Latest / Off the Bench - London / Off the Bench London - Episode 2

Transcript

Off the Bench London - Episode 2 · Off the Bench - London

0:39
who we are. Tyrone, who are you? Well, I'm Tyrone
0:45
Harris. I coach the South Junior Lions. My second
0:50
season in coaching, so I'm excited to get coaching,
0:54
get this season going. We're expecting a lot
0:57
from this team, a lot more than we had last year,
1:00
so it should be a fun season to go with. How'd
1:02
you guys do last year? We went 1 -4, and then
1:05
we lost in the playoffs in a very close game.
1:07
I mean, we lost two of our good... best players
1:09
in the playoff game. I think we could have won
1:12
that game, to be honest, but it was a close game.
1:14
We lost by two points in the end. That's fair.
1:17
We have a lot more talent this year, so we have
1:20
a better man organization, I believe. Talk about
1:23
organization. I believe our quarterback is more
1:27
in tune this year than we had last year. We have
1:30
a lot better talent around him, so it's going
1:33
to be a fun season. That's right. Junior football
1:36
is interesting though because you get a lot of
1:39
kids that have never touched a football before.
1:41
That's the best part too. You get these kids
1:44
that get to grade 9 and they've never played
1:45
football before. So it's almost like now you
1:48
get to find what you're good at. So we get to
1:51
put these kids in different spots and we get
1:53
to watch them grow and become, I mean... We had
1:56
a kid last year, never played football before.
1:58
This year, he's going to be our starting safety,
2:00
and I think he's going to do good things for
2:01
us. So, I mean, it's a great process watching
2:05
these kids grow into individuals, like grown
2:08
men, actually, right? They're basically growing
2:10
up into men. And a lot of them, you get that
2:14
first game, and you watch them get that first
2:16
hit, and that's when you really tell who are
2:18
going to be the men, who are going to be the
2:19
boys, and who are going to be able to play, right?
2:21
So, what? The one thing about juniors, it's hard
2:25
because juniors is a four -down game. So you
2:28
coach them for a four -down game. And then when
2:30
you get to seniors, it's a three -down game.
2:32
So it's almost like you teach them for a four
2:34
-down game just for them to go to a three -down
2:36
game. So that's a hard process to get by. But
2:41
all in together, it's fun. That's fair. That's
2:45
fair. So you were coaching the juniors, and you
2:50
were asking the question like their first hands.
2:52
do you find it actually is their first hands
2:54
like first time getting into football or is it
2:57
like a lot of them are coming up through the
2:59
junior program like junior must days and LMFAO
3:02
or not LMFAO but you know what I mean. You can
3:05
actually see the kids that have played before
3:08
and the kids that haven't played before and I'd
3:10
say it's about 60 to 40 percent now because there's
3:12
a lot more different programs throughout the
3:14
summers. I mean there's like three or four different
3:17
summer leagues for these kids plus Westerns.
3:21
has triple A, double A, and A. So there's so
3:25
many different opportunities for these kids to
3:26
actually play in the summer nowadays where there
3:29
wasn't back then. But then there's kids that
3:32
don't have that opportunity to play during the
3:33
summer. Once they get to high school, that's
3:35
when they can actually get the opportunity to
3:37
get out and play football. I mean, unfortunately,
3:39
I know I won't be able to afford to get these
3:41
kids into the program. Oh, sure. It's expensive,
3:43
right? Some of these teams out there, I mean,
3:47
you have to make the team. Actually, they're
3:49
cutting players. So we get these kids in high
3:51
school who have been cut from these teams, but
3:54
now we have to fill a spot on a high school team
3:56
because, I mean, it's hard to cut high school
3:59
kids when they come out. I mean, they're there
4:01
for the experience, so you kind of got to try
4:03
to get them to grow. But, I mean, at the same
4:05
time, we don't want to have a liability on the
4:07
field where someone can get hurt. So if you don't
4:10
know what you're doing and we put you out there,
4:11
you get hurt, that almost comes back on us. So
4:14
it's not a really good look. So you've got to
4:16
prepare them for that. So now we're talking about
4:18
the knowledge, kids coming into the game, first
4:21
time in high school, grade 9 and 10. Some obviously
4:24
have experience, some don't. So tackling is going
4:27
to be different. What, week two now or week three
4:32
now for juniors? Oh, no, juniors would have started
4:34
last week. So we had what was called a jamboree
4:37
last week. Jamboree, okay. So it's basically
4:40
where about six teams come together and you basically
4:42
get to play ten minutes on offense, ten minutes
4:44
on defense to kind of see what you got against
4:45
these other teams, right? So that was interesting
4:48
to see, and that's when you get these kids out
4:50
there and you get them, like, let's see if you
4:52
can actually hit. Let's see if you can take a
4:54
hit, right? Let's see if you can run a route.
4:57
So, I mean, it was interesting from last year's
5:00
Jamboree to this year's Jamboree. You can see
5:02
a big growth in some of these kids and where
5:04
the program's going to go. And I think I have
5:07
high hopes for this program this year. So I believe
5:10
we can get a couple wins this year. So it should
5:13
be good to go. I mean, I can't guarantee any
5:16
wins, but I feel we have the right athletes,
5:20
the right pieces, and we're going to put them
5:23
in the right spots. we can get we can get where
5:26
we're going i mean obviously you want the size
5:30
and where some of these some of these other high
5:32
schools have all the size that you get the park
5:35
sides and the mid mid midways where all the bigger
5:39
kids go so the country boys but they don't have
5:42
the athletes at the same time right so if you
5:44
can get a body on the outside to get them around
5:47
all these big guys i mean you can't chase them
5:49
down so that's where we have to be better So
5:52
we don't have the size, we have to use more athletic
5:55
skill, more athletic abilities to get to that
5:58
size. I mean, we'll be more of a speed team,
6:02
speed running team. Okay, running good? Yes.
