HOW BIG IS FOOTBALL IN YOU’RE COMMUNITY?

HOW BIG IS FOOTBALL IN YOU’RE COMMUNITY?

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

High school football in the fall really helps students re-acclimate themselves to the daily grind of the structured school year. Maybe parents don’t understand how returning to school affects their kids…..but the experience really does. There’s renewed peer pressure, having to reacquaint oneself with a wide range of behaviors, and personalities…..”Thank God I’m way past the experience.”

 

I write a sports column for two Northeastern Wisconsin newspapers, and although I’m 70 years old, I’ve been around young people for most all of my life. Kids today are more connected with the world in general, and what happens in the United States in particular. They have opinions, and like my generation, have an abiding dislike for authority figures, not the bearer of the authority…..but the restraints that authority brings.

 

I know for a fact that high school student athletes are bigger, stronger, faster and more aware than when I was participating in high school sports. The attitude, the atmosphere, and the coaching was completely different than it is in today’s high school sports world. I’ve roamed the sidelines in my job as a sports reporter and seen firsthand the differences in coaching philosophy.

 

I can’t count the number of times that my coaches grabbed me by my face mask and shook me because I’d made a mistake, missed a block, or tried to run through the wrong hole. Today’s coaches are pretty much hands off, and although I really don’t have an opinion on whether that is a good thing or not, it seems to be pretty much the norm.

 

The coaches still holler, boy do they holler, but I think that the players accept that easier than any kind of physical acts. Oh ya, one of my coaches used to use the top of my helmet like a butcher block, whacking me on the helmet to get my attention when, again, I’d made a mistake.

 

When I played we had rules just like they do today, some were basic, time tested that made sense then, and make sense today. Drinking of alcoholic beverages was verboten then, and of course it’s forbidden today. Today there’s the threat of recreational drugs, an issue that I can’t really relate to because all that was around in my day was marijuana, or reefer. Looking back I can’t remember a single person who fooled around with any kind of drug.

 

We had a curfew that we were supposed to observe, I think it was 10:00 P.M. on week-nights, and 11:00 P.M. on Fridays and Saturdays. If you were caught out after curfew, the penalty was extra laps at the next practice. Nobody got caught drinking, so I never knew what the penalty was for that. This is not to say that guys didn’t drink….they just didn’t get caught.

 

FOOTBALL TODAY IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Like I said, football players today are bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter, than at any time during the evolvement of the sport, and that’s at any level. Today strength training, diet, and individual training camps which detail specifics of the different aspects of the game…..kicking, receiving, running, and defensive techniques, all tend to add to a players performance.

 

In past years, maybe twenty or thirty years ago in Wisconsin, organized by coaching staffs, summer practice sessions were taboo. Today coaches not only may be present, but they organize these sessions, but there can be no contact activity involved. The weight room and study time for offensive and defensive playbooks is completely legal…..years ago it wasn’t.

 

Today there are six, eight, ten, and even twelve assistant coaches on a high school coaching staff, they’ve got head-sets, so that they can communicate with their coaches in the press box. They’ve got offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators that are in almost constant contact with their counterparts from the sidelines to the press box.

 

And the players are much more accessible to the press…..I know, my editor is bugging me about getting more player interviews. When I played, we were kind of sheltered, because let’s face it, sports reporters habitually ask some of the dumbest questions on the face of the earth.

 

Is football better for all of the changes that have come mostly through a natural process of evolution, well, yes and no. Playing high school sports in and of itself is a great experience, in fact one of the highlights of my life. Sure we wanted to win, but at least for me, there was a thrill in just playing…..I loved everything about the experience, even the head banging, and the mask jerking…..winning was just extra icing on the cake.

 

I think that maybe along the line, adult coaches have lost sight of that thrill factor, of the cheer-leaders on the sidelines doing their routines, of the Friday night crowds going nuts after a score. I know you can’t go back to yesteryear, and maybe with regards to high school football that is a sad thing.

 

RULES VIOLATIONS

In my hometown in Michigan, where high school football is king, public school administrators have sent a message loud and clear that infractions of the established rules that govern student athletes must be followed.

 

During the course of my responsibilities as a sports reporter, I ran into an issue with a player that got caught in a compromising photo, or video partaking in a bad act. He’s been suspended for two games, and is due to return this Friday. Absolutely nothing was reported in the newspaper, with the exception of my observance with regards to this player breaking team rules, he will remain anonymous.

 

I am in no way pointing this kid out, and will absolutely make no reference to his name, but my concern is should this player, a senior, and probably a team leader not be held to a higher account. Missing a couple of games is a penalty, but is it enough…..I’m not sure, maybe the severity of the penalty should be left up to the player, or his teammates.

 

I can say this with much veracity, high school people are prone to make mistakes, and pull bone headed decisions…..it’s why we call them kids. Really it’s their responsibility as kids to make silly and frivolous acts so that we, as adults can get angry at them. After all, none of us every made mistakes in our youth…..did we?

 

How important is football, really, have we made it a bigger event than is necessary, after all nobody gets paid. The coaches get a pro-rated pay, some do it for free, while several are parents of kids on the field.  

 

HAVE A NICE DAY.