Meet the Coaches: Steve Hummer

 In Steve Hummer’s mind, success in football is not the birthright of the biggest. It belongs to the quickest, the smartest and the best prepared.

  For three years now, Hummer has coached offensive line play for our grade of Junior Blue Dukes players. This year on game day, Hummer is on the JBD7 Grey sideline, instructing, encouraging, reminding and correcting his linemen.

 Steve grew up in western Pennsylvania where the passion for football was so great the local newspaper would break down player position match-ups between high school teams, and "the post-game articles would rival the depth of Badger coverage at the Journal Sentinel." 

Steve earned all-conference honors as a lineman, playing guard and tackle. "In junior high and early high school I wrestled as well," he said. "I was an average wrestler, but I feel it improved my awareness of body position for football and helped me get into the proper blocking position.  This was particularly important since I was smaller than many of my opponents. I found that getting off the snap of the ball quickly and getting into the correct blocking position was far more important than my physical size."

 Later in life, while teaching in Florida, he coached the line for his school's varsity football team. "Since our line was typically smaller -- but faster -- than other teams, we concentrated on proper technique, speed off the ball, being smarter than the other team. By the latter I mean knowing all of the various ways you can block the same play depending on the defense."

 "Other than quarterback, the five guys on the line have the most decision making during a play," Hummer said. "They have to make the correct blocking decision (in unison) based on the defense, get off the ball and then make the physical block against a player who might outweigh him by 20 pounds. If one guy doesn't make the right block the play doesn't work.  So when one of our backs makes a great play I'm the guy you hear screaming 'good job!' to the linemen."

  The Junior Blue Dukes offensive line is not a monolithic wall of similar boys. The different positions have distinct responsibilities. The center, of course, must snap the ball correctly, consistently and on the right count many times a game. Guards are usually the quickest linemen. On some plays, they "pull," leaving their area for specific blocking assignments in motion. "Tackles are the biggest guys because they have to anchor the outside of the line," Hummer said. 

 Compared to the teams we play, Junior Blue Dukes linemen are nearly always faster, Hummer said, and "I like to think we are the smartest."

Offensive linemen aren't the only players who must block for plays to be successful. On each play, "every running back and receiver has a blocking assignment," he said. "I think our receivers have done an outstanding job of downfield blocking."

Hummer said Coach Joe Wieland has the boys doing isometrics and other strength-improving exercises to become stronger as the season goes on. During individual offense time, our linemen also practice proper technique, beginning with the basics of lining up and getting in the correct stance. "You have to be able to do this every day even when you are tired and don’t want to," Hummer said. "Coming out of the correct stance gives you strength."

"I encourage kids to get in a squat position at home and see how long they can hold it."

More than any other sport, Hummer said, football requires everyone from the average athlete on a team to the exceptional one to work in unison. 

Having worked with many of these boys since 5th grade, Hummer said, "I’ve seen kids who have become really good football players and continue to grow."

As for his linemen, he added, speaking from his experience as a player as well as a coach, "I want them to love something that doesn’t get biggest press in the world."
 

Meet the Coaches: Joe Wieland

Coach Joe Wieland

When Joe Wieland coached the Whitefish Bay High School football team, his team one season featured a senior linebacker who was 5’ 6” and weighed all of 140 pounds. (Hint: Some boys on this season’s 7th grade squad are bigger than that.)
“He lifted weights and became a second-team all-conference linebacker, because he thought he was a tough-guy football player,” Wieland said.
“Every year at high school I had one kid who never started until he became a senior. Those are my success stories. I made a difference with those kids.”
Wieland, who has 22 years of coaching football at every level from 3rd grade through college graduate assistant, is coaching the Junior Blue Dukes 7th grade Blue team this year. He coached the 6th grade squad last season.
He was an all-conference football (RB/DB), baseball (outfielder) and track (sprinter) athlete at Kettle Moraine High School, and an all-conference free safety and track letterman at Carroll College. Wieland coached the WFBHS team for 5 years, compiling 8-3 records his last two seasons.
“I’ve never been the biggest guy on the field,” said Wieland, a math teacher at Whitefish Bay Middle School. “I felt like I worked as hard as I could. I was a tough guy, I played hard.
“I was a kid who could not stand to lose. I hated to lose. I was really fast, I took advantage of my strengths.”
Last season, with a bounty of skilled players to call on, Wieland’s 6th grade team went undefeated. To get more boys more playing experience, the 7th grade is fielding two teams this season, with acknowledged skill players divided comparably between the two teams.
“I feel much more challenged as a coach, day to day in practice,” he said. “I have to make the players better every single day.
“One of our goals is to make our coaches coach better.”
He said he was “ecstatic” with the number of 7th grade boys (about 46) who came out for football this season. “We picked up some football players. Some will have an immediate impact, some an impact two years from now.”