6:05
So I played only one year of high school football.
6:11
And looking at me, I'm sure I was not as large
6:16
as I am now. Back then, I was probably like...
6:22
5 '3", maybe, and like 100 pounds. Right. And
6:28
that's the other interesting thing. When you
6:30
see some of these grade nines and they come out
6:32
and they're like so small. So it's like, where
6:36
are we going to put this guy? We can't put him
6:39
on the line. We played Saunders, and Saunders
6:43
has a nose tackle. He's about 6 '7", probably
6:45
almost 300 pounds. He's an absolute monster.
6:49
Where is your ID? He's like, I'm 14 years old.
6:52
And it's like, you can't be 14 years old. Did
6:53
he have a beard and all that? Like, he was a
6:56
full grown man. And I'm like, you grew up on
6:58
a farm. But our center is like, like you said,
7:02
6 '3", right? And it's like, so he's looking
7:04
up to this guy. And it's like, you've got to
7:07
try to like, you can't be scared at the same
7:10
time. And it's like, this guy's going to probably
7:12
run you over. Three hours of them just pushing
7:15
you into the dirt. Pushing you down into the
7:16
dirt. So I was never big. I always had to use
7:20
speed. So when I actually played, I played semi
7:23
-professional football in the American Football
7:25
League. So we go over to the States, and you
7:28
start playing some of these teams over in the
7:29
States, and you start seeing how big some of
7:31
these athletes actually are over there, and you
7:33
start taking some of these real hits. And it's
7:36
like, it's almost, do I want to do this? I remember
7:40
the one play, I was the gunner, and these legit
7:43
two guys picked me up and brought me to the sideline
7:45
and tackled me down. There's nothing you can
7:48
do about that when these guys are 6 '3 and I'm
7:49
only 5 '10. I can try, but you have to use your
7:53
speed, you have to use your agility, you have
7:54
to try to get around. Football is a physical
7:58
sport, and that's the thing you try to put into
8:00
these grade 9s as soon as you get out there.
8:02
It's physical. It's very physical. You have to
8:05
know the difference between being hurt and being
8:08
injured, right? You go out there and you get
8:11
hit, and it's like the one kid came back and
8:12
was like, my wrist hurts. Is it broken? Can you
8:15
still move? He's like, yeah. I'm like, okay,
8:17
you can go back out there. Also, you don't want
8:20
to put these kids in danger where they're going
8:22
to hurt themselves. They're so young, and the
8:24
last thing you want to do is see someone hurt
8:26
themselves for a career. I mean, that 13 -year
8:30
-old. It's just them. Because I know when I played,
8:33
obviously I didn't play a lot. I was a tiny person.
8:36
I'm sure you could have guessed it. I was cornered.
8:39
not a starting one. But it was the experience
8:44
of every day after school, going to football
8:48
practice, every single day, you get in the best
8:54
shape of your life, whether you want to or not.
8:57
And you build that resilience because you're
8:59
just like, I'm not going to quit. So that's the
9:03
thing, right? Especially when your friends do
9:05
it. We try to make it a brotherhood, right? You
9:09
guys are all one team. You guys are all brothers.
9:12
You try to tell them when you're outside of school,
9:15
hang out with each other, talk to each other,
9:16
get to know each other, especially as a quarterback
9:18
and a receiver. You guys want to be best friends
9:21
almost, right? As a secondary, you guys want
9:24
to be best friends. You guys want to talk. You
9:26
guys want to have great communication between
9:28
you guys so you guys can know what you're doing
9:31
out there. The thing for me, I went to CCH, and
9:35
I played defensive end. First few days of going
9:41
to high school, this coach comes up to me. He's
9:43
like, you're going to football practice tonight,
9:45
right? And me not knowing anything about football,
9:48
I'm just like, okay, whatever, sure. I'll come
9:51
right after. Show it up. I was a track athlete,
9:55
so even in elementary school, I was pretty quick.
9:58
So I guess the coaches gave it to my elementary
10:01
school track. scores that figure out which people
10:04
were coming to their school so they can poach
10:06
them for football. So I realized I was like a
10:10
skinny, I was really skinny at the time and I'm
10:13
really quick. So they put me on defensive end.
10:15
At the time, I didn't have hands. So they tried
10:19
to put me as receiver. I couldn't catch because
10:21
I didn't play high school or any other type of
10:23
football. So get into that. And then everyone
10:27
talks about the concept of, oh, the girls love
10:30
it when you play football and blah, blah. And
10:32
all your boys are starting to play football.
10:34
It's like a demotory. And then after that, grade
10:37
11, grade 12, you have your certain clique. Now
10:41
you're studying with your friends. We're on the
10:44
same football team. Whether you're studying for
10:45
school, whether you're studying for football,
10:47
you're hanging out, you're building a brotherhood
10:49
from that concept. I think that changed the way
10:53
I communicate when I play sports now. Just like
10:57
how I play sports, how I talk with friends and
10:59
so forth. The relationships that we've built
11:01
in football, the discipline and all that. I think
11:05
it was a huge factor and I think a lot of people
11:08
need to get back to football or in sports in
11:10
general. Yes. That's where I think people are
11:14
losing it. They're not getting out there being
11:16
active anymore. So many people are just sitting
11:18
around on laptops, iPads. I know I'm going to
11:25
ask you both. When you guys were growing up playing
11:28
sports, how involved were your parents? I don't
11:33
think they were as involved as parents are now.
11:36
I personally, my dad wasn't around as much. So
11:38
when I grew up, my mom was sending me off and
11:40
I was going. You usually knew your coach, but
11:45
that was about it. And then your parents would
11:47
come. I mean, nowadays it's like every kid on
11:51
the team almost has a parent who's almost somehow
11:54
involved with it. It's like the parents are their
11:56
agent now? Basically, it's almost like they're
11:58
agents. That was the thing. I didn't coach Western.
