O.C. Coach, Gridders Deal With “New Reality”

By TIM KELLY “Find a way.” It’s the longtime motto of the Ocean City High School football team under Head Coach Kevin Smith. It stands for resilience, creativity, persistence. “This is the ultimate ‘find a way’ time,” said Smith, whose team’s off-season training and spring sports activities have been shelved due to safety measures during the coronavirus outbreak. The Red Raiders are coming off their third straight year making the playoffs, a 9-3 season that included two postseason victories and a berth in the South Jersey title game. It was their best record in 20 years. But with schools closed and students mandated to continue their studies remotely, extra-curricular activities have taken a big hit. “It’s a bit of a new reality, no doubt,” said Smith, reached by phone recently at – where else? – his residence. Even though the season opener is five months away and Smith said the summer conditioning program and other activities are still in place for now, it stings to be disrupted at a time when the program is at a high point. “The thing that has hurt the most is the loss of spring sports,” said Smith, who estimated 90 percent of the squad was participating in one. He noted those who participate, “particularly in lacrosse and track,” are better able to maintain high fitness levels. Beyond that is losing the comradery and memories that come from playing on a team. “I feel for the kids whose seasons have been canceled,” he said. In an attempt to compensate as much as possible with the mandate, the coach stays in touch with team members via text “every day.” He also has set up lifting programs for players who have access to weights at home, and alternate exercises using body weight resistance for those who do not. The team’s regular offseason lifting program vanished as a result of the statewide closing of schools. (Photo credit: OCHSfootball.com) Smith took it a step further, organizing a lifting competition for the players to help keep their conditioning programs more interesting. He assigned four teams and named a captain for each one to help keep tabs on everyone’s progress. “Sometimes that’s more effective,” to have peers doing the motivating, rather than the coaches, he said. Smith does take some solace knowing he’s not alone. “We’re all in the same boat,” he said about the other teams and his fellow coaches around South Jersey. “We’re just doing what we can and waiting to hear what the state tells us,” concerning the resumption of normal training and practice activities. In the meantime, coaches and parents also need to look out for the student athletes during the quarantine, particularly those who might have special medical or nutritional needs. “We’ve told everyone now is not the time to hold back and suffer in silence. If you need help, please let someone know,” said Smith, who teaches social studies at OCHS. “If ever there was a time to speak up and ask for help, this is it.” He urged his players and students to stay on top of their remote lessons, to get their assigned work turned in on time and to make good use of their extra time inside their homes. In taking that advice to heart, one might assume that football coaches would welcome the opportunity to watch even more tape than usual in preparation for the coming season. That, said Smith, could turn out to be a slippery slope. “That can be a Catch-22,” he said with a laugh. “You can find yourself getting too far into it. It’s best to trim that back a bit” to avoid second guessing and trying to store too many mental images. Instead, Smith said he is using the extra time to tackle a major do-it-yourself home improvement project, adding a playroom for his kids. And like many folks, he is binge-watching TV series on Netflix. His recommendations? “I ripped through ‘Tiger King’ and the new season of ‘Ozark’ is very good,” he said, “but it’s pretty dark.” The Raiders hope to be back on track with a normal practice routine as soon as possible. (Photo credit: OCHSfootball.com)