THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407260134
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, COMPASS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
It's a scenario that is becoming all too familiar in today's society.
A 16-year-old was charged with the murders of four people in Virginia Beach last week. Police told reporters the motive was drug-related robbery.
Last year, NBA superstar Charles Barkley raised a lot of eyebrows when he stated ``I'm no role model'' in a Nike commercial.
While Barkley's intentions may have been good - pointing out that parents should play that role - many people feel that kids, particularly teens, look outside the home for their heroes.
Incidents like this are what prompted Mordecai Smith, Ken Watson and Len Taylor to try to reach kids through Norfolk's new Coach's Corner program.
The program is designed to emulate programs in Chicago and Atlanta that have had an impact on inner-city youths through sports and their coaches.
``Being an ex-player, I was looking back at my colleagues and other kids and I noticed that a high percentage of the athletes were either in jail or just not contributing to the community,'' said Smith, a former Lake Taylor football player. ``I also noticed a lack of support on the part of the community and family and even the coaches in some respects, so I figured maybe I could come back to my school and offer some help.''
Smith returned to Lake Taylor three years ago to pick up the program Watson, also a former Titan, started there. Watson now works alongside Taylor out of First Baptist Church, where the Coach's Corner is based.
``Up front, I saw a change in the way they talked,'' Watson said of the initial response at Lake Taylor. ``The profanity just stopped.
``I remember the first day there was a kid using profanity a lot and one of the other kids finally looked at him and said `Why don't you quit all that cursing.' His response was `We're a football team, we're supposed to curse.'
``The next day, we spent the entire day talking about that and whether or not profanity improved on-field performance.
``So that was the beginning.''
The little things get things started, but Smith continues to see some major hurdles.
Of the 41 players on Lake Taylor's football team last year, Smith said that nearly half of them were already parents.
``I found that very disturbing,'' Smith said. ``I could not stand on the sidelines and cheer knowing that these boys have to play father when they step off the field.
``Their future is extinguished.''
That prompted Smith to think about expanding the program to the other four Norfolk schools.
``They really embraced the whole concept,'' Smith said.
Coaches and players from Granby, Maury, Booker T. Washington, Norview and Lake Taylor were all on hand last Saturday to hear former Chicago Bear Mike Singletary speak.
Singletary, a former All-Pro linebacker, spoke about family values and role models and the impact that coaches, whether they know it or not, have on a youngster.
Singletary said he went to Chicago thinking he knew everything there was to know about being a linebacker. After all, he had won numerous collegiate awards. He was an All-American. Then he met Buddy Ryan, then defensive coordinator for the Bears.
``Buddy Ryan didn't call me by my name. I was a number to him,'' Singletary said. ``It was `Hey, number 50, get in there.' Sometimes he even forgot that. I kept thinking, `What is with this guy? Doesn't he know who I am?' ''
Ryan set all kinds of rules for his players. Most of them small, but none unimportant.
Singletary said Ryan made all his players keep their chin-strap buckled at all times. And whenever they ran drills, they had to touch the line with their hand before they ran. If anyone failed to touch the line, Ryan would tell them after they were done and make them do it again.
Years after Ryan had left the Bears, Singletary found himself unable to run a drill without touching the line, and he always kept his chin-strap buckled.
Ironically, it may have been the part of training that he hated the most that gave Singletary the most inspiration.
Running was something Singletary always had gone to great extremes to avoid.
In Ryan's camp, he became a runner, and he said that when he ran the drills under the time Ryan had set, ``all of a sudden, there were no limits.''
Singletary admits that, at times, he couldn't stand Ryan.
``But he taught me to understand discipline and commitment,'' Singletary said.
To this day, Singletary keeps in contact with Ryan, Mike Ditka and all the coaches in his life. He said he knows that anytime he needs anything, his coaches are there for him, and vice versa.
``Let your players know you care,'' Singletary said to the coaches in attendance. ``Let them know that they are your kids. Get to know what they need and any special circumstances they might have in their lives. Take the time to know them and be there for them.''
Singletary, who came from a single-parent home, knows how difficult it is sometimes for kids to get the right role models from home.
``We love for it to come from home,'' Singletary said. ``But it can be the coaches, too, as long as somewhere, somehow, these kids have someone who shows that they care and they have a relationship with someone.
``I've looked around, and it's frightening. The scariest thing to see is a young man with no hope. A young man who doesn't believe in discipline. A young man who doesn't believe in respect.''
Smith hopes to see the program advance to the level of the program in Atlanta, with SAT preparation and tutoring as well as a great deal of involvement from the community and area churches.
``I think they have filled a big void with this program,'' Maury coach Bobby Pannenbacker said. ``There needs to be this association of the coaches. The kids need more of this, everyone needs more of this. . . . '' by CNB