12:01
My brothers coached Western. But it's a lot of
12:03
politics, and it's almost like there's every
12:06
team. And every team has a couple players whose
12:10
dads are coaches on that team, right? Yeah. Which
12:13
is not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing. But
12:15
at the same time, it's like you almost got the
12:17
favoritism towards your boy, right? Yeah. And
12:20
you can't, per se, I mean, most coaches, their
12:23
kids might be the quarterback. Just because your
12:26
son's the quarterback doesn't mean he's the best
12:29
quarterback on the team if you put him in that
12:30
position. Talk about Deion Sanders. And that's
12:32
the thing. He has another kid. Now you get stuck
12:37
thinking you're that good, right? I mean, even
12:40
per se, Archie Manning right now, I mean, name
12:43
alone. People thought he was great. I mean, name
12:46
alone. I mean, he didn't go to a high school
12:49
over there. He didn't go to a high -ranked high
12:50
school. Just the prestige of the last name. The
12:53
last name. And the same with, I mean, Deion Sanders,
12:56
the son, the other son. Safety should have been
13:00
better. That was his dad's position. It's true.
13:03
He could be playing out there right now, actually.
13:06
It's true, if he didn't hit the guy in the nose.
13:11
It's tricking. Now I feel a lot more parents
13:15
are involved, and I like it better for the high
13:18
school concept where you can't have that many
13:20
parents involved. So per se, it's me and my older
13:24
brother that are coaching, where we have no involvement
13:26
with these kids at all. not one kid we're related
13:29
to so it's all we're just out here trying to
13:32
build these young men young young kids and men
13:35
right and it's there's no favoritism we're looking
13:39
for talent we're looking for the best players
13:41
but i feel a lot of parents per se we had a parent
13:44
last year who was calling plays for his son and
13:47
we can't we can't have that where I mean, if
13:50
you want to be involved, you can come try to
13:52
talk to the coaching staff and try to build that
13:54
connection with the coaching staff. Maybe we
13:56
can use you on the sideline. We can help out.
13:59
But, I mean, if you're on the sideline, you can't.
14:01
And I feel there's so many sideline coaches,
14:04
and you're on the sideline telling your kid what
14:07
to do on the field. So many outside voices. So
14:10
many outside voices. And now it's like, who am
14:12
I listening to? Am I listening to my dad or am
14:14
I listening to my coach, right? And obviously,
14:16
you've got to go home with your dad. It's true.
14:20
You've got to listen to your dad. Unless you're
14:22
going home. And it creates an uneven balance
14:25
because it's like, now if I don't listen to my
14:28
dad when I go home, my dad's going to be in my
14:30
ear constantly. Now I've got to drive home. This
14:32
whole car ride we're going to be driving home
14:33
and my dad's just going to be at me. And where
14:36
I feel parents should have an involvement to
14:39
a certain point where it's like you can't put
14:40
your kid down after that. Once the game's done,
14:43
when you're going home. I mean, you made a mistake,
14:45
yeah, okay, but you got to get past that. You
14:47
got to let that go. For the next day, when you
14:49
get back to football, and you got to let, I mean,
14:52
you can't, you're determining your kid. So when
14:56
you're out there on the field with your coaches,
14:58
your coaches are actually trying to build you,
15:00
and then your parents are out here, and then
15:03
you're putting you down at the same time. So
15:04
it's like, where's, like, you know, you got to.
15:08
Some parents don't understand the importance
15:10
of having. multiple mentors for people. If you're
15:16
only taught this one philosophy, that's all you're
15:19
taught, this might actually work better for you
15:23
because every kid's different. Every kid learns
15:26
different too. All these kids don't learn the
15:28
exact same. We have defensive coaches. I help
15:31
with the cornerbacks and then we have another
15:33
defensive coach. We show different techniques.
15:36
His techniques help some kids and my techniques
15:39
help other kids. There's some kids who are just
15:44
pure talented and they pick up techniques a lot
15:48
faster than other kids. And there's some kids
15:49
that just can't pick up the techniques and it's
15:52
unfortunate. And the kids are all new. It's better
15:55
to just teach them a bunch of different things
15:59
from different perspectives and see what sticks
16:01
best for them. See what they can pick up on.
16:04
Because sometimes you'll teach a kid something
16:06
and you're like, nah, this kid's not going to
16:08
learn it. And then someone else will say it.
16:10
the exact same words and they're like oh i get
16:12
it now and that's the other thing right one coach
16:15
says something to a kid and the kid can't get
16:17
it so you automatically okay well he's done right
16:20
where another coach might be able to actually
16:23
put into his head where you can be better at
16:27
that position like yeah how to run a better route
16:30
per se you know like how to get your hands up
16:32
and catch better balls on defense when you get
16:34
your head around how to get your hands up where
16:37
some coaches, they teach different DB tactics,
16:40
right? Some coaches know how to... It's another
16:44
thing. A lot of these parents never play football.
16:49
You sit on the couch and you can watch as much
16:51
football as you want to play, as you want to
16:53
watch. But when you get out there, it's a totally
16:54
different game than watching it, right? Well,
16:56
let's be honest. It could be like the dads and
16:58
moms or whatever that are trying to help their
17:00
kid are watching YouTube and getting only one
17:03
perspective while you have a coaching staff that
17:06
sees with multiple different eyes that could
17:09
be like, actually, your technique's off by this,
17:11
and this is the reason why. You're gravitating
17:13
to the left too much. You need to gravitate to
17:15
the right. That comes with coaching experience.
17:17
That comes with playing the sport. That comes
17:19
with not just having an ego. I'm not like, you
17:22
know, if I had a kid playing, I would want to
17:24
be a coach, but I can't pick favoritism. And
17:27
I think a lot of parents are now focusing on
17:29
the favoritism. You totally bench your kids.
