Coming together

 
Creating a team spirit here is totally different compared to Europe. The first thing you need to understand is that no player comes here to stay. Junior College is not far from the bottom of the leagues. Players who are here come mostly for the following reason : either they didn’t qualify, meaning they didn’t have the grades that would allow them to get into a big time college, they misbehaved and gave a reason for their previous school to kick them out of the football program or they didn’t got recruited and are trying to get media attention by performing in a low level league. The point is, most of them want to come and play and then move on to the next level. They come from all part of the states, some are local kids (MN, MT, SD, WI), some are kids coming all the way from the southern football states (FL, AL, CA, TX, MS, etc). In this atmosphere where very few people know each other and are competing for a starting spot (about 3 to 4 players per spot), it is hard to create a team atmosphere. Add on that, that most of those kids come from difficult situation to say the least, and you have ticking bomb on your hands. With that situation, team rules and code of conduct are enforced with punition, and the ultimate sanction : being cut from the football team. New problems occurs every day, from kids missing curfew, use of indelicate language (the N word), and any kind of misbehave in practice. Little by little, the weaker elements, as well as the most troublesome either fall in line or quit, or get cut. It’s about discipline, it’s about what’s best for the team above what’s best for each individual player. It is a painful process, but it ultimately achieve its purpose : create a brotherhood, a bond that will lead several dozens of individual to battle. Something that will drive them during 4 quarter, all season long, towards our goal :

getting to a bowl game.

Welcome to the grind

Well it’s been two weeks, but it already feels like it’s been a month. Goin to bed late after meetings and waking up early every day for practice is a grind, but none of my passion has left yet. I’m wondering if it’s not stronger. I actually start to like that flat piece of land and its redneck, truck driving, country listening, big government fearing but always extremely polite people.

The other side of coaching

One thing that i never imagined is the amount of paperwork required and the amount of work that the administrative side involves. We are not a Division 1 team which means, we have to do the dirty work ourselves. In order to be able to practice, the 110 kids that we got, all have to pass a physical test, have a valid proof of insurance, register for school and other various stuff. We spent the first days picking up kids in Fargo which is a 45 minute ride each way and give them and their parents a tour of the facilities, which, for a Junior College (Juco)
institution, are pretty good or so have i been told. 

Managing that many kids with only 6 or 7 coaches is a huge task that sucks most of our day time. Football, at first, was far from our minds as we had to get everything set up on the administrative side. We barely spoke 20 minutes about football ithe first 3 days. It didn’t impact my enthusiasm though, as i always liked that part of coaching, the human, organizational side. A football team, or as i prefer to say, even in Europe, a football program, is a human adventure, a project lead by several individuals to achieve goals on a short and a long term period.

Background check

It took a week for the background check that has to be run on any person working with students and kids to clear up. I can finally fully contribute to the football side of the organization. I am now finally having fun and doing what i love, which is coaching football. It’s hard, it’s overwhelming. The game is faster and stronger : there is only athletes on the field. But i’m learning, one day at a time. I’m enjoying every bit of that experience. i really feel like there is nothing else i’d rather do than this.

As we enter the week to prepare scrimmage against Valley City State, i’m looking forward to the challenge ahead. Brace yourselves gentleman, the storm is coming...

Hard Landing

About six month ago, i was sitting with Stan at Hooters after practice. That’s where this whole adventure started. When he told me that he was looking for an assistant coach for his offense at NDSCS, i jumped on the opportunity with enthusiasm. Coaching football is my passion, my dream and i want it to become my job as well. It was a bit complicated to sort things out with immigration and i decided to go without a visa, which would allow me to stay in the US for 90 consecutive days. After a roughly 16 hour trip that took me from Paris to Fargo, North Dakota, i finally arrived in Whapeton, a small american town in the middle of the midwest plains. After trying root beer and other local specialties, we went to bed to prepare for the next days as Stan once warned me, college ball is a GRIND!

I start this blog for my friends who wants some news as well as for the other coaches out there who want to know more about college ball in the states. I hope to be able to post updates as training camp unfolds and keep you guys informed.

Cheerio

Coach Hugo