Playing football is a grind, even for athletes who only play on offense or defense. That’s why youth rosters usually have around 30 kids and why higher levels add more players.
So, imagine how the Turkey Creek Trojans’ Varsity team feels about having 12 players in an 11-man game.
These kids are on the field for the full 40 minutes every weekend, which is incredibly demanding for a sport played in heavy gear. But, with the way they’ve been playing, one would never guess that they’re staffed so low if they saw the record books.
According to the Tri-County Youth Football and Cheerleading Conference website, these Trojans are 6-1 on the season — good for third place in the overall standings, as the East Bay Bucs and Brandon Lions are tied for first. And, they can win big: This past Saturday, they traveled to Brandon to play the Cowboys and won, 48-19.
“You’d be amazed with what they can do out there,” head coach Casey McClain says. “It’s impressive. It takes 11 to play and it takes 11 to want to win, and they’ve got it all. I wouldn’t trade anything for them.”
How do these kids do it?
ALL MARATHON, NO SPRINT
McClain and his coaching staff put conditioning on perhaps the team’s highest pedestal, sharing the logic of a boxing champion who, before a 12-round fight, trains to go for 15 or more.
“I believe that conditioning is everything to play football and, if you don’t get (the kids) in shape, they’re not going to be able to play football,” McClain says. “There’s no way. We go 30 to 45 minutes straight, just continuous calisthenics, push-ups, sit-ups — anything that’s going to physically get their bodies stronger.”
If a player misses practice with an illness, it’s on him to play catch-up when he comes back. It’s more of a necessity than anything else — it’s tough to run a 12-player football program efficiently. So far, though, the Trojans haven’t had a problem with that.
“They could play for 40 minutes, and you couldn’t even tell that they’re tired,” McClain says. “They could go 60 minutes before they start showing tiredness.”
Of course, being in great shape isn’t the only thing that makes this team work. Because of the small roster size, McClain is able to talk to all of the players on a more personal level — a habit that takes up the first chunk of every Monday practice.
“After every Saturday, we come back out on Mondays and, as a head coach, I want to talk to each individual kid and get their feedback on what they did good, what they did bad and what they could do better, as a player,” he says. “They tell me that and, me and the coaches, we build off of that. We show them their mistakes and how to correct them. It makes them better players.”
None of this can work without the right group of kids, though, and these Trojans appear to be the right young men for the job. LeDarin Ragins and Dedrick Green, who have been in the Trojans’ program for three years, were unfazed when they first found out how small the roster was.
“I didn’t think it was a problem, because I’ve got a lot of drive — I really believe that we can win with 11 people,” Ragins says. “If we think we’re the best, we can do it.”
The players’ will to win is coupled with the fact that they love to stay on the field as much as they can, always hoping to make the big play.
“I like it because we get more playing time,” Green says. “And (we) don’t have to get off of the field for anybody else.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE TEAMS
Turkey Creek wasn’t the only program to see a smaller number of players, both new and returning, in 2014. It’s a common trend all over the country now, for whatever reason, and the lack of participation even killed the Antioch Redskins’ program before this TCYFCC season began.
“Over the years, it started out from 30 and just dwindled down and dwindled down,” McClain says. “Before long, I don’t know if I’ll be down here doing it any longer, because there just won’t be any kids to do it for.”
McClain says the shrinking numbers are because of several circumstances. One could be the season beginning in the middle of summer, when families go on vacation. Another could be that kids who enter high school want to ditch the youth leagues and go straight to their high school teams, regardless of whether they’ll get to play.
One thing he didn’t mention is the growing opinion in society that football is a dangerous sport. Many of the NFL’s concussion problems have been magnified in recent years, thanks to a flurry of lawsuits, and parents aren’t comfortable sending their kids out on the gridiron.
“That’s going to eventually work me out of a job, unfortunately,” McClain says. “I only have experience with youth football. I would love to go to the next level and follow some of these kids, and continue to build them up. They are the future, and that’s what I try to build out here with them. You just have to take what God gives you.”