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...