My Football Team

I have been so busy over the past 4 months, with good reason obviously, that I never really wrote about the boys I coached this year during the football season. The way it works is that seventh grade has three teams; two "A" teams and one "B" team. The B team is basically made up of kids that have little to no experience playing football or kids that are still developing physically. In Midland they basically call these kids the "scrub team." Additionally, the B team is the only seventh grade team with two coaches. Since this was my first year I was assigned the B team with a coach that knows nothing about football. The odds, needless to say, were against me.

We started the season 0-4, scoring only one touchdown during that span. It wasn't that my kids were bad or that the other teams were just that good; they just would not play as a team. After the fourth loss my quarterback came to me after and said that several kids on the team were blaming him for the team playing so poorly. This is were I grew up a bit and became the coach that I always knew I could be. After confronting my team, as well as the other two, it was amazing to see the difference in attitude on the team. They knew that I wasn't going to put up with their garbage. They either come together as a team or sink as individuals. Our fifth game of the year was an exciting one. After a scoreless first half our opponent scored to open the second. However, it should have been called back for a false start. The officials for Junior high are not the best. My boys got the ball back however and scored on a beautiful 60 yard run. However, unlike the other team my boys were flagged for a bogus penelty. That is when I lost it. I got into it with the official and was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. That put my kids in a hole, 4th and 30. So I called the same play and surprise it went for a first down. That drive ended in a touchdown and 2-point conversion. The game ended in our first win, mine best moment in coaching. My boys then won their final two games and ended the season 3-4, the most improved team in all of Midland. Proud of it - you bet; but even more proud of my boys.