In my 30 hours of community service I served as a youth football coach.

In my 30 hours I was
the Offensive and Defensive line coach. I was responsible for making sure they learned the
proper technique and skills so that they could be successful on the field. One of my biggest
goals was not only to help them succeed on the field but teach them valuable skills that they can
use in their futures.

In total we had 46 kids on our team ranging from the ages of 12-14. Some of them were
freshmen in highschool and the rest were in middle school. The kids that I coached have been
with me for about 5 years and this was my last year with them because I was going to college.
This season I learned not only how to be a better coach but I learned how to be a better
instructor. In these hours I spent time running through drills and plays. I found that the best way
to get my players' attention was to reward them, not punish them, because when I was their age
my coaches made us run if we didn’t want to listen. And for them to actually want to listen to me
was to get them what they wanted which was longer water breaks.

Also in my time served I formed bonds with the kids which helped them trust me and trust what I
was teaching them was to better themselves. One thing that really opened my eyes was that
seeing these kids growing everyday, I also saw myself growing as an educator. Which is
something I never thought would happen from just coaching football. This was the first season I
was put in charge of a position group by myself for the year and was able to teach the kids my
way. Yes there was some trial and error in the Beginning of the year but as the season went on
me and the players were able to have an understanding of how our practices were supposed to
go. What I tried to teach and show them was the constructivism learning theory where I tried to
build off of their prior knowledge and what I had taught them already. I could see that it was
good for the kids because I could tell that they had a better understanding of every practice
because they were able to build off of the prior knowledge they had.

I think that the biggest challenge throughout the whole season was to get the kids to believe in
themselves and in what us coaches told them to do. Sometimes as a player you have a hard
time believing and understanding the point behind what you're doing. So my goal was to help
show the kids what it was that we were doing and to have them see why it was beneficial for
them to do these things. At the end of the day the biggest goal I tried to reach at the end of
every practice was to leave the field knowing that I taught them something new And if I could do
that then I felt accomplished. In the end when I finished my community service I felt a sense of
pride and accomplishment because I saw the players grow and turn into better players. This
experience was one to remember ever since I could remember. I breathed football. It has
always been my passion and being able to give back to my community and my program was an
amazing experience. It helped me become not only a better coach but a better instructor.