17:31
You know I would. You know I would. They've got
17:34
to learn a hard lesson at the same time, right?
17:38
And it's hard when the parents get involved.
17:41
I mean, I know they want to be part of it. because
17:45
the kid's out there, but at the same time, you're
17:48
hurting your child by telling them to go against
17:53
your coach because at the end of the day, we're
17:55
putting your kid in. So if your kid's doing the
17:57
wrong thing because he's doing what you say,
17:59
we're taking him out of the game. So now he can't
18:02
grow at all because... But it also takes away
18:04
the one aspect of sports that a lot of parents
18:07
don't realize, and it's that maybe the reason
18:10
why your kid's not in is because it doesn't fit
18:13
with... their fit with the team winning your
18:16
kid may be great at one thing we may not need
18:19
that right now your your kid could run a streak
18:22
amazingly no other person can but the person
18:25
covering them can cover that very very well so
18:29
maybe our game plan is going to be focusing on
18:30
running the ball but you know that's between
18:33
the coaches seeing the the kids between the players
18:37
like you You watch film on the other team. I'm
18:41
not just watching film on the players that I
18:42
have. Because if we're just playing ghost, you
18:45
know, the streaks are always going to work. You
18:47
know, the slate's always going to work. The dig's
18:49
always going to work. And that's the other important
18:51
thing, too, is watching film on these other and
18:53
putting in the right players or the right aspects
18:56
at the right time. You know, you've got to find
18:58
the right personnel. So we have a couple kids
19:01
this year that can run, they can catch, but they
19:04
can't block. We're a running team, so it's like.
19:07
Now I put in the kid that can't. And so I had
19:09
the one kid come up to me and he goes, well,
19:11
I can catch better than he can. Yeah, but you
19:14
can't block better than he can, right? We're
19:16
a running team. I mean, if he can go out there,
19:18
he can run the same route as you, but he can't
19:20
catch the ball. But we're running the ball. And
19:23
if he can bring his man 10 yards downfield, but
19:25
you can't, that's what I'm looking for. So I'm
19:28
like, that's where you need to get better. I
19:30
feel like that's just when you talk to the kids
19:34
and like. Tell them how it is like that. Like,
19:37
you tell this kid, you're like, if you want to
19:39
play, you better learn to block. Because that's
19:42
what we need. So, that's what I, because I help
19:46
coach a receiver. So, when I said to the receivers,
19:48
I'm like, we're a running team, guys. Like, you
19:51
might get a couple balls thrown your way. You
19:53
might. But if we're running good, you're not
19:55
going to play bad, right? So, like, your school
19:56
is more focused on, like. A .J. Brown mentality,
20:00
you know, you may not get the ball, but what
20:02
do you do? When you do, you read a lot of books.
20:05
Read your books. Read your book subscription.
20:08
We do have certain routes. We do have certain
20:11
routes and certain plays where we're going to
20:12
be a high, where we will pass, and we've got
20:15
a couple guys that are going to be put in different
20:18
spots that we know can catch the ball. But, I
20:21
mean, for the main part, we're run downhill running.
20:26
We got a couple athletes this year that are going
20:28
to be great at that. Okay. I'll definitely catch
20:31
a few of your games this year. First game this
20:34
Friday, actually. This Friday? Yeah. Ooh. Again,
20:37
too. Medway. Ooh. Actually. That's out. That's
20:41
out. Okay. Okay. Sounds like a real fun team
20:44
to run against. It should be fun, and it's going
20:47
to be interesting because we can't get tape on
20:50
this team. There's, like, no real tape on this
20:53
team that people can get. So, I mean. How do
20:56
you get paid before the first game of junior
20:58
football? You can always, so per se, last year
21:01
we played Parkside. So we can watch Parkside's
21:04
tape and see kind of what they did last year.
21:07
I mean, unless they had a brand new coaching
21:08
staff, they're kind of going to be running the
21:10
same kind of aspects of plays, right? That's
21:14
the thing with the Jamboree, too. You get the
21:15
Jamboree, you get a couple teams that are out
21:17
there playing. You get to see what their tendencies
21:20
are. They may not show you everything, but you
21:22
notice it when the kids are really good at this
21:25
play and they're not good at this play. Yes.
21:27
So, I mean, per se, we were out there. I want
21:30
to say it was Lucas. They have this running back,
21:32
and he's probably 6 '3". What? He looks like
21:36
he's going to be a freak of nature. So I said
21:38
to my DBs, I'm like, when he's coming at you,
21:40
you better hit his dot. Because if you hit anywhere
21:44
but his thigh, he's going to run you over. You
21:46
have to stop his movement. So we had the one
21:49
cornerback, he ran at him, and he hit him high
21:51
and flew right off him. The guy kept running.
21:54
But those are the things you've got to look at.
21:59
Because as a smaller football player yourself,
22:03
you can teach these kids those little tactics.
22:09
they may not think about it. They'll be like,
22:10
oh yeah, I'll just be strong. I'll take him head
22:13
on. You're never going to have it. We have a
22:16
lot of kids on this team that they think they're
22:19
strong enough to just run and pop the player
22:21
up. You still have to wrap that guy up. So even
22:25
if you run and you hit him hard enough, if you
22:27
don't wrap him up, you're going to hit him back.
22:29
He's going to go back a couple yards and he's
22:31
going to keep going. And now you're laying down.
22:34
And he's running past you because you didn't
22:36
wrap him up and bring him down with you. Last
22:40
year, our head coach wasn't very physical, so
22:45
we didn't teach a lot of tackling. So our first
22:48
game of the season was against CCH. So we started
22:52
with the ball, we went three and out, we punted
22:55
on the ball, punt return for a touchdown. We
22:59
got the ball back. Three and out, we punted on
23:01
the ball, they returned it for a touchdown. We
23:03
got the ball back, three and out, it's like,
23:04
we're not punting it. Just go for it, right?
