05/11/2008
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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WEEK 1 CAPSULES
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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WEEK 1 CAPSULES
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Early in his ice hockey coaching career, Mike Grenier would get nervous. Not at practice, just before games. Grenier knew he could teach the game, he just wasn't sure if he could coach a game.
"The nerves came not so much on the ice, but on the bench," said Grenier, who has coached youth hockey for 11 years. "Knowing the lineup, knowing which kids want to play ... it's one thing running practice, it's another being on the bench."
Like Grenier, hundreds of people volunteer their time every year in central Maine, coaching youth sports. While many get into youth coaching to coach their children, some, like Bob Lippert of Augusta, stay involved long after their children have grown up.
Dick McGee helped found the PAL program in Fairfield more than 50 years ago, and he's still involved.
"We have some people in our program who have been there 20, 30 years, and they're great," McGee said.
Grenier began his coaching career 11 years ago with Winslow youth hockey, when his son Jared was 3 and just starting to skate.
"They said, 'We'd like you to be a coach,' " Grenier said.
Through the years, Grenier has coached all ages. One year, he coached three teams. He stays with it even though Jared is now a freshman in high school, and played on the Lawrence High School team this past season.
"I just love it," Grenier said.
Finding the right people
Finding coaches isn't always a problem. Finding good ones sometimes can be.
"There are a lot of parents who give a lot of time," McGee said, "but some now, they're interested in they're own children. Some want to be with their own kids and not coach everybody."
Many sports offer clinics and training to coaches. Grenier has taken coaching clinics through USA hockey, and Cal Ripken Baseball coaches can take online exams.
"If you're going to be an all-star coach, you have to pass the online test," said Fran Purnell, who has been active in Waterville youth baseball for decades, first in Little League and now Cal Ripken.
When working at clinics for coaches, Bob Lippert -- who has coached youth baseball and football in the Augusta area -- tries to offer coaches advice rather than hard and fast rules.
"I say, 'This is the way I do it, you don't have to do it this way,' " Lippert said.
The best training to be a youth sports coach comes on the job.
"Once I got out of college, it was a way to reconnect with sports," Noel Levasseur said of his coaching career, which began 15 years ago as an assistant with the Hall-Dale varsity baseball team.
Leveaseur, who now coaches in the Capitol Area Youth Softball Association, remembers those early days as a learning experience.
"I learned I didn't know as much as I thought I did," said Levasseur, who also works with the Cony High School softball team. "I learned right off there's more than one way to things, and your way might not be the right way."
For coaches like Levasseur and Waterville Senior High School baseball coach Don Sawyer, who coach at different levels, there are minor adjustments from coaching at the high school level to youth sports.
"The intensity at (high school) is the big thing," Sawyer said. "In Little League, you know they're going to lose (focus). There's going to be big innings, and you're going to let it go as long as they pay attention a little bit."
Often, league directors will try and pair up a new coach with a veteran. In CAYSA, for example, new coaches serve a sort of apprenticeship. Ideally, coaches serve as an assistant for a year before becoming a head coach.
For example, if a coach's daughter is 9, he or she will coach with somebody who's child is slightly older. When the older child moves up to the next level, taking her coaching parent along, the assistant slides into the top spot.
CAYSA also assigns coaches for parity's sake.
"We don't want two coaches together who have kids who dominate. We don't want them on the same team," league president Mark Perry said.
Who's coaching your kids?
In many leagues, coaches now must pass a background check. In Waterville youth baseball, first with Little League and now with the Cal Ripken League, Fran Purnell has required background checks of his coaches for 30 years.
Now, background checks can be done quickly on the Internet. Prior to that, Purnell could get information on perspective coaches from the police.
"It became mandatory with Little League four years ago," Purnell said. "I always did a background check before they could touch my kids."
Background checks have been discussed at CAYSA, but have not been implemented yet, Perry said.
"It's not an ASA (American Softball Association) rule, but we don't have anybody we don't know," Perry said.
Have fun
Whatever the game, the most important thing is for the children to have fun. Especially at the introductory levels.
"In T-ball, if a kid's not having fun, he's not going to come back for farm league," Lippert said. "You want to have fun, but learn something."
Added Grenier: "They learn how to power skate right off. It's amazing how fast they learn."
Lippert also tries to keep it simple. If he's coaching a regular season Little League or Babe Ruth game, Lippert doesn't use signs. If a player wants to bunt or steal, he'll do it on his own. No matter the outcome, Lippert and the player will talk about the decision making process. It's all about trying to teach the game.
"If a kid gets a take sign on a 3-0 pitch, and the pitch is at the eyes, he's not going to swing. But that pitch looks pretty good coming in. If you swing, sooner or later you're going to figure out 'I can't hit that.' " Lippert said.
A young athlete's first coach is often their father, and youth coaches need to recognize that if a child was taught to do something, say, hold a bat, a certain way by dad, tread lightly.
"Kids say my dad or granddad taught me to do it this way, and dad or granddad is usually your first hero. I say 'Just try it my way once,' " Lippert said.
Those who have experience coaching recommend studying up before making the coaching commitment.
"Discuss it with somebody they know. Hopefully somebody who is a coach," McGee said. "You can learn an awful lot by watching a practice."
As much as coaches tell their players to have fun, it's advice they need to follow, too.
"It's a relief for me from the workday grind," Levasseur said. "Nothing matters but smiling, having fun, and playing ball."
Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
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