Go Friday Night

SMC BLOG 10

By
April 1, 2006

Hello everyone. I am back from Brownwood where I attended the HEART OF TEXAS COACHING CLINIC. I know everyone has lots of things going on now however on Friday there were 76 friendly folks that found their way to the clinic and there were 90 folks there today. Let me just say this, if you could have gone and didn’t, you most certainly should have. It was really, really good. The speakers were great. The meal that was provided on Friday night was wonderful. I have to stop right there for a moment.

Jerry Burkhart is the Head Coach at Richland Springs and of course it was that school that hosted the event. The rest of the story is that while Coach Burkhart did a truly outstanding job, his staff was responsible for many of the things that made this a great clinic. Folks that doesn’t scratch the surface of who all was involved in this huge undertaking. The coaches’ wives did more than double duty and the Richland Springs Booster Club really stole the show with the many man hours and woman hours that they put in. That fine meal I spoke of earlier was provided, cooked, and serve by the booster club. Son! You are talking about a well oiled machine! My personal thanks goes to Mr. Otto Sonneberg for his kindness and hospitality shown me. It isn’t fair to just single him out but he is the President of the Booster club.

Mitch Lee, HC at Knox City was the event’s first speaker. He spoke about the “J-Bird� offensive set and how moving just one player around in the formation makes the other team’s DC wished he had been a chicken farmer.

Shawn Rogers spoke on the Richland Springs Receivers. He talked about the importance of having heart, and using your head, hands, and legs to run routes and block and of course catching the ball.

Coach Robert Lee of Zephyr spoke on the use of the Spread offense and the type of players needed to make the formation effective. The Spread is what he likes to run but he sometimes doesn’t because of the personnel or lack thereof needed to make it work. A true statement he made was, “you can’t hide players in six-man�.

Coach Hoskins and his assistant Coach Abney spoke on transition from the eleven man game “up to� six-man and the Garden City passing game.

Coach Clawson delivered a very spirited speech on Six-Man Philosophy. A reoccurring point he made to those in attendance was “learn to think for yourself�.

Steve Keenum with Fellowship of Christian Athletes closed out the first day with a video and instructions on how to start up a FCA chapter at your school.

Day two began with a very heartfelt speech delivered by Coach Larry Uland about leading kids to Christ. Wins and Losses have some importance in the grand scheme of things I suppose but that is far overshadowed by the importance of realizing what an opportunity coaches have to be a “influencer� of the young people they come in contact with. He quoted a scripture, Mark 9:42, that I believe has a sobering thought for even the most hard-hearted of those in attendance. Go ahead. If you don’t remember what it says, look it up. A point that he made was, “the kids you work with don’t hear everything you say but they see everything you do�. Just another way of saying actions speak louder that words.

His team at Greenville Christian sets yearly themes and daily goals. Those daily goals are 1. Honor and please God. 2. Improve daily. 3. Win. The way they choose to measure their achievements are through Spiritual growth, stamina, speed, strength, and skills in that order. WOW!

Coach Uland was a tough act to follow but someone had to and that was Charles Tindol of Abilene Christian High School. He spoke on “Getting the Program Started�. He brings his boys together to start preparing for the new season by bringing them to campus for “gut week�. I don’t think that is a particularly fun time for the kids or the coaches but it certainly paid off for ACHS this last season as they won a State Championship.

Long time Coach Vance Jones of Aspermont was up next discussing his love for the “Veer� formation. He believes that formation allows his team to present a true triple option in six-man. Few can argue the success Coach Jones has had.

Coach Dewayne Lee of Strawn spoke about the Greyhound Off-Season. The Strawn teams, both boys and girls work very hard during off-season and their successes prove that it is worth every painful moment.

Brent Tyler of Turkey Valley and his Assistant talked about the defense the Patriots use. It is a 3-2 Defense. They have proven the success of that defense by making it to the State Championship the last two years in a row.

The last speaker was Coach Mike Reed of Rule speaking about the Spread Defense. Now days you had better be able to stop the Spread if you want to win games. Coach Reed had much to say and show about his topic and had many attending coaches asking questions about how they can successfully defend the Spread formation.

Coach Burkhart then brought things to a close thanking those in attendance along with the guest speakers and the sponsors and vendors. More on that later.

I made contact with many coaches attending the clinic. I know I missed some of you and I am truly sorry about that. There were several Christian schools attending some of which are just beginning their football programs.

Texas is a large state and several coaches attending drove long distances to come. Coaches are dedicated people and I thank God for them. Speaking of dedication, we had two coaches in attendance from West Monroe, Louisiana. Currently there are three teams playing there now and they cross over into Arkansas to play 4 squads that play there.

As promised in my last blog, today we will begin a listing of the teams of Division 1 and Division 2. The first group of teams we will list are those from Division 1 Region 1 and District 1.
There are 5 teams in this district. They are:

Ackerly Sands.
School Colors: Brown and White.
Mascot: Mustangs

Fort Davis.
School Colors: Green and Gold.
Mascot: Indians

Garden City.
School Colors: Red, Black, White.
Mascot: Bearkats

Lenorah Grady.
School Colors: Gold, Black, White.
Mascot: Wildcats

Rankin.
School Colors: Maroon & White.
Mascot: Red Devils

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