23:07
Just go for it. At this point, we might as well
23:10
just go for it because we're just going to punt
23:11
it to them and no one can tackle on their team.
23:14
We'll talk about CCH. The way they were teaching
23:18
defense is if you wrap someone up, make sure
23:21
you wrap up and wait for your brotherhood to
23:23
come and finish the job. If you can't do it yourself,
23:27
your team is about to... be there in a second.
23:29
Your job is to hold them down. And that's what
23:31
I'm trying to teach you guys this show. Just
23:34
get a hold of them, and then one of your guys
23:36
are going to come in and help you. You see it
23:38
all the time in the NFL. Look at tackling Derrick
23:41
Henry. Only Cooper DeGene tackled him by himself.
23:46
But everyone else, it's a game tackle. Someone's
23:49
got to get low on him, and then someone can hit
23:51
him high. So you've got to stop his legs from
23:53
moving. Or you're not going to stop him from
23:56
running. It's interesting. I wouldn't want to
23:59
get in front of that guy personally. I was a
24:01
DB. If I saw that guy coming downhill at me,
24:03
it wouldn't be a good sight. I think it's funny
24:06
that you mentioned not wanting to punt, though,
24:07
because there was that coach in the States that
24:11
just, we don't punt, ever. Because the math,
24:15
you're just like, nah, it's better if we just
24:16
don't. You've got to look at it, too. If you
24:21
have a... good enough punter where you know you're
24:23
going to get some distance on it. Yeah. But I
24:26
mean, if you guys can't tackle, you guys can't
24:28
tackle. So it was quite embarrassing last year
24:31
watching the guy catch the ball and he just basically
24:33
ran past everybody and people were just like,
24:36
I'll touch you, right? You get a hand on him,
24:39
you can't touch him. As he's running past, you're
24:43
going to smack his stomach. Especially when they're
24:45
running full speed, you're just trying to arm
24:48
tackle. What are you going to do? Nothing, right?
24:51
He's going to run right through. The guy last
24:53
year, the guy that had two punt returns, he was
24:55
probably one of the best players in the whole
24:57
junior football league. It's bad enough that
25:02
we punted to him two times to start. He had three
25:05
touchdowns on us. Our defense played pretty good
25:08
last year, but our offense couldn't really get
25:10
going. How many people didn't graduate to the
25:15
senior program? So we actually had quite a few
25:18
guys come back. We were kind of disappointed
25:20
because, and it's another politic thing. So I
25:24
want to say we had about, of the guys now, we
25:28
had about 17 returning players or so. 17 to 20
25:32
returning players. Good foundation. It's a great
25:34
foundation to work on. But the one guy we had,
25:37
he was probably their best lineman. The seniors
25:40
took him. He's in grade 10 this year with the
25:43
seniors took him to play on their team. He's
25:45
a decent player. Big enough to play senior. Big
25:49
enough to play senior. But last year we had a
25:50
play for him where he actually, it was in the
25:53
playoff game where he stood up as a quarterback
25:56
and we had him on the ball and he ran down the
25:57
middle. And he actually ran for a 23 -yard touchdown.
26:00
So he's a great athlete, but at the same time,
26:03
it's like... That's probably the highlight of
26:05
his life. You've got to let this player grow.
26:07
I mean, I know the seniors need alignment, and
26:11
I said to him, I'm like, if you think you can
26:13
play seniors and you want to play seniors, then
26:15
go play seniors. We're not going to stop you,
26:18
obviously. We would love to have you on his junior
26:20
team, and you'd probably dominate everyone. But
26:23
I know his brother's in grade 13. It was his
26:29
brother's last year, so it's kind of like I get
26:30
to play high school football with my brother.
26:31
He gets to play his last year with his brother.
26:33
So, I mean, it's great for them, but, I mean,
26:36
we would love to have him. That would be amazing.
26:39
But, I mean, at the same time, it's like. But
26:43
he's also playing CFO rules at that level. At
26:47
that level. And then when the rest of his boys
26:49
come up to senior from grade 11, he's already
26:52
there. He's already there. Everyone's going to
26:55
look up to him. So, I mean. He's a great kid
26:57
too. It was unfortunate when the seniors came
27:02
and he's coming to our team and it's like, we
27:05
can't really do anything. Oh, because you're
27:07
a feeder to the seniors. Yeah, so we're a feeder
27:09
to the seniors. You give them the fundamentals
27:11
so that they can succeed in seniors. We actually
27:13
had this one kid come out this year. It's very
27:16
unfortunate because he was screwing around in
27:18
the hallway and thought he could suit that to
27:19
someone and tore a ligament in his knee, but
27:23
he was literally going to be that guy this year.
27:26
for us so we're like we're kind of at the same
27:30
time we're like we're okay because he hurt himself
27:32
this year so he can't really show what he has
27:34
so we'll be able to use him next year on the
27:37
team but i mean it's unfortunate for him because
27:43
he was gonna he was gonna be a monster he was
27:46
a different kind of athlete and it's just like
27:48
you don't find athletes like that he came he's
27:50
like oh i'm grade nine and he's like he told
27:53
me my brother he weighs 317 pounds he doesn't
27:56
he probably weighs a solid 270 but he's a big
27:59
boy and he's like he's like i want to play i
28:02
never played football before but i love aggression
28:04
we had him a couple practices and we had our
28:07
team running like our team his teammates are
28:10
running from him it's like don't run from him
28:12
we got to get them reps at the same time right
28:15
we want them to get action so he's pushing guys
28:18
like 24 20 yards downfield but it's like then
28:21
he goes just goes into the hallway and he's two
28:24
-placed and someone tears his ligaments right
28:26
so it's like how do you stop that you don't but
28:30
it's life experience because like overall he's
28:32
gonna look back on him but like i'm missing one
28:34
year of something i really love which i could
28:37
be very successful later on later on in life
28:39
right so and it's that's the other thing too
28:43
it's like so these kids are they're on the football
28:45
field and it's like obviously i mean We've all
28:48
been teenagers, so they're all out there and
28:50
they're all trying to they're all swearing at
28:52
that right It's like at the same time. It's like
28:56
this is still school All right, so we try to
28:59
try to teach them like this is still This is
29:02
still a school environment you guys can't be
29:04
out you guys This is the classroom. This is basically
29:07
the classroom. You're taking an extra class in
29:10
that class So you guys got to teach this like
29:13
It's a classroom environment. At the same time,
29:16
I mean, and I get it. Obviously, you want to
29:17
be aggressive. It's nice when you get a big hit.
