Going Mobile at Village Christian

Here comes the Coachmobile, and at Village Christian High, that means it’s time for the football team to get busy.

Village Christian Coach Mike Plaisance cruises from his office on the upper campus at Village Christian to the lower-campus practice field in a golf cart painted in Crusader red and gold.

“Coachmobile” is painted in block letters on the front end and the license plate reads “Coach 33,” in tribute to the number Plaisance wore as a fullback at Grambling State.

The cart was donated by the 1992 Alpha League championship team to Plaisance, who has a congenital spinal disorder that makes it difficult for him to walk. It is where he does most of his coaching from during practice.

“It’s one of the most cherished things I’ve ever received as a coach,” Plaisance said. “That’s why I’ve been here 18 years. These people are like my family.”

Plaisance, who had two vertebrae removed as a result of a football injury in college, said the cart makes it a lot easier to traverse the hilly Sun Valley campus.

“It just allows me to move from point A to point B a lot easier,” said Plaisance, who walks slowly with a noticeable limp. “It helps out with the day-to-day activities.”

Plaisance, also the dean of students at Village Christian, said he uses the cart to patrol school grounds in the morning and at lunch.

“At one point I had red-and-blue police lights on it for intimidation,” he said.

The football players this year want to change the coach’s image, however, from principal to party-goer.

“Now they want me to put lifts on it and get a boom box,” Plaisance said.