Volunteer coaches teach more than just football

OREM — The tight white football pants make their seventh-grade legs seem so small, especially underneath hulking shoulder pads and scuffed helmets.

The offense huddles together on the sidelines, watching as the defense lines up against the taller, bigger team, already several touchdowns ahead.

This is their second playoff game. It's double elimination and they've already got one loss.

It's freezing on a recent evening in Orem, and teeth chatter as the Centennial Middle School Timberwolves, coaches and parents celebrate each tackle.

"Help your defense," the coaches call out. "Yell at them. Tell them to hit people."

And the kids do. The lightweight 12- and 13-year-olds pile on the Wasatch offense and the ball gets loose.

Fumble.

"There we go, there we go!" the coaches cheer from the sidelines. "Get excited guys, get excited!"

Head coach Jake Brandenburg checks his clipboard and calls out instructions for the offense as they scramble onto the field.

Brandenburg, 23, doesn't have a son on the team. He's not getting paid. He's out in the freezing cold because he loves sports. And he wanted to make a difference.

"I love football and after high school I always wanted to coach it," said the BYU exercise science major from Virginia. "Coaches have a huge impact on the lives of their players, especially at such developmental ages, like our seventh-graders. The kids really look up to us as role models, so we try to be good ones for them."

Brandenburg and his friend Taylor Harrington, a junior from Colorado, created Cougar Coaches in September, as a way to combine their love of sports with a chance to serve.

The program, now sponsored through BYU's Center for Service and Learning, has about 10 volunteer coaches working with students ages 7 to 18 in already existing football, soccer and basketball leagues, Harrington said, including the nonprofit Utah Valley Football League.

None of the five Centennial coaches would consider themselves professionals. A few have coached kids before, but the others have only been coached and wanted to share what they learned.

"I had a great little league football coach," said Matt Edwards, defensive coordinator, and also the grandson of BYU's famed football coach, LaVell Edwards. "I had the same one all three years and I look up to what he taught me, not just about football, but about life in general."