Chapter 9: Stumbling in the Right Direction

Sean finished reading the books supplied by the coach, and was on the football field before the class was half over. He had mastered the skill of speed reading many years before. Sean's reading speed with near total comprehension ranged between eight hundred and a thousand words per minute, depending on the complexity of the text. He did not consider football rules complex.

Sean jogged to the field, and stopped beside the coach. The PE class and the football team were scrimmaging again.

Coach Strom glanced over and Sean, then looked back at the field.

"So, I guess you decided to get some practical experience before reading the books?" Coach Strom asked sarcastically.

"No," Sean replied absently. "I finished the books. Next, I need to figure out how the information in the books applies to what happens on the field."

Coach Strom's head snapped back to look at Sean.

"You finished the books?" he asked disbelievingly.

Sean shrugged and said, "I read fast. But, I have learned that information in books, doesn't always translate well, regarding the reality of actions."

The coach snorted before muttering, "Oh, this is going to be so much fun."

The sarcasm in his voice was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

"Yeah. I think so too," Sean said with a slight smile, completely ignoring the sarcasm.

Sean sampled the Coach's emotions as the man watched the team run another play. He was troubled by the Coach's frustration, concern, and fatalistic acceptance of what he had to work with. Sean subtly modified the Coach's emotions, to add confidence in his own ability, and faith in the boys that he was trying to build into a team. He also added acceptance for the team's water boy.

"What are they doing?" Sean asked, pointing towards AJ and Scott.

His friends were throwing and catching a football, under the tutelage of Mr. Stillwell.

"Mr. Stillwell is running them through their paces," the Coach answered. He sighed before continuing with, "We are basically starting from scratch with this team. There are a few players left from our starting lineup, but they were replacements for players that graduated last year. After three weeks of practice, we're starting over, two days before our first game," he said bitterly.

Sean tweaked the Coach's emotions again, and the Coach visibly gathered himself before continuing with, "Building talent on the offensive and defensive lines is easier than building talent in the backfield. Mr. Stillwell suggested that your friends, even without experience, might be better candidates for backfield positions than some of our other options."

"Why would they be better candidates for the backfield? What I mean is, why do you believe backfield talent is harder to develop than line talent?" Sean asked curiously.

Coach Strom shot him a considering look before glancing back at the field and answering, "The backfield needs to be a little more athletic, meaning quick on their feet. The backfield needs to think on their feet, too. The offensive line has one of three tasks on each play. Block left, block right, or straight ahead. The defensive line is a little harder, because they need to react to what the other team is doing. Your friends don't have a lot of bad habits to unlearn which makes them good candidates to consider for the backfield."

"Thank you, sir," Sean said thoughtfully as he watched Scott run a pass pattern before AJ threw the football to him.

Coach Strom's assessment about the importance of the different positions on the team surprised Sean. That wasn't what he had surmised from reading the books. Sean had thought line positions would be easier to plan in a play book, but required more skill in the execution of the play.

"Sir," Sean said to get the coach's attention, a few moments later. "We'll have some time at the end of this period while the team puts their pads on. Could you spend a few minutes to explain the Play Book to me? I thought I understood it, but I'm having trouble matching it to what they're doing on the field."

Coach Strom snorted and shook his head tiredly before saying, "Sure kid. I'll explain it to you." It sounded like the coach didn't have a lot of hope for his football team. Sean tweaked his 'faith' quotient again.

The coach explained the Play Book to Sean. Each football team has a book of plays they run. Normally, the more advanced the team is, the more complicated the plays are. High school play books are not very complicated, but could still contain over twenty plays.

Sean considered the coach's explanation for a moment before saying, "So! When it's all boiled down, the team has five basic plays, with between two to six options for each play."

"No!" Coach Strom protested in frustration. "There are twenty four plays total in our book."

"We have a pass on the left side and a pass on the right side," Sean said thoughtfully. "Then a run on the left, right, or middle. Everything else is an option from one of those five basic plays. A pass to the left has options for a quick hook, long hook or slant and a long run. That would be a basic play, and three, or maybe four options for it. I think three, because one of those should be the basic play."

"That isn't how it works," the Coach protested.

"Well, that's what you just explained to me," Sean said reasonably.

"No!" the Coach said, shaking his head. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't say that, exactly, but that is what you said," Sean corrected the Coach. "Pick any play and I'll show you what I mean."

They spent the next twenty minutes going through plays. The Coach was insistent that plays with hand-offs were different.

Finally, the Coach Strom sat back and, throwing up his hands, conceded with, "Okay, okay. They're options of basic plays. What difference does it make?"