29:20
Obviously, you want to get hyped up. I mean,
29:22
it's part of the game. But the hormones in some
29:28
of these teenagers, it's tricky. It's rampant
29:30
right now. It's tricky to work with. These hormones
29:33
are like, because you get these kids, and they're
29:36
super aggressive, right? At the same time, you're
29:40
like, don't be stupid. So aggressive because
29:43
we don't want it to hurt us. Put it in the right
29:45
direction. Absolutely. That's the thing. So this
29:48
kid, Damarion, he's like, I'm a monster. So he's
29:52
suplexing two kids inside the hallway is what
29:55
I heard he did. Picked up two kids, tried to
29:58
suplex them. But it's things like that that are
30:01
going to teach these kids the discipline that
30:04
they need. So it's going to teach the bigger,
30:09
more aggressive kids. disciplined and not to
30:13
be an idiot. And then it's going to teach the
30:16
smaller kids to have some resilience that they
30:20
can push through, that they can do anything regardless
30:22
of their size. Size doesn't matter. Well, that's
30:26
the thing. Football's a next man up kind of sport,
30:28
right? Detroit Lions. There's a lot of injuries.
30:33
Football's so physical, right? It's almost hard
30:38
to find. We need enough guys. You almost want
30:43
10 to 15 linemen alone. Because linemen seem
30:48
to go down a lot. Don't get me wrong, it would
30:51
be hard to be a lineman. You're out there, you're
30:53
getting pushed on, you're pushing on. It's tiring
30:56
every play, especially when you're running the
30:58
ball. Try to find between aggression and size.
31:04
We have a couple guys that are smaller. You can't
31:06
give it all every single play. Every time, right?
31:09
You want to know the difference between this
31:12
is going to be a run play and this is going to
31:13
be a pass play. You want to use your aggression
31:15
more on the run play rather than the pass play.
31:18
You want to try to give your quarterback time.
31:21
Our thing with our quarterback, we want to try
31:23
to have him roll outside the pocket. It's almost
31:25
like give him enough time to just get outside
31:27
the pocket. Right? Either way. Yeah, just beat
31:29
an edge. Just let him get outside that pocket,
31:33
and then your guy's inside, and he's chasing
31:34
him. We have routes set up quick enough, quick
31:38
outs, right? So when the quarterback gets out,
31:41
he can get the ball away quickly. We don't want
31:43
a quarterback holding the ball forever, obviously.
31:46
Finding a line is hard, and obviously, like,
31:49
we're going to be playing teams that got big
31:52
guys. I mean, most of the teams we play, like...
31:56
Parkside and they're like part farm kids Lucas.
31:59
I mean they got all the big kids they got like
32:03
I Know they got 15 linemen where we probably
32:06
only got like six seven solid linemen Well, it
32:09
all just depends like who you got going to the
32:12
school. You're like Yeah, you never know And
32:15
every year is gonna be different That's the thing
32:18
every year will be different and per se I thought
32:21
we had this one kid coming back to play for us
32:24
And he transferred and he went to Catholic Central.
32:26
And now he has friends that still go to South,
32:28
and his friends at South told me he went to Catholic
32:31
Central thinking he was going to be a starting
32:32
receiver. It's not how it works down there. No,
32:35
and now he's third string, right? I know someone,
32:39
like one of my friends coach at Catholic Central,
32:42
so I kind of know how their program works. They're
32:44
like, once school ends in June, training camp
32:48
starts for Catholic Central. Yes, it does. Right
32:52
that they can't know what does it they can't
32:54
call it. They can't call it that But they basically
32:58
have kids come out As school ends they are ready
33:03
for their next team. They basically have their
33:05
next team already planned out There's there's
33:09
programs out there outside of the school program
33:12
that you know Like I don't know now, but I know
33:16
back then it's like, you know, if you coaches
33:18
may have a program going on It's probably your
33:21
best interest to take a class or two, get your
33:24
hands, get your mental, keep it going. Because
33:27
you can talk about this. If your kid is playing
33:31
football, are they playing basketball or doing
33:33
track or doing wrestling? Or are kids nowadays
33:37
just focusing on playing one sport and one sport
33:39
only? So we do have a couple of dual athlete
33:42
kids on our team. Only dual, not tri. So the
33:45
one kid played baseball and football. The other
33:49
kid ran track and played football. So we don't
33:52
have, I mean, there wasn't a lot of basketball
33:54
players on our team. And I find, I mean, don't
33:58
get me wrong, I was always a basketball player,
33:59
but I find the basketball players are kind of,
34:01
like they don't, once they get on the, I don't
34:05
want to say soft, but once they get on the football
34:06
field, they don't want to get hit. Just like
34:09
the NBA right now, it's soft. No, they don't
34:11
want to get hit. So it's like you either find
34:14
that super athlete who's going to be able to
34:16
do it all, or you don't find that super athlete.
