chapter 362

Football Coach

life coach

9/7/2014

link to Nichols Football folder (68pics)

Nephew Dale Scott Olmsted began his first year as head coach at Division III Nichols College. He has moved up from success at the high school level. Went to his first game at Westfield State University which was a huge success in my mind. Our team has been woeful in the past, usually winning just one game per year during the last several years. Our opponent had 20 seniors returning to our measure of less than 10. Yet we were equally competitive all night and had the ball in potential tie scoring position as the clock ran out. But everything is not about winning- it's about competing at your best and progressing.

These are only my views and observations as an outsider since I have very few discussions with Coach. As always feel free to disregard. 

Coaching is teaching. Sometimes you have to motivate people in a sensitive way depending on their disposition. Our quarterback, Quillian Respass, is a talented and integral part of the offense. Perhaps a calming heart to heart is the appropriate psyche up needed here? He did well.

Some people may need a little more fire built under them? Offensive lineman Joe Richardson, at 6'-8", 359 pounds might be getting some tough love. Without the unheralded linemen your glamor positions don't shine.

When you say D-3, you can't give scholarships but that doesn't mean it is a small or insignificant program. Dale Scott recruited close to 50 players from Florida to Maine to add to his returning squad, totaling about 100. He has assembled a staff of about a dozen assistant coaches, trainers, etc. It's a major operation and these business school major / athletes are simply there for the education along with busting their humps training, practicing, and competing. Hats off to them.

There's a seriousness in the eyes, don't you think? You can read a lot in an opponents eyes. I had a ball trying to capture the emotion of the game through the perspective of the coach. Pure football shots can be boring for a general audience and was not my focus. Even with low lighting for this night game my point and shoot camera came through sufficiently (albeit with a little coaching, er coaxing).

My family (we road tripped and tailgated) was casting aspersions upon me for going to the enemy side of the field, but It yielded some good front side action angles. 

We lucked out with a beautiful 70 degree night. Rain, and I'm outta there. What started as twilight had turned to a beautiful dark sky. It's a nice little friendly (pre-civil war college) campus for this away game.

The post game on-field talk. Looking into their eyes (from the end zone 70 yards away- ISO 1600),  I'm guessing they might be encouraged to reflect back on the positives that occurred during the night but to also look inside oneself and know that there is room for improvement to hone the skills for better execution in the future. I'd guess that this first game has brought a better sense of camaraderie and the jelling that is required for this group of essentially strangers to become a real team in pursuing their goals. Life skills.

My goal had been to capture the essence of a coach on film. No, I didn't get any award winning shots. Yes, I took over 1000 shots and missed "seeing" the game to a large extent, but the results for me were satisfying. Pre-visualizing the shoot prior to game time and practice is required. Review of the game film was essential along with post processing and editing. True, most shots were errors and drops but with a few completions finding the end zone. Can photography be like football or life? Do you get out of life what you put into it? Is that what coaching is all about? 

Shouldn't you follow your passion? Isn't life more than just being alive? Or is this becoming too much like Theresa Caputo's psychic thoughts?

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