"Most people have trouble thinking of more than one thing at a time," Sean explained. "Also, many people don't think of things in an orderly manner. This is what I'm thinking about," Sean said, scooting forward in his chair. "The plays are fine, the way they are. Let me change things around so they are presented just a bit differently. For example, a pass play on the right with a fifteen yard hook can called by P, R, 15, 2. It can be called quickly in the huddle and give more time for individual instructions ... like stop that big guy from hitting me again. It could even be called on the line before the hike to change the play if the defense is doing something the quarterback doesn't like. The thing is, it's simple, and everyone can easily remember what they're supposed to do."

"I don't know," Coach Strom mused doubtfully.

"You're starting from scratch, anyway," Sean pointed out. "Were these plays really that successful for you last year?"

After a moment's hesitation the Coach said, "Okay, but it's your idea. You redo the playbook."

The next hour of the practice was frustrating for everyone concerned. The Coach was frustrated, which meant by default that Mr. Stillwell was frustrated too. The shambles of the team were frustrated and that bothered Sean. He sampled the emotions from the team as they straggled into the locker room after practice. They were demoralized and ready to give up.

Sean pulled AJ and Scott to the side and had a quiet word with them. Scott grinned and AJ grimaced.

"Can't Scott give the speech?" AJ asked mournfully.

"No," Sean said patiently, with a smile. "You said that you would take the lead with this. Remember? Scott is your support with this plan. He can get them started, then you give the speech. Just tell them what I said. Pay attention to your emotions and I can help guide you. I'll hype them up a little, too. Not too much. Just enough to get them out of this slump. We'll put together a plan, tonight. Tomorrow we'll go to work on them."

"Fine," AJ grumbled. "Set it up, Scott."

Scott glanced at Sean, before looking around to see who was available for his straight guy. Joel Fisher, the boy that had been coerced into trying to fight him, was changing clothes at the other end of the bench that ran between the rows of lockers. Scott smiled and thought, 'How appropriate is that?'

"Hey, Joel, how did we get in this fix?" Scott called to the other boy.

Joel looked up warily at Scott's call. He still didn't quite believe Scott wasn't still mad at him. However, he was feeling so low that someone kicking his ass would probably be an improvement!

"Because all the real players were assholes and got kicked off the team," Joel called back, the dejection clear in his voice.

"The real players!" AJ shouted, as if in astonishment.

Sean hadn't been positive of the response Scott would get, but felt sure it would be one of the few available. Joel's response was also the one with the most possibility of pulling the group of teens together as a team.

"What do you mean, 'the real players'?" AJ asked, loudly, and sounding a little angry. The rest of the team, with a little emotional urging from Sean, took notice of the exchange.

"Well," Joel said uncertainly. "You know. The real players. Most of the first string."

Coach Strom had heard the exchange through his open office door. The Coach and Mr. Stillwell were reviewing notes from the practice. The review wasn't helping their frustration levels. The Coach grew angry at the sentiments Joel expressed and nearly barreled out of his office to set the young man straight. AJ's response brought him to a halt, and he listened.

"Oh, you mean the remnants of those guys that could only win half their games last year?" AJ asked dismissively.

Sean amped up the derision in AJ's words and every boy in the locker room was listening. He noticed the Coach flinch at AJ's words and mentally shrugged. He would take care of that later.

"Yeah, I guess so," Joel answered uncertainly.

"So, we've lost the guys that have already proved they couldn't play. The guys that used intimidation, much of the time, to win their spot." AJ pressed.

"Yeah," Joel answered as he looked around at all the attention the conversation was getting. He hunched his shoulders slightly, expecting someone to pound on him.

"How many here were told not to try so hard or you would get your asses beat?" AJ called out.

Several hands were hesitantly raised in response before hurriedly dropping back to the teens' sides. Sean's emotional urging to respond honestly to the questions AJ would ask was paying off.

AJ nodded in understanding, following Sean's emotional urging, and said, "So, the guys we have left are the ones that haven't had a chance to really prove what they can do. Isn't that right?" AJ continued questioning.

"Yeah," Joel said.

Joel's fear of being beat up lifted, as the reality of AJ's words hit him. His confidence was bolstered more when several other players joined in his response to AJ's question. Sean had to smile to himself. This was going even better than he thought it would.

"We're getting a late start on some of the things we need to learn to win. Two days may not be enough time to learn enough win this Friday," AJ conceded with a shrug. "But everyone here is smart, and we WILL know what we need to know to win next week. The only thing that can stop us is ourselves."

"How about the size of our line?" Scott asked. "Some of those guys on the other teams are huge."

AJ snorted and asked, "What was the difference in size between Megan and Bob Clancy?" He answered his own question by saying, "There was about a hundred twenty-five pounds difference in their weight, and nearly sixteen inches in height. Megan took Clancy, AND his friend that was nearly as big! And she took them both down ... hard! Size is not an obstacle if you know how to deal with it. We WILL know how to deal with it, by the next game."