Photo By Staff Sgt. Jes Smith | First Sgt. Kenneth Gipe, (bottom right) head coach for the Team Bliss youth tackle...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas – When 1st Sgt. Kenneth Gipe came home from Afghanistan this past summer, he found out that the Fort Bliss Child Youth and School Services 8-9 and 10-11 tackle football teams’ fall season had been canceled due to their head coach moving away with no replacement volunteering.
This inspired Gipe, who was planning on his son playing for Team Bliss for a third straight year, to help save the season by taking on the responsibility of head coach.
“When I found out that there wasn’t going to be a team, I went to the CYSS director and told him that we had to have a team,” said Gipe, the first sergeant for Company F, 123rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. “I told him that the military kids deserve to have a team of their own and that a base team gives the military kids their chance to get playing time and improve as players.”
Consistency for most youth sports programs is hard to achieve, due to fact they are typically staffed by volunteers. Being a youth sport program associated with the military, stability is almost impossible to maintain. This makes Gipe, a Caldwell, Idaho, native, invaluable to Team Bliss’ youth football success.
Gipe said he volunteered because he wanted his son to play on a team with other military children. He added that military children always support soldiers and that having an all-military team gives the soldiers a chance to come together as one to support their military children. He also wanted to give that same opportunity to the other children of the Fort Bliss community.
This year was not Gipe’s first time volunteering. He volunteered for Team Bliss as an assistant coach three years ago after his son, Colton Gipe, became old enough to play on the 8-9 year old team, but he was unable to coach the following year due to a deployment to Afghanistan – his sixth in 18 years of service.
In addition to troubles with maintaining a coaching staff, the team also deals with a constantly changing roster of athletes.
“I only had two players on the team who played for Team Bliss last year,” said Gipe. “If it wasn’t for the team, these kids would have to play on other teams in the city, where they would have to compete for playing time against players who have been playing for those coaches since they were 5 and 6 years old. The coaches would naturally go with the kids who know their system and know their plays. Our military kids would be left watching from the sidelines.”
In addition to providing opportunities for playing time, Gipe also asks the children what positions they want to play, instead of choosing positions for them as some other head coaches tend to do.
“You never know at this age where a kid will excel at until he gets an opportunity to do so,” said Sgt. Schiavone Davis, an assistant coach for Gipe this past season, and a team leader with A Company, Brigade Support Battalion for 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. “With an opportunity to try it out, at least now they know.”
One of the players who tried out a new position this year was Trevor Erickson, who was in his second season playing tackle football and first with Team Bliss. He decided to try quarterback with Gipe’s encouragement.
“I was always nervous about trying to play quarterback, but Coach told me to just try it out and see what happens,” said Erickson, son of Master Sgt. Craig Erickson, a student at the United States Army Sergeants Majors Academy, Fort Bliss, Texas. “I’m really happy that I did because I get to have the ball in my hands on every play and I really love being a leader for the team.”
The quarterback added he loved playing for Coach Gipe and would play for him again if given the opportunity, because Gipe would always show up to practice and games with an excited attitude that made playing football this past season fun.
This development of players is a big focus for Gipe, but as head coach he knows it is also his responsibility to develop the coaching staff.
To do this, Gipe took a less direct approach with the players and focused more on overall team motivation, as well as handling the more tedious administrative work involved with operating a sports team, such as keeping the parents informed and maintaining practice and game schedules.
Davis said he appreciated how Gipe had confidence in him to run the offensive practices and call plays for the team in games. He went on to say that Gipe did a great job all year of keeping everyone motivated.
“Coach Gipe is a fireball,” said Davis. “He keeps the kids motivated and never lets them keep their heads down. When he sees their motivation decline he always has a way to bring them back up. He always has a way to bring me back up.”
Davis added that at the end of the season he would be moving to another duty station, but if he was staying, he would coach for Gipe again, and that he would coach with Gipe every year if possible. It is a sentiment that extends to the players’ parents as well.
“I hope my son gets a chance to play again for Gipe next year,” said Stacey Strader, who’s son Brock Strader, played for Team Bliss his first time this past season. “I hope he gets to play for Team Bliss.”
Strader added she appreciates the coaches’ time this past season. Going on to say that given a choice she would always prefer for her son to play with other military children because they have more in common, and are the only ones who understand what other military dependents go through.
“My gratification as a coach doesn’t come from how many games we win, but from hearing the kids tell me that they want to continue playing football,” said Coach Gipe. “We don’t have to be the best team in the league, but I want to know that the kids got better. I really feel as a coaching staff we accomplished that.”
For information on volunteer opportunities or to register a child for activities dial 915-568-4374 or visit www.blissmwr.com/cys.
This story is part three of a four part series highlighting mentors of children in the Fort Bliss community.
| Date Taken: | 12.03.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 12.03.2012 20:20 |
| Story ID: | 98687 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | CALDWELL, ID, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Meet Your Mentor Part 3: The first sergeant, the father, the football coach, by SSG Jes Smith, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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