34:18
There's a couple kids, I mean, our one running
34:22
back, I think he came seventh in Austin last
34:26
year in the 100 -meter race. So he's really fast.
34:30
And the other kid was a superstar baseball player,
34:33
and he actually won athlete of the year last
34:35
year at the high school. So, I mean, there's
34:37
a couple kids that play the different sports,
34:39
but, I mean, for the most part, it's kind of
34:43
weird, too, how they have high school set up.
34:46
So volleyball is happening right now. Yes, same
34:48
thing as football. So volleyball and football
34:49
happen at the same time. But how they have it
34:51
set up, so if you go up to the volleyball team,
34:53
they do their cuts the same day football has
34:58
their last day of registration. So if you get
35:03
cut from the volleyball team, you can't play
35:06
sports, basically. Oh, you've got to pick. So
35:09
you've got to pick, and they make it harder.
35:13
So Friday is the cut day for volleyball. But
35:16
Friday is also the last day you can sign up for
35:19
football. So at the end of practice, they cut
35:22
these players from the volleyball team. And now
35:25
you don't have time to go run home and get signed
35:27
up. Now you can't do anything. I almost feel
35:31
they've got to make it a little longer process.
35:33
Per se, when I was in high school, grade 10,
35:36
I joined the football team in grade 10. It was
35:38
the second week of the season I ended up joining
35:41
the football team. They really need to make it
35:43
possible for kids to try out for all of these
35:46
sports. It's better if everyone has the opportunity
35:52
to try out for everything. The abundance of options.
35:55
You're like, okay, well, if all of the athletes
35:58
go to play volleyball, but only like 12 of them
36:01
make the team. 60 of them tried out. Now those
36:05
other 48 kids can't play basketball. 40 kids
36:09
that can't do anything. Now they're basically
36:11
just sitting around and can't do anything. Until
36:14
basketball season comes around. Or badminton
36:17
season. And now they have a new rule too, actually.
36:22
So they have a football league. I forget what
36:24
the football league is called, but the football
36:26
league is running. It's for juniors. It's a lower
36:29
level. It's for teens and stuff, but it's running
36:31
right now. If you play that football league,
36:34
you're not allowed to play high school football.
36:37
So it's kind of like, it's a double standard.
36:40
So if you sign your kid up to play extra football,
36:42
now they can't play on their high school football
36:44
team. So it's like taking away opportunities
36:48
for kids at the same time. I mean, if you sign
36:51
up for a high school football team, you shouldn't
36:52
really be doing anything else. And we try to
36:55
tell our kids that. Per se, the one receiver
36:58
we had, he came to practice and he was like,
37:01
I can't coach today. I can't play go today in
37:03
my hamstring. I'm like, what did you do in your
37:04
hamstring? He's like, I was playing basketball
37:05
on the weekend. I'm like, it's football season,
37:08
right? I mean, I get you have a weekend, but
37:11
it's football season, right? You got two months
37:13
of football season, two to three months of football
37:15
season. Make it football season, right? Don't
37:18
go out there and hurt yourself. Don't go wrestle
37:20
in the hallway. Don't go play basketball with
37:23
your friends on the weekend. I think that's not
37:24
coaching though. It's at the same time. That's
37:29
awkward. The other thing that makes it hard is
37:32
me and my brothers being outside the school,
37:36
we can't have any communication with these kids
37:38
outside the school. So once football practice
37:41
ends, we can't talk to these kids anymore. Yeah.
37:44
So we kind of, we have this. Yeah, so you don't
37:46
have them coming up to you in the hallway and
37:47
going. Right, we can't. And what can I do better?
37:49
What can I do? And that makes it a lot harder.
37:54
only having that bit of time with them. So we
37:56
tried to have this app set up where we could
37:59
try to use this app, and someone found out. And
38:01
I guess even Catholic Central had this app too,
38:04
and I guess everyone got in trouble for using
38:06
this app because it wasn't school designed. And
38:09
if you're not part of the school board, you're
38:11
not able to talk to the kids. It's kids, right?
38:14
Don't get me wrong, I 100 % agree. I totally
38:16
understand where it's coming from, but it makes
38:19
it hard for kids to talk to their coaches if
38:21
their coaches aren't. your teacher right where
38:25
I get you guys not being in the school you're
38:28
like you can't go scout like go scout the wrestling
38:31
team and be like oh that kid's that kid would
38:34
make be a good football player like you have
38:36
no connection to them so you have no idea you
38:38
just get what comes down the guy we have helping
38:41
is a history teacher so I mean like we don't
38:44
have the gym teacher right we need a gym teacher
38:47
where the gym teacher can like okay hey you should
38:50
go play football yeah When I was in high school,
38:53
my gym teacher was like, hey, you're fast, Tyrone.
38:56
You should go play football. In grade 9, I got
38:58
suspended a lot, so I couldn't play. In grade
38:59
10, he was like, you should play. So I went out
39:01
and I played. And I ended up finding out that
39:04
I actually loved the sport. So now it's fun.
39:08
Now I'm growing. I get to watch these other kids
39:10
grow. I get to help prepare them for the future.
39:15
It's fun. I like the junior level. I don't know
39:19
how much. I would like the senior level. I feel
39:23
a lot of, it's hard. I mean, you get these kids
39:26
that are in their own way. Yeah. Right. And as
39:29
a, as a junior coach, you get to teach a kid
39:31
into a way. Almost. Yeah. Junior is, it's almost
39:36
bigger for the coaching. Like coaching is harder
39:39
in junior because you're like, you're taking
39:41
people from not like you're taking a kid who
39:44
has never caught a football before in his life.
39:47
Plus. a kid beside him that has played junior
39:52
mustangs, whatever, forever. Forever. And you
39:57
have to make plays for both of them at the same
40:00
time. At the same time, right? And you've got
40:01
to try to... It's a fine line. It's a fine line.
