It’s hard to believe, given Carson High’s football dominance in the last 7 years, the Senators could be behind the times.
The Senators are just that, however, and coach Blair Roman doesn’t want it to be that way any longer.
We’re talking about area high schools using youth football teams to develop players in their system. Roman said there are several schools in Washoe County doing it, and he’s attempting to get his own program started this summer.
Roman has paired with Carson City’s Pop Warner program to start an Unlimited Division eighth-grade squad. Three former CHS stars, Justin Shine, Nick Redwine and Justin Barlow have agreed to coach the team, and a fourth former CHS star, Dylan Rooker, may help as his schedule allows.
The CHS coach said sign-ups have been lagging, which is surprising. Roman admitted he’s not sure if it’s due to lack of interest, people waiting until the last minute to show up or concussion concerns. Simply put, incoming eighth-graders are missing out on getting a head start into high school football if they opt not to play.
“I know there are a good 20-25 eighth-graders out there,” Roman said. “Right now, we have kids playing in two different leagues. We want to get kids to come together (from current Pop Warner and Sierra Youth Football) and play together on this team.
“This is a really good opportunity to get indoctrinated into our program; learn how we do things. On offense, we’d be running three main plays, and on defense learn our CHS principles.”
By doing this, kids have less to learn once they enter CHS for their freshmen seasons, and that’s critical. Players are going to know the basics and have the various terminology down. It will allow them to hit the ground running.
Sports, whether it’s high school, college or pro, is about keeping up with the Joneses, or falling behind. Roman wants Carson’s success to continue long after he’s gone, and establishing a farm system so to speak is just the first step in the process.
One thing youth football coaches forget is their job is to develop kids for the high school team, and winning really should be secondary. Ditto for basketball and baseball. Youth coaches should lean on high school coaches for guidance whenever possible, and the high school coaches should involve themselves with the local sports teams whenever asked, or even if they aren’t asked.
There’s an alarming lack of fundamentals in all youth leagues today, and I blame that on coaches for not being sticklers about fundamentals, and I blame kids for being lazy and taking the easy way out. If sports were easy, everybody would play and everybody would be good.
Interested players should go to carsoncitypopwarner.com to sign up, and if parents have questions about the program they should contact Austin Matthews at 220-0395.
Simply put, let’s keep Carson High football strong.
