HEAD COACH & TEACHER

 

HEAD COACH & TEACHER

Many people think that for football players and coaches that the most exciting/important time of the year is in August, but realistically the most important time of the year for players and coaches is now in the spring.  Around this time of the year this is when the team is really brought together: 6am practices, skill development, 8am weightlifting, putting in new plays, study hall, and a total of 15 hours of practice a week. "I feel as though structure is very important when it comes to a football team because without it there is nothing"(Frank Sheptock, 2023). All the extra hard work that is put in January through April is so that we as football players and coaches can look good and play good when it comes to September for the first game of the year. 

First Game of the Season

A head coach is a very important factor for a football team because everything revolves around him.  With having the title 'head coach', a lot comes with it. At Bloomsburg University, Frank Sheptock is the head coach and the linebackers' coach for the team. I was granted the opportunity to interview my head coach and gain more knowledge about football. Coach Sheptock is one of the most well-known coaches in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. He attended Bloomsburg University where he broke the "most tackles in a season record" with 160 tackles, he is in Bloomsburg's athletic hall of fame, and also in the NCAA hall of fame. Coach Sheptock practiced and trained hard, so he wants all of his athletes to do the same thing.

A normal practice for Coach Sheptock begins at 4:00 pm, and he gets to the field 30 minutes before the players so that everything is right for practice. We as players have practice on a cold Tuesday afternoon, you can see the smoke coming from our breath while walking to the field. We arrive to the football field, the turf is hard, we feel like were walking on concrete and because of how cold it is outside, our feet feel like they're about to fall off. In the distance you can see the colossal, beautiful mountains with towering trees reaching for the heavens with sage green leaves on the branches. You can see Coach Sheptock with his arms folded on the cold dark sliver bleachers waiting for us to arrive. When we arrive to the field, he always cracks a joke on Ron Long, #14.

This is actually a picture of Coach Sheptock talking to Ron.

 

"Hey Ron, did you get you're a** to class today?" yelled Coach Sheptock to Ron.

Ron says, "I went 3 for 3 today meaning I went to all of my classes coach lol" The team starts laughing.

Coach Sheptock always follows up with one more question, "Hey Ron you gonna' bring some energy to practice today?" 

Ron Laughs and says, "Hell yeah I am Coach!"

During practice the team stretches to get our bodies loose and to get our blood really pumping. "Stretching is key to stay away from injuries, for example torn hamstrings, ACl and MCL tears, and strained calf muscles" (Frank Sheptock, 2023). After stretching we get right into team conditioning, so that we can break a sweat and be in really good shape. Following up after conditioning we run plays, and this is where you will see Coach Sheptock mostly pissed off and yelling at me and other players for making mistakes. 

 

"McKenzie What the fu** are you doing your supposed to go to the C gap not the A gap get in the playbook right after practice NEXT!" yelled Coach Sheptock to McKenzie.

McKenzie replies "THATS MY BAD COACH, I FUC*** UP I'LL BOUNCE BACK!"  

"Crews you gotta' get out of the way on that blitz the linebacker is coming through your gap which is the B gap," said Coach Sheptock to Charles Crews, #58.

Crews says, "Ok coach I got you on the next play, can we run that play back again."

In addition to all of Coach Sheptock's dedication to football he also teaches all of his players life lessons. One of the first things Coach Sheptock told me with a big smile on his face was "I believe that all young men should know and have three things time management, being able to change your car breaks, and being a good family man because family is everything" (Frank Sheptock, 2023). Coach Sheptock is a down to earth person and can almost relate to everyone on the team in a way. For example, we relate to each other because he didn't have the best time in college, he told me that "McKenzie it's never about how you start its about how you finish and when you finish look back and be proud of yourself for what you came from" (Frank Sheptock, 2023).

Coach Sheptock writin reading a lesson he's going to talk about after practice.