40:05
And so, I don't know, when I grew up, there wasn't
40:09
that many opportunities to play outside, like
40:11
summer league. So now there's... There's so many
40:15
different summer leagues, so many different opportunities
40:17
for these kids. It's gotten a lot bigger. It's
40:19
gotten so much more bigger. And I feel it helps
40:23
build these kids more. So now you get a lot more
40:26
football -ready kids. Yeah. Depending on what
40:29
school you coach at, too. I mean, obviously,
40:30
some of the kids get coached by their coach.
40:35
Realizing what schools they want to go to. So,
40:38
obviously, if you want to win, you're going to
40:39
go to a school that wins before. Yeah. Per se,
40:42
Catholic Central's juniors, I don't know the
40:46
approximate amount of years, but I believe it's
40:48
been six years the juniors haven't lost a game.
40:51
In five or six years, the junior program has
40:53
not lost one football game. Which is wild. They're
40:58
building a great program there. I want to be
41:02
part of building a great program, and it's hard
41:04
because obviously you get your studs on the junior
41:07
team that are studs. But you get these senior
41:10
coaches that are watching these studs be studs
41:13
on the junior team. And it's like, honestly,
41:16
some of these kids aren't going to be able to
41:17
go from a junior stud to a senior stud. You never
41:21
know how big kids grow. They leave for the summer.
41:24
You see them one year. The next year, you're
41:26
like, oh, damn, this kid's a head taller. So
41:30
it was actually, that's actually funny you mention
41:32
that because we actually had a couple of kids
41:34
that were grade nines last year that came back
41:35
and there was one kid I didn't even recognize.
41:37
He walked past me, I didn't even recognize him.
41:39
He was like, hey coach. And I looked at him and
41:41
I'm like, you grew like two feet. He's like,
41:43
literally went from this big to this big. And
41:45
I'm like, I can actually use you this year. You
41:47
tried hard. You tried so hard last year. I was
41:50
like, I wanted to use him, but I'm like, I can't
41:52
put him anywhere. Why don't I put this kid? and
41:54
this year he's like a whole head taller and i'm
41:56
like now i can actually use it but see that's
41:58
why it's so important like he built all that
42:00
resilience when he's when he was small and then
42:03
all of a sudden now he's like so he's large like
42:06
way bigger now and you're like oh okay this kid's
42:12
gonna be big but he's gonna play like a small
42:14
person planning a small person he still hasn't
42:16
muscleman has a small person before he's even
42:18
big yet so i get that every once in a while it's
42:21
just sad we still play soccer and i'll get people
42:25
like oh man you're way faster than i thought
42:27
you were like i i used to be a lot smaller right
42:30
i have that and i still have that quickness in
42:32
me my legs still moving the same you know just
42:34
add the cardio isn't there anymore but i can't
42:37
run as far as that's more the uh the alcohol
42:39
and the uh and the food that we've been eating
42:42
you know it works on you i'm so waiting for a
42:47
beer so it happens it happens But it's definitely
42:55
interesting. So, I mean. Well, I know you gotta
43:01
go. Yes. So, it's been an honor. Definitely been
43:05
a pleasure. Thank you for being one of our first
43:06
guests that actually showed up. Because we had
43:09
a guest last week, but unfortunately situations
43:10
happen. So, you're officially a first guest on
43:14
Off the Bench. So, thank you. Glad to be here.
43:17
It's been an honor. Definitely been an honor.
43:18
Yeah, thanks for coming. We'll get you on more
43:20
often. Yes. Go get a mid -season. Absolutely.
43:25
Get a little report. After we get a couple games
43:28
in, I'm hoping we get a couple wins in. So we
43:30
got Medway this week. It should be a good game.
43:32
It's at South. So, I mean, you always start with
43:36
that home game. We started with the home game
43:38
last year. Obviously, the home game last year
43:40
was against Catholic Central, and I told you
43:42
guys how that one turned out. We're hoping this
43:44
one turns out a lot better. It probably will.
43:47
We have some really talented kids this year.
43:51
The best part is I think three of the most talented
43:55
kids on our team are all grade 9. That's saying
43:58
a lot though. Our starting running back this
44:01
year was a grade 9, and I feel he has a chance
44:04
to grow into being a superstar athlete. How tall
44:08
is he? He's probably 5 '9". He's never played
44:12
football before, he said. Never played football
44:14
before. That's the best. We put him out there.
44:16
He's out there stiff -arming people, cutting.
44:20
He's like, so we put him in at the Jamboree,
44:23
we gave him the ball, and he legit ran for a
44:24
30 -yard touchdown. So it's like untouched. I
44:27
mean, so he's going to be fun. He's going to
44:30
be a fun kid to watch grow. I look forward to
44:32
seeing some highlights. I can't wait to get out
44:35
there and start actually playing. So, I mean,
44:37
it's going to be good. So this week we got Gary's
44:41
team, eh? Oh, yes, we do. But I won't be there.
44:44
No? I won't be there. So, unfortunately, I won't
44:49
be there. I'll be there. We've got to beat Gary's
44:52
team. Yeah. No robbery or anything, you know.
44:56
We'll see what happens. So, we'll look for, I
44:59
think, Martin's playing quarterback. Yeah. So,
45:01
I won't be there. But I've got a few things I've
45:04
got to take care of on Wednesday. Sounds good.
45:07
I appreciate you guys having me. Always an honor.
45:09
Thank you. Thanks for coming. And anytime, guys.
45:12
Perfect. I'm always down to talk football. That's
45:16
what we do. Football is my... Have a good show.
45:20
Thanks, guys. Cheers. Thank you for tuning in
45:25
to Off the Bench London. Please like and subscribe
45:28
and follow us on Instagram, Spotify, Apple Podcast,
45:32
and YouTube. Peace and love.