Yesterday was a bittersweet day for this dad. For the past 15 years, Ive watched my son play football. He has shown, skill, poise, heart, sportsmanship, physical and mental toughness. He was not blessed with great size which was not a problem in youth ball and in high school. But when he moved on to college, even at Division III, he was often one of the smallest if not the smallest player on the field.He has experienced championships in youth ball to include a National Championship in Daytona Beach. He was part of a great program at Huntingtown High School which included 2 SMAC Championships and 2 Regional Championships in the State Playoffs and an appearance in the State Final. While the success at Shenandoah University for the team wasnt what he would have liked, he was the only freshman to have made the varsity squad and played in every game mostly as the starting punt returner. He played in all 40 games during his college career and Im thankful that he was not injured despite enduring several good hits over the years. In his sophomore year, he established himself as a receiver averaging over 20 yards per catch on 19 catches. Unfortunately, the team didnt do well and a coaching change was made after the season. New coaching staff and new short passing game offense. He ends his career with 51 receptions for 766 yards and a average of 15 yards per catch. All records are made to be broken but right now, he sits on top of SUs record books for number of punt returns and punt return yardage with 82 returns for 498 yards. This despite punt returns not being much of a priority to the team for the past two years. He does have two classes to make up between now and the end of the spring semester but he will still earn his degree in Exercise Science. There are a lot of people to thank for the success. From youth coaches like Jim Hardy, Ed Johnson, Pat OBrien, Bill Johnson, Tom Schade, Bobby Brezinski and Tommy Abel. Not to mention opposing coaches like Steve Piazza. Coaches at HHS like Jerry Franks and Rick Sneade as well as Greg Harris who is one of the best personal trainers around and showed David the dedication it would take to become a successful athlete. And finally Coach Bell (Great Mills HS) who noticed David during a camp at SU and began recruiting him to play there. It was a fun ride for the past 15 years and I dont know what I will do with my fall Saturday afternoons now. I thank all of you for enduring my videos as I will be posting the final ones in just a bit. But, I must warn you, now you will have to watch cheerleading videos of Danielle starting this upcoming basketball season. Yes, I am proud of my kids but I also enjoy hearing about and seeing the success of my friends kids as well. So keep on posting them. David Bell
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 21:13:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015