The Process Of Building A High School Football Program

By P.J. Sprunk, Head Football Coach // Kenner Discovery Swamp Owls

Starting our program from scratch two years ago took a lot of physical and mental preparations. The one thing that we remained steady in was our focus and our team philosophy of creating champions both on the field but also in the game of life. 

Our very first practice we had 14 kids. We continued to coach them hard and love them harder. Each day that number grew to where we had 33 kids our first season as a JV team. We coached them hard and loved them harder.

We hit many peaks and valleys that year leading into our first varsity season last year. Our roster grew to 64 players last season in which we finished our first varsity season with a winning record of 6-4 and just barely missing the playoffs by fractions of a point. We coached them hard and loved them harder! 

Heading into our second varsity season we have a roster of 88 kids and are returning 17 of 22 starters looking to get better every day. We STILL coach them hard and love them harder. Our goals here are obviously to win championships on the field. That’s a huge part of what we do but the even bigger goal is to use football as a tool to help these young men be successful when they leave here. We want them to be better young men of society not just better football players. 

We coach them hard because life will be hard on them. We love them harder because through hard work anything is possible. Champions on the field and in the game of life! #OWLUP”