Football coaches rarely remind players to bring helmets on game day — they assume it’s implied. To a seventh-grader who has never played football before, it’s not quite so obvious. Two former Charger football players learned this the hard way.
Seniors Chuck Ahee and Nate Hollern are coaching the seventh-grade football team at Davis Middle School in downtown Hillsdale this year, bringing more than two decades of combined playing experience to teach local kids.
“You’re out there at practice and you’re teaching them this technique, and they get it wrong, and they get it wrong again, and then finally they get it right,” Ahee said. “Because they get the technique right, they make the tackle, or they catch the ball, and their faces light up and they explode. Just seeing that cycle of self-growth in them is really cool.”
Adjusting their expectations for inexperienced players presented a challenge for Ahee and Hollern, who had already played for several years before they were in seventh grade themselves, they said.
“We didn’t think we had to coach them to bring their helmet to the game, but we had a kid forget to bring his helmet to the first game,” Ahee said, laughing. “That was something we didn’t expect.”
Hillsdale doesn’t offer many opportunities for kids to learn football while they’re young, so many of the players on the Davis team had never played before, Hollern said.
“I don’t know if they’ve had dads that played catch with them in the yard, but in most cases, we’re acting like dad, teaching them how to play,” Hollern said. “It’s frustrating at times, but when you see the finished product, it’s very, very fulfilling.”
Coaching from the sidelines gives a very different perspective on the learning process, Ahee said.
“Part of it’s super frustrating, because you know what they’re doing wrong, and you know how to fix it, and you just want to get out there and do it for them,” Ahee said. “But part of it is super rewarding as well, when they do learn how to do it, and you know that you’re able to teach them that, to teach them effectively, then it’s almost more rewarding than doing it correctly yourself.”
Hollern agreed that teaching beginners presents new challenges, but said he was confident in his players’ ability to grow.
“It’s definitely a hurdle,” Hollern said. “But I’ve found that the higher we’ve raised the bar for them, the more they give us. That’s definitely something we’ll continue to do.”
Davis running back Brock Ladd, 12, has played football for four years, but said Hollern and Ahee gave him a chance to step outside his comfort zone.
“I was surprised I got the chance to play running back,” Ladd said. “Most people thought I wasn’t fast enough.”
Ladd said the coaches knew he really wanted the position, and they encouraged him to pursue it.
“They’re my favorite coaches I’ve ever had,” Ladd said. “All the team loves them. They really know what they’re doing.”
Hillsdale College Dean of Men Aaron Petersen contacted Hollern over the summer when the head coach at Davis Middle School resigned.
Since the season started Aug. 31, the team has practiced five days a week, with games on Wednesdays, Hollern said.
Coaching these boys goes beyond teaching technique, Hollern said.
“Football is a game where a boy becomes a young man, who learns the life lessons that he’ll have to apply for the rest of his life,” Hollern said. “It’s man versus the elements, because it might be a really cold day to play, or really hot, and they conquer that. It’s man versus man, because you have to physically dominate another person in every play. And it’s man versus self, because you have to fight that inner voice fighting within you. That’s how life works … To get those lessons in a microcosm at a young age, that’s something I’m hoping to pass on to the kids I’m coaching now.”
