One of my favorite aspects of this job is standing on the sideline each Friday night as our four football teams take on the latest opponents. Not only is the view great, but the things you hear on the field are too. Some of the chatter is never heard in the stands.
Of course standing there is not without danger. Last year, at a Columbia High School game, a fight broke out pretty much clearing benches, and in all the madness someone took me out. To this day, I am unsure if a football player or a referee knocked me down in an effort to get to the fight. I was not injured, and immediately I was ready to laugh about it. However, if anyone has that person’s license plate…
That is not the point of the column, but it will be something I will probably laugh about for years to come.
The coaches on the sidelines are very focused on the game. Trust me when I say they, and I mean all of them, take the game very seriously. While pacing up and down the sidelines, indubitably the coaches always stop in front of me while standing there with my camera. I would say it is because I am short and they do not see me, but I think it is because they are so focused on the game, that they just don’t notice.
I have stood on the sidelines for several years, and this year I heard a few things that have really stood out.
We all hear the coaches yelling at the players, maybe even occasionally using a choice word or two. Football is a very emotional game for those who play, coach and watch it. It is very intense. It will make people say things they probably wouldn’t normally say.
At a recent West Marion game, the things I heard jumped out at me that I had to write them down. I do not remember the particulars, but I do remember what was said.
Coach Brad Duncan was speaking with one of his players, and the player was upset about something. Normally you hear screaming and yelling, yet in the middle of the game what I heard among all the other noise was “It’s okay son; that’s why you are here. You are here to learn.” The game was continuing, but I stopped in my tracks when I heard that. All those players and a game going on around them, and the coach was giving one of his players a pep talk like that. Way to go coach!
A little later in the same game another coach from West Marion whose name I cannot recall was talking to a football player. The player had been running with the ball along the sidelines before being tackled out of bounds. The coach told the player not to let himself be intentionally hit if he doesn’t have to because there was no need to risk getting hurt. I couldn’t help but think the coach was putting the health of the player first again. Way to go coach!
That same game I was walking to get to my spot for the next round of pictures, and I heard one player tell a teammate, “We’re not here to tear each other down but to build our character up.” Way to go football player!
West Marion is not the only ones who have offered praise to their players. At the Columbia High School game Friday night, coach Chip Bilderback praised the punter. The punt was a good long one that unfortunately went out of bounds. Bilderback was quick, though, to say to everyone around him how great the punt was and even told the punter how great the kick was if it would have gone just a little more to the right. Way to go coach!
Granted, both West Marion and Columbia High schools are having great years football wise while it has been more of a struggle for East Marion and Columbia Academy. However, I have been listening and watching those coaches too, and they really do root for the individual players as well as the team.
Being a coach is not an easy job, but for most coaches I’m sure it is well worth it. Because there is so much intensity and passion in the game, fans usually only catch the “What in the world were you doing?” being yelled out and things along that nature.
But me, on the sidelines, I’m hearing other things, and they are pretty great too.
Susan Amundson is managing editor of
The Columbian-Progress. She may be
reached at (601) 736-2611 or
samundson@columbianprogress.com.
