it on; the familiar stench dictated I take it for a test drive. Immediately, knew what I had to do; I put myself into the scrimmage at receiver. A couple plays later, I caught a pass in the flats and took it to the house; damn near pulled a hamstring.
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Long ago, when my neighborhood friends and I first discovered organized football we thought we'd died and gone to heaven. Up to that point, we'd always played tackle football on a grass field without any equipment. My first year (1976) playing organized football, we always played games away because the park we practiced in lacked a regulation football field. We won one game that year against the San Pedro Dolphins, but we happily took our lumps; tellingly, all of us returned to play the following year.
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My teammates and I lived for gameday and we measured ourselves by what we accomplished on the field. Football was everything and we were drawn to it. Unbeknownst to my teammates and I, we didn't really need the game; we needed the kick in the pants (discipline) within the context of something that appealed to us. For my teammates and I, the coach, our opponents, and the game itself had combined into one dynamic curriculum.
.My teammates and I lived for gameday and we measured ourselves by what we accomplished on the field. Football was everything and we were drawn to it. Unbeknownst to my teammates and I, we didn't really need the game; we needed the kick in the pants (discipline) within the context of something that appealed to us. For my teammates and I, the coach, our opponents, and the game itself had combined into one dynamic curriculum.
Despite it's status as the holy grail of objectives, winning as a primary goal is just too narrow a focus. Character development, and discipline, on and off the field, is where it's at. You can plug any coach with a pulse into a fertile football program and get a favorable result on the field. Athletic adversity is an effective tool for teaching life's lessons, especially, when dealing with the young and impressionable boys. There will always be the few who, for whatever reason, didn't receive the proper dose of pants kicking (discipline), needed to excel, or abide by the established behavioral norms. Perhaps the player's parents, or guardians, are absent, ill-suited; or just plain busy. What better surrogate than a pants kicker with a whistle to step in. As far as winning is concerned, if everything is addressed in a balanced and thoughtful manner you'll get a good result, on and off field.
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