Pop Warner coach a breath of fresh air to parent

I would like to acknowledge a coach who doesn’t yell or raise his

voice. He practices and upholds a rule of no foul language or trash

talking on or off the field. He talks about playing with honor and

respect for the game, for teammates, and most of all, for oneself.

This coach never blames or belittles his players. This wouldn’t be

anything to write about if I wasn’t talking about football. It seems

that yelling, intimidating and belittling is the norm in football.

I’ve seen coaches ride their players so hard that game officials have

to tell the coach to calm down. It isn’t uncommon to see coaches grab

kids by their facemasks and yell into their faces. This season a mom

from a visiting team even took her son (a starting player) off the

field in the middle of a game because the coach was yelling and

blaming him for his performance on the field.

I’m not talking about high school football; this is the Burbank

Vikings Pop Warner tackle football program. These kids are all 11, 12

or 13. I know this won’t last. If my son continues playing, I’m sure

that he’ll end up on the receiving end of all that yelling, hollering

and intimidation.

I just think that this coach and his staff should be acknowledged

as an example of true leadership.

Did I mention the Vikings finished 7-0 in their conference? Did I

mention they are the Junior II American Conference champions? This

mom and the whole team would like to thank Coach Dan Dias, and

assistants Jim Frankian, Art Holguin and Nacho Brache, for coaching

with respect.

MARCELA BLAKEY

Burbank