This is to inform the community of the great things that are
happening for Sobrato High School football. As I sit here writing
this I am filled with a great deal of excitement, anticipation and
pride.
By Jeff Patterson
This is to inform the community of the great things that are happening for Sobrato High School football. As I sit here writing this I am filled with a great deal of excitement, anticipation and pride. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with great coaches, teachers and administrators who are dedicated to making the community proud and provide the best experience possible for our students and their parents. When I first accepted the position I began putting a plan in place that would allow for success in the classroom and on the field not only for one season but, year in and year out.
In our first season of competition we fielded a team with 45 players in grades 9 and 10. Many of these players had never played a football game before this season, but due to their dedication and hard work we were able to achieve a fair amount of success, achieving a 7-3 record. The athletes were great young men, very easy to coach and eager to learn and succeed. They will no doubt be great leaders and role models for our incoming freshman next season.
I am filled with a sense of anticipation for what lies ahead for Sobrato and our program as our beautiful campus grows closer to completion and we get set to move into our brand new gymnasium and weight room facilities. These facilities are set to open at the beginning of April and our gymnasium will be utilized over the coming months for registration presentations for parents and students.
I am especially eager to see our weight room completed. We have worked very closely with representatives from Hammer Strength to build a facility that is top of the line, and will be of great use for all of our sports and physical education classes. Hammer Strength is the top choice of most major universities and colleges worldwide when it comes to safety and durability.
As I reflect on the year that we have had so far I am filled with a great sense of pride for what our program was able to accomplish in its first year. One of our greatest achievements actually took place off of the playing field. As with all schools that participate in the CIF and the Central Coast Conference our students are required to maintain a 2.0 grade point average. Throughout the season our coaching staff stressed the importance of keeping on top of studies. To make a point of how important academics is to our coaching staff we gave our players a free hour each Wednesday to go to tutoring sessions before practice to help get caught up.
We also stressed that because we are a team we needed to look after each other in the classroom as well, and many of our players worked together to help teammates who were struggling get their grades up. As a result of all this work we lost only three players to eligibility. While I feel this is three too many, it is far below the district average and something that our coaching staff and players take great pride in.
Our season is going to be upon us very soon, and will prove to be very exciting as we move into our first season with a varsity team. At the present time we have almost all of those who participated in our program last season participating in baseball, track and field or lacrosse.
This is something that was emphasized by myself and my assistant coaches as we believe being involved with other sports will allow our student athletes more opportunities to find success and build relationships with other members of the student body.
I would like to take this opportunity to provide students and parents with some information to help with planning for the coming months. The coaching staff has been expanded for the upcoming season to help with the addition of our second level. The staff will be joined by four new coaches, all of whom have been part of programs that have had success in recent years including many playoff appearances.
Our season will officially kick off May 16 with spring football practice. These practices will be open to all incoming Sobrato students, as well as, any current student interested in participating. Practices will run from 3:45-5:15pm, Monday thro-ugh Thursday, and will conclude on Thursday, May 27.
The summer workout program will begin on June 20 and will run through Aug. 4. Workouts will be held from 1-4:30pm at Sobrato, Monday through Thursday. We will also have a football clinic for high school, junior high, and elementary students wanting to learn the fundamentals of the sport during the week of Aug. 8-12. If you need more information on any of these dates please call me at 201-6200 ext. 2217.
We will have our first practice of the fall Aug. 15, and our first game will be played on Saturday, Sept. 3. We will play a full 10-game schedule and one scrimmage. We will scrimmage Watsonville, then begin our season with home games against The Kings Academy, Santa Clara, Stone Ridge Christian of Merced, and Sonoma Valley and El Molino, both from the Sonoma area.
There will be away games against Cupertino, Harker Academy at PAL in San Jose, Alisal and King City. Due to us not being able to participate in the playoffs this season we have set up a game against Fortuna High School. This game will be a special way to end our first special season, as the Fortuna program will host the entire program.
In addition to participating in the game the team will join their hosts at a pre-game meal the night before the game, and the Fortuna booster program will provide a post game barbecue for our players and parents. We hope that we will be able to create a special feel to this game and provide an experience the players will be able to remember for the rest of their lives.
If you have any questions please feel free to call me at the school 201-6200 ext. 2217. Thank you for your support and we hope to make all of you proud.
Jeff Patterson is head football Coach at Sobrato High School. Readers interested in writing a guest column should contact editor Walt Glines at editormh@ morganhilltimes.com or 408-779-4106.