Joe Wieland in his day job as a teacher.

While some players are obviously bigger, faster or stronger than others, Wieland does not believe on giving up on any kid who is making the effort. “Kids will ask me and I will tell them candidly, here’s what you need to do (to improve or to earn a starting spot),” he said. He also said every kid on the team, no matter who he is, has parts of his game he can improve.
Wieland, Grey team coach Jon Bassindale and the assistant coaches are committed to maintaining a unified spirit among 7th grade players while fielding two teams. The two head coaches frequently compare notes on their squads. About 75% of the offensive playbook is the same for both teams, with each team putting in a few plays of its own to take advantage of its players’ distinctive skills.
“We end every practice as a team,” Wieland said. “We are one big team that is going our opposite ways on Saturday and coming back to talk about our victories.

Meet the Coaches: Jon Bassindale

Coaches Joe Wieland (left) and Jon Bassindale

(At the suggestion of Coach Wieland, I’m writing a series of pieces about the men who are coaching our boys this season.)
Jon Bassindale defies at least one stereotype of the youth football coach: He does not yell very much. 

That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t correct mistakes in practice, or get exasperated by the antics and miniscule attention spans of some hormonally-charged 7th graders. But rather than scold, he prefers to instruct and organize boys in a sport that he both takes seriously and loves passionately.

“I have had both good coaches as well as some really bad coaches in my time, so I have a lot to model myself after,” he said.

With the 7th grade moving to two teams this season for more boys to gain playing experience, Bassindale, who coached running backs and linebackers last season, was eager to step up to the second head coaching spot alongside Joe Wieland.

“I love football... it’s the ultimate team sport!
Football requires all 11 players on the field to coordinate their efforts in order to create an advantage over the other team. If one player misses an assignment, the whole play can collapse.”

Bassindale played high school football at Racine Case in 1975-’77 as a running back and cornerback, where he earned all-conference and all-county honors. He played college football at Dartmouth as a running back and member of the kickoff and kick coverage teams.

One of his signature experiences as a player started, unexpectedly, with a demotion. He had missed a Dartmouth varsity game to attend his brother’s wedding. When he returned to campus, he found he had been demoted to the JV team for the next game.

“I had a ton of fun in that game,” he said. “It kind of refocused me.” It reminded him of how much fun football could be, no matter where a person is playing.

“This season,” Bassindale said, “is about trying to make our 7th grade class even stronger as a team by developing more players capable of taking it to the next level.”

“So much of what we accomplish this year,” he continued, “will take place in practice and not on the field on Saturdays.

“Many of my best football memories come from the time spent with my football buddies on the practice field.”

Bassindale, Joe Wieland and the assistant coaches had many discussions before dividing the 7th graders into two comparable teams.

“We have 22-23 boys on the grey squad, and at this point only half of our starting 11 would be starters on a combined team,” Bassindale said.

“That means the other half will get significant playing time in a starting role, where they have the opportunity to get even better.”

While it doesn’t hurt to have size, speed and strength, Bassindale said what he most looks for in players is “the things that kids can control... their effort, their attitude, and their respect.

If the player shows up and gives 100%, is willing to learn and try new things, is focused on improving, and is respectful of their coaches/teammates and competition, they will accomplish a lot.”

At least for the first game, he said, he would go with his best 11 on offense and best 11 on defense. Knowing that means some of the same players on both sides, probably another 5 or 6 boys will also play regularly.

As Coach Wieland has also said, he will be fair to boys based on their skills, mastery of the plays and effort they put into practice, but playing time will not be distributed equally.
“Everyone has the same opportunity to prove themselves ready for playing time,” he said.

“Success here would be having some of our second 11 become part of our starting 11 before season’s end.”