We’ve been reflecting this week on Sonoma’s good fortune to have Head Coach Mick O’Meara and Defensive Coach Mike Mulas as our high school football coaches. These men exemplify the values we seek to instill in our youth, and their 25-year, continuing tenure together with the varsity team is remarkable.
With generous support from community sponsors, the Sun publishes and distributes the free programs for all the Sonoma Dragon home football games, so we’ve had occasion to attend games and have seen ourselves the patience and compassion of these coaches. Of course, SVTV carries all the home games live on Comcast Channel 27, so the whole community can see them in action, too.
It must have been disappointing for them last Sunday to learn that, despite having finished second in the Sonoma County League, the Dragons were not invited for post-season play. But the coaches, as intense as they are and as much as they want to win, surely know that the real “wins” come when the young men on the team learn that, with hard work and perseverance, they can exceed their own expectations. That lesson may not stand out in the players’ memories as much as great moments on the field, but it will make a life-long difference.
What a special treat it must have been for Coach Mulas to work so closely these last few years with his son Michael, the defensive leader of the Dragons and the leading tackler in the Redwood Empire League. Their embrace and quiet conversation after each game this year has been poignant. And Coach O’Meara’s positive influence on youth extends beyond the sports field, as he is also a popular faculty member in the science department at the high school.
Few of the boys playing varsity football in our community will follow Tony Moll into the National Football League. Some will play in college, but the Dragon team has many who will not. Yet they so like being part of the team and being coached by the Dragon staff that they have stayed with the program and have worked hard to take advantage of that opportunity for personal growth. That’s a credit to their coaches.
Sonoma Valley has an active youth football program, with hundreds of kids participating as young as age 7, and there are large recreational programs in soccer, baseball, volleyball and basketball, too. All of those programs need coaches, by the dozens, and there are some great ones, Augie Chavez and Rick Hicks to mention just two. We’re fortunate, as a community, to have such volunteers, for our youth to grow up under their tutelage and reflect their characters.
Sports movies along these lines are always popular, and we enjoy, too, movies like “Stand and Deliver” and the less-well-known “Take the Lead,” based on real stories of adults inspiring youth to believe in themselves and to reach high. By any name – mentor, leader, Sunday school teacher, den mother – coaching happens in settings too numerous to list.
Another great coach we want to mention is Sil Coccia, whose girls’ varsity basketball team at the high school is seeing the fruition of the commitment given his program several years ago. With sponsor support, both the girls’ games and the boys’ games at Pfeiffer Gymnasium will be shown live this year on SVTV, but we encourage everyone in the community to visit the high school campus, sit among students and parents and cheer on the Lady Dragons.
We wrote last week about service, about the noble calling of serving the needs of others. That’s coaching, ultimately. Coaches don’t play the game – they put other people in position to play, and they work hard to put them in position to play well. In our view, it’s high praise to be known as “Coach.”