by, Michael Deere (for Ozarks Sports Zone)
AVA, MO — ”I call him dad but sometimes he won’t hear me and I have to call him coach.”
Coach Dan Swofford has always had a passion to be a football coach. For his son, Nate, the fire was lit when dad became the Ava football coach ten years ago.
“I water boy’ed and ball boy’ed every game and I thought it was the coolest thing ever to see those guys,” Nate said. “I remember running outside, running touchdowns in the backyard and wanting to be an Ava Bear. So it’s cool that I get to be one and me and my dad get to be on a great team.”
The two wake up on Saturdays and watch game film and eat breakfast. They also spend quality time together watching high school, college and professional games when they get the chance. But dad says it has its difficulties.
“Probably the opposite of what most people would think is that I’m always concerned that people will think I’m favoring him because he’s my son. I end up chewing on him and getting after him more than other people. Sometimes when I get home I think well that wasn’t fair to him.”
Nate says he’s learned that nothing is given in life, you must earn it. Including playing time.
“Last year whenever we had one of the best teams in Ava history and I was on kickoff and that’s it. So I really had to work to get my spot and get ready for the season.”
This season the bears are 9-1 and that work ethic has rubbed off on other teammates.
“After practice, he has six or seven buddies and they go out and run and hill, go out and run pass routes or they just run sprints. They’re always doing something to get better.”
With Nate’s junior season winding down, the time they have together in high school is dwindling. But it’s time they wouldn’t give back for anything.
“You want that to be a storybook ending but sometimes it’s not. But with that said, just the experience alone, when we get down the road, 15 or 20 years from now, we’re going to look back and have great memories of that.”
