WHAT OFF SEASON?

The Mrs., our sons and Yours Truly

WHAT OFF SEASON?

Coaching is a year round job and if you want to run a competitive program, you better be prepared to work twice as hard as your players.   We push ourselves as hard as college coaches with the only difference being that we don’t get paid nearly what they do.    Heck, I am thrilled if I get reimbursed on gas money for taking a group of kids to a combine.

High School football coaches have seen their list of duties and the times needed to complete each one multiply in recent years.  Unofficially, we are equipment managers, recruiting coordinators, facility managers and strength and conditioning coaches.  Nobody said the job was going to be easy.  At least they didn’t say it to me.

I’m okay with all the responsibilities, if I wasn’t, I be playing in a softball league or sipping a cold Coors Lights during happy hour somewhere.  Not bad options either.    But I’m a coach.  And as a coach I have come to accept the fact that there is so much more to running a quality program then just what goes on after the coin flip.

The post season has gotten longer, with playoff growth in California (CIF) including more teams and extending the season.  Then there is the offseason, which has swelled to include seven-on-seven passing leagues and tournaments, individual combines to measure athletes’ strength and speed and the never ending process of college recruiting.

But for all this hard work stepping back on the field for the start of a new season always invigorates me and makes it all worthwhile. 

Vince Lombardi once said, “A man can be as great as he wants to be.  If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”

Giving up the little things and going for the big things in life is easy to say but many times hard to do but when I have an ex-player return to thank me for helping him get into college, I think that perhaps I’m getting paid too much to do this job I love.

Go Big!!!!

Dave Ricci