Rock Hill Parks, Rec and Tourism offering local youth football coaches opportunities to learn, improve

Two excellent opportunities exist this week in Rock Hill for local youth football coaches to hone their craft.

The city’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department is hosting its third annual Coaches’ Clinic on Thursday at Sullivan Middle School, before hosting a Teaching Tackling Circuit Saturday morning at District Three Stadium. It’s a worthwhile - and free - opportunity in a city that values its football highly.

“You would hope that all the coaches would participate and want to get better and improve their program,” said former Northwestern football coach Jimmy Wallace, who has helped organize the events. “To me that’s what it’s all about. We’re taking care of coaches, that are taking care of kids. It’s a trickle-down effect.”

City of Rock Hill Youth Football Coaches Clinic

When: Thursday, July 16, 6 to 8 p.m.

Where: Sullivan Middle School

▪ The clinic - in its third year - is sponsored by Olive Garden, which is providing free dinner to participating coaches. Seventy-five local youth football coaches showed up for the 2014 edition of the clinic.

▪ High school coaches from Rock Hill, South Pointe and Northwestern will be involved, as will their position coaches. They’ll offer position-specific instruction so that visiting coaches “don’t have to sit through boring stuff that you don’t need to know about,” said Jones.

▪ Wallace pleaded for anonymity regarding his work in helping to organize the clinics, but Jones credited Wallace - in his unofficial role as football ambassador to the world - for making sure all three city high schools’ coaching staffs were involved, raising the quality of the clinic considerably.

“I wish we could pay them or something. They do it really out of the goodness of their heart,” said Jones. “I know coach Wallace doesn’t want it to be about him but it’s really his relationship with those coaches, that he’s so well respected in the community, that those coaches want to come out.”

City of Rock Hill Teaching Tackling Circuit

When: Saturday, July 18, 9 to 11 a.m., with gates opening at 8:30 a.m.

Where: District Three Stadium

The Saturday morning tackling circuit is part of an increased focus on safety in youth football.

“The idea is that coaches come Thursday night and hear it, and Saturday they come and actually see it,” said Jones. “It’s a hands-on-type of clinic. Obviously it’s for the kids, but really it’s for the coaches that are teaching proper technique. It’s really about safety. That’s our No. 1 goal, to start teaching football more safely.”

▪ Over 250 kids attended last year’s teaching tackling circuit. There is no registration necessary for kids to participate but their parents or guardian will need to fill out a waiver the morning of the tackling circuit. All participating kids receive a free t-shirt.

▪ The circuit will include 12 different stations, each with a different point of emphasis. None of the stations will be full contact, with any physical contact made against blocking pads and bags. The circuit eliminates player-to-player contact, which allows for better teaching and learning of the technique.

▪ The three city high schools’ coaching staffs will teach the tackling circuit stations, allowing the youth coaches to focus on observing how the techniques are taught.

“We would hope that every coach in town would come to this,” said Wallace.

This story was originally published July 12, 2015 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Rock Hill Parks, Rec and Tourism offering local youth football coaches opportunities to learn, improve."