Football season has kicked off! Whatever those college stadiums setting new records for loud are up to, they got nothing on the high school stadiums around here. The action has started and Friday nights are the most alive of any time of the year.
Those young warriors on the teams, wearing the school colors proudly on their backs and the team logo on their helmets, are going at it with everything they have. All eyes are on the playing field as the teams use everything in their playbooks to get the win and bring home the glory.
But while the focus is on the players, there’s a lot of folks that are there in support to bring the whole thing up to “epic” on the experience meter. So while the kids on the field are doing their daring do, let’s sing some praises for those that make the game the experience it is.
Determining his legacy
Next to the players, it’s the head coach that has the eyes on him. The questions build up all week. How’s he going to handle this team? What is the strategy going to be?
And then during the game, each play is scrutinized and at times criticized, as to the effectiveness of the plan. Is the original plan working? What was said in the locker room during halftime to turn the tide and win the game? As surely as the soldiers who hit the beach at Normandy are remembered for their deeds on D-Day, so we look at Eisenhower and his generals for their planning and execution of the attack. So it is with the head coach. In high school, the players get four seasons of games to count up. For a coach, it’s sometimes decades of games as the wins and losses columns are compared side by side and used to calculate his legacy as a coach.
In addition to the head coach, there’s his crew of second-in-commands, his assistant coaches. They are there to support the head coach and in turn the team. They are specialists in their fields of offense and defense and backfield and any number of other skill sets that need to be taught to the young girdironers.
Their prep starts on the practice field early in the week, and in the planning in the office. Most are teachers at the high school they coach at, and from personal experience I’ll tell you there’s a difference in their teaching in the fall and in the spring. But whatever the calendar says, on some level they’re thinking football, either in the here and now or in the coming season, seeing a future winning season like some pigskin Nostradamus. Just like there has to be a team on the field, so there needs to be a team managing the game on the sidelines, that’s the head coach and his assistants.
The legendary waterboy
To take it back to the kids, the sports teams have team managers made up of classmates who handle certain duties to support the teams. They help with the gear, travel and other jobs that let the team and coaches focus on the gameplay.
Along with the managers, there’s the legendary “waterboy.” No longer necessarily a “boy” and not necessarily water any more, the waterboy was perhaps the lowest support person on the team roster and yet, if it was a late summer day with a broiling sun beating down on the players as they were practicing their way for a chance at a championship or during a game where the opponent was every bit as tough as a hot summer sun, there was no one more appreciated on the team than the waterboy, bringing around a dipper of cold water that would hopefully revive and generate a second wind that could blow the opponents off the field once and for all.
The waterboys even have their own patron saint of sorts, Gunga Din. If you don’t know who that is go find the old poem by Rudyard Kipling and you’ll see how the guy, who during the easy times everyone takes for granted, can become the hero in the tough times.
The Complaint Department
If the waterboy is at one end of the team chain of command, the opposite end is the athletic director. That’s a frequently unseen and unappreciated position until the team starts losing. The AD has to make critical hire or fire choices that can be really hard, and it’s a position that can come to be the Complaint Department for a lackluster season. But when the machine they helped to build is running smoothly, he can enjoy the fruits of his success, frequently quietly by himself.
Lending strength
Moving away from the actual team and all its components, we come to an organization that is there to boost the team in ways that can’t always be measured. That would be the booster club. An amalgamation of family, friends and fans, the booster club does all kinds of support activities that boost the fortunes of the teams as well as the morale. Which is the most important of the two would be a call the players and coaches would have to make during any given season.
The booster club helps raise funds, operates snack bars or souvenir shops, travels along with the team, makes posters for the games, decorates the yards of the players, cheers them on in good times and bad, and lends strength as a support group. It’s an organization that is both highly visible and behind the scenes. It’s always good to have others singing your praises than to have to sing your own solo.
Its own season
On the playing field, the game doesn’t take up all the time available. There’s before the game, the breaks in the play, the halftime and the finish of the game. Taking a sometimes front and center position during these non-play times is the band. As a matter of fact, many folks in the stands are there to see the band with the game being the filler before and after the halftime show.
The band may be working on its own season, with marching band competitions in some far-off destination, where they may be the school representatives to bring home a trophy that year instead of the football team.
The band is there to play the national anthem, to play the school fight song, to line up on the field to form a pathway of cheers and music for the team to run onto the field through.
The band is going to be a great fan base for the team as well. They go to all the games and so keep up with the team’s progress. and some may even be dating some of the players on the field. There’s nothing like live music to get the heart beating as the action plays out on the field.
No goofing, please
Now for the men and women who are working as hard as anyone on the field, and yet it’s a situation where the pressure to not goof is immense: the referees. They are out there running around the whole game long, unable to switch out for a break while the offense and defense trade positions. They are in harm’s way without a helmet or pads.
The chain men on the side are watching the game not to just do their job, but to keep from getting clobbered should the play come their way. No one else is watching out for them, certainly not the players!
And heaven help the referee that has to make a tough call that could swing the game one way or the other. They are on the field and the folks in the stands frequently have a better bird’s-eye view. Is there anyone on the high school scene who gets as much vitriol thrown at them as a ref? But without their due diligence, well, there’s no such thing as an inter-school rivalry showdown that could be self-regulated.
The passion for the team
And to keep a commentary going on the scene below, there’s the press box up in the sky behind the crowd. There’s the announcer for the game with just enough chatter to keep the game going and the crowd informed as to what’s going on. Nearby are the radio announcers broadcasting across the airwaves to those who couldn’t attend. One announcer is the play-by-play and the other is a color commentator. and in some cases there are more. The one knows the players of both teams by jersey number and the other comments in ways the listener can get a picture of how the plays felt.
And now there are TV shows for high school games. These after-game shows have the coaches and commentators review the game and give an overall picture of what’s going on in the season. They run on local TV and they are definitely fans of the team and not some network star who cares more about themselves than either of the teams they are covering. With the locals, you get the passion for the team and not just the sport.
Next time you’re reading the sports page in the paper, while you’re getting the play-by-play and the standout players, don’t forget all the unsung folks that put their all into the Friday night fracas as much as any of the players. See you at the football field!
Mark Hannah, a Dalton native, works in video and film production.