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Coach Roberts - Named "Coach of the Year"

Joshua Springs Christian School head Football Coach Jackie Roberts was recently named the "Coach of the Year" in the CIF 8-Man Division which consists of 61 participating schools in the southern section. The Joshua Springs Lightning finished an undefeated season of 12-0-1 this year and won the CIF 8-Man Division I Championship. Yes, it was a great year, but there is more to this story; since Coach Roberts has taken over at Joshua Springs he has won 83 out of 104 games (79.8%) over his nine year tenure as the head coach. The Lightning have won six Agape League Championships out of the last seven years, they have been to the playoffs 9 out of 9 years and they went all the way to the Divisional Championship game four times finally winning this year. The Lightning have only had a football program for 12 years. So, why is the Joshua Springs Football program so successful? The school is located in a small town with less than 30,000 people. Yet, every year the team is competitive in their division.

I had an opportunity to interview Coach Roberts and ask him some pretty pointed questions. When asked how he would explain the success of the JS program, Roberts said "I believe it all comes down to the basics of our program, strength and conditioning, fundamentals such as blocking and tackling and a good coaching staff who is willing to take time to work with each kid to develop these skills. It also helps that we have kids enter our system in junior high and start learning how to play football correctly. For example, the fear of laying a hit or taking one is gone by the time our kids get to high school, that is a big part of playing football. Also, everyone learns that the only responsibility they have is their job assignment, there are 8 assignments on every play; when everyone covers their assignment our team makes the play. We start teaching this in our junior high program. Our junior high program won their championship this year too. We are very proud of them."

Roberts believes his greatest accomplishment is developing a program that really spends the time with each individual player. Roberts said "I remember when I was a Freshman playing football,  about 100 kids were on the freshman team. The next year only 20 stayed with the program because of lack of support from the coaching staff. I remember how bad we felt losing good players because they did not feel they belonged. Our players at Joshua Springs  get the one on one teaching so they have strong fundamentals and a feeling of belonging.  We have players sticking with our program year after year. We teach them to never quit, not on the field, not in the classroom, not in their personal lives. Quitting is just a habit kids develop, but so is winning. We want them to leave our program with a winning attitude."

The Joshua Springs program has had some great athletes. I asked Roberts if any one player stands out above the rest. He said "Now, that is a tough question. I would say the two most exciting players I have ever coached were Kollin Woodbury and Eddie Nixon. I would have to give the edge to Nixon because he has such a strong work ethic. Eddie just kept getting better and better. I think the last 4 games of this year were the best in his career. All the coaches in the 8-Man Division agreed with me I guess, they did vote him as the "All State - Most Valuable Player" in the 8-man Division. In all fairness to Woodbury, I only had him for a year. I really don't know what would have happened if I had him for 4 years like Nixon. He was definitely an awesome player too.

There are a lot of kids in grade school that are thinking about playing football. I asked Roberts "what would you say to them about playing at Joshua Springs?" He said "I would tell them they would have the opportunity to develop a solid foundation in their skills. Every play comes down to blocking and tackling, whomever doesn't do their job allows the other team to take advantage of it. We teach the players to stand side by side and learn how to play team football. Success breeds success, we teach perseverance, endurance and success. The truth is everyone likes to be winners, no one wants to be 0-11 at the end of the year.

Roberts feels like the Joshua Springs program is right where he wants it for the moment. When asked how much longer he sees himself coaching He laughed and said: "Well, the powers that be would like to see me coach at least 21 more years. I will coach as long as it means the same to me as it does now. It really helps that I have quality coaches that can take over parts of the things I do, so I can spend personal time with my family and just get away. There really is no off-season in football. We are always working on something."

Joshua Springs will graduate more seniors from their team this year than ever before; many of them starters on offense and defense. Will Joshua Springs be rebuilding in 2008 or reloading? Roberts had no comment at this point, only that smile that tells you he knows something that you don't. One thing is for sure; Coach Roberts will have Joshua Springs football ready to play in September 2008 when it opens against the same team they played in the Championship game; it should be a real exciting game.