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November 19th, 2021 | Josh Adelman

This past week, Soldiers to Sidelines completed its Virtual Football Coaching Certification Seminar in partnership with the New York Jets. The seminar was free for service members, veterans, and Milspouses. We had coaches of all experience levels joining in on the seminar and everyone had a great time and learned something new.

Jim Long, US Army veteran had this to say about his experience: “The program is amazing and a must for anybody in a leadership role around youth, parents yet advanced enough to give insight for those aspiring to coach above high school level. Already recommended it to everyone I work with!”

The Virtual Football Coaching Certification Seminar required a large commitment of time and effort. We met from November 7th for a three and a half hour session and the 8th through the 11th for two and a half hours each evening in addition to online homework. Only the most dedicated and curious completed certification. 111 of the 321 registrants decided to show up and accept the challenge. Of those 111, only 89 were able to complete the certification. Life can happen fast, and for the twenty-two that could not complete the course this time around, Soldiers to Sidelines has more opportunities this year and next to join the Tribe and earn certification.

The football content was orchestrated by Del Smith, Soldiers to Sidelines Director of Football. He has decades of experience as a coach and brought in fantastic coaches from very prestigious NCAA & NFL programs to help deliver the instruction.

This class of Soldier Coaches was able to hear firsthand from some of the amazing talents that included:

NY Jets General Manager Joe Douglas, Northwestern HC Pat Fitzgerald, NFL Special Teams Coach Ben Kotwica, NFL and NCAA Coach Jerod Kruse, Former Dallas Cowboys Director of Pro Personnel Judd Garrett, Bluefield State DC David Blake, and Tip of the Spear Football Director Mike Pollak.

Jacob Cano, US Marine Corps veteran summed up his experiences in the seminar with this: “When I got out of the Marines I went through a one week class on how to prepare a resume that incorporated my leadership skills. It was all copy-paste and in an interview, I had no idea how to explain it. STS broke down the leadership principles we learned in the Military and showed how to incorporate them into coaching not just Football but all sports. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in becoming a coach at any level of organized sports.”