Coach’s Corner

WP Head Football Coach Wants To Revive Youth Football For His Team's Future

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AITSBURG -- Our youth football program has taken a hit these past two years and this concerns me in a great way. The Waitsburg Giants had two programs (Little Giants and Giants) has had a great tradition over the years.

When I first arrived in the fall of 1999 this program was on solid ground.

Danny Cole and Dick Largent had the older Giants team on a roll year after year, and if I remember right, they coached a full 10 years together. It was a passion they shared and the kids benefited in a big way.

One year our kids won both super bowls in the same season. Super bowl after Su- per bowl victory was almost common place in the mid 2000s for the older team. That and on any given Sat- urday morning you could go to Walla Walla and meet and great families from Prescott and Waitsburg and spend a great morning watching the young kids play.

I want to personally thank all those coaches for all their time and sacrifice as that was a big commitment that they had made. All, of course, vol- unteer hours.

I will miss a number of coaches as I am not sure all the volunteers, but in addition to Danny and Dick, for certain this list would include Marty Dunn, Perry Dozier, Allen Wilson, Shawn Murphy, Tra- vis Newman, Roger Garcia, Joe Estes and a host of others. As the head coach of the high school football program, this is a huge feeder program that goes directly into our middle school and high school pro- grams. It is without question, part of our recent success.

My son Zach Bartlow was on two super bowl teams, both the Little Giants and then the last year of the Big Giants just prior to our middle school having its own school program.

Part of the reason the WP Cardinal football team has been so strong is the fact that they played football from early on and learned the fundamentals of the game at an early age.

Last year we did not have enough players to have a Gi- ants team. The plan a year ago included the community of Dayton and I thought that was a great idea. The Dayton, Waitsburg and Prescott com- munities could build one team including grades 3-5 or 4-6. It is my understanding that we have again this year a lot of interest from kids that will be in grades 3-6, but no volunteer coaches that want to make that commitment. It is a big commitment.

Are there any parents who want to see their children play contact football at this age and prepare them for greater expe- riences in the middle school and high school programs?

It is a big part of our over- all program.

As the head coach of something very special right now, I hope that some parents that love the game and want their kids involved would step up and consider this. It may be even too late for this season and if so, that will be two years in a row without youth football. We may see the results of this neglect in about 5 or 6 years at the high school level.

Elementary-age contact football, if done correctly, is safe and a huge advantage for our overall program. It gets the students off the computer and out in the grass exercising and working together as a team.

If you ask current players in the middle school and high school who have played on the Giants teams, they will have fond memories and can tell you about games and plays in detail. I hope this note to our community does not go unnoticed. It is so important to what has become one of the premiere B2 football programs in the state. I just want to see it back as soon as possible as I know how important it is.