Eyes for Perfection

I guess you know by now that I am a football coach. I am the offensive line coach for a Class 1A school here in South Carolina. Being a coach at a small school, you have to wear many hats. I also work with the defensive line. During the week, I help to keep and prepare the grounds. On the sideline I help the head coach direct the running game. I also double as the trainer.

This week makes our fourth week of practice. There is no doubt it has been the best week of practice so far. But I am nowhere near satisfied with the performance of the team so far. No position has looked great, but I will focus on the shortcomings of my offensive line rather than pushing the blame on some other coach. The line is not coming off the ball fast enough. They have the basic blocking rules down, but they don’t understand the more elaborate blocking schemes of the plays, and to top everything off, my guards aren’t trapping well.

One of the other coaches laughed and said you don’t want to peak too early, I guess he’s right. Over the last couple weeks I have seen slow, steady improvement. I guess it would appear that the team I coach really sucks. Well, so far they haven’t lived up to my expectations, that’s for sure. It may simply be that there is a lot of pressure on the kids and coaching staff. You see, we are returning starters to 17 out of 21 positions, from a team that went 12-1 last season and only lost in the lower state finals.

In the preseason we were ranked #2 in Class 1A in the state of South Carolina. We scrimmaged a Class 4A team, two Class 3A teams, a Class 2A team and a Class 1A team. We didn’t loose a scrimmage. Last Friday night we played our first game. We played absolutely horrid. At the end of the fist quarter no one had scored. We won 42-6. There’s no doubt we have some special players. I’m no special coach. Through the eyes of perfection I see all of the imperfection, all of the rough edges that need to be honed away.

So, if over the nest few months you read more about football, and less about duck hunting than you would like, please understand, I am on the quest for one of my life goals that has so far eluded me—Working for a State Title Ring, The Briary River Way.

Buckman

P.S. Since I wrote this, we won our second game. We scored on the opening kickoff, our first offensive play, and a punt return. Three touchdowns after having played only one offensive play. In seventeen years of coaching that’s a first for me. We won 47-6. We are currently ranked #1 in Class 1A in South Carolina.