Timothy Johnson, newly hired football coach at Yazoo City High School, has grand plans for his football team this season and beyond, but before he can worry about the on the field product, he first must address the concerns off the field.
His first concern? Equipment.
Johnson has his eye on improving the quality of the shoulder pads, something he believes is a necessity.
Shoulder pads are supposed to be reconditioned every 2-3 years, but according to Johnson, that hasn’t happened in at least that amount of time. In fact, many of the shoulder pads are quite a deal older.
“Some of those pads were the same ones being used in the 90s,” Johnson said. “Shoulder pads normally phase out after 10 years.”
The situation was so dire that a number of Yazoo City Indians were forced to wear shoulder pads meant to be worn by middle school players.
According to Johnson, that was allowed due to a common misconception.
“Most coaches do not know how to properly fit shoulder pads,” Johnson said. “They think that the end part of the shoulder pad is supposed to cover the shoulder blade. It’s not. The pad underneath it is supposed to cover the shoulder blade. That’s why some coaches think it’s fine if players wear smaller shoulder pads.”
The common misconception can lead to tragic situation.
“Kids can get their ribs broken,” Johnson said. “They can get their sternum broken, and they may just think they’re sore. If they don’t understand that it’s broken, it can actually puncture their heart, lungs, or whatever. I’m not comfortable putting kids out there like that.”
Beyond the liabilities and legal issues that come with putting a player out onto the field with insufficient equipment, Johnson doesn’t want it on his conscience.
“It’s bigger than just the school from a liability standpoint,” Johnson said. “It’s about the kids’ futures. There’s life after football. No matter what they do, whether they play college or go to the NFL, there will be a day when they stop playing. Having a traumatizing event because they were dressed in junior high pads can’t happen.”
On June 12 when the school board meets, there will be a decision made on how to best attack the situation. One proposal would have them purchase 55 helmets for $15,000, and the other would allow them to purchase 65 helmets and the same number of shoulder pads for roughly $19,000.
After the heavy equipment is settled, the secondary concerns can be addressed, beginning with jerseys.
Johnson was informed that vandalism took its toll on the school’s jersey storage.
Instead of replacing the all the jerseys, just the missing ones were replaced.
While it isn’t as pressing as the others, Johnson does believe that that lack of having a good full set of jerseys hurts both the morale and general attitude the coaching staff is trying to create.
“I don’t want everyone thinking I’m coming in as a new coach and saying I don’t like everything because I think the red jerseys are really cool, but we’re just missing a lot,” Johnson said. “If we could get only one new set of jerseys this year, it would be a grey set, not because it looks cool, but because we could wear it at home or away. We could get more use out of them. If we could get two pairs, we would get grey and white, so we could use our old whites as practice jerseys. We don't have any practice jerseys right now. We have a lot of mismatched stuff. We need to have structure and organization in our program, and it has to be in all phases.”
