Being guided on the field and at home, SHS senior Blake Evans and junior Luke Manning are experiencing what it feels like to have their parent coach them in a high school sport.  

Senior and wide receiver Blake Evans holds several records at SHS, and his dad Scott Evans is also a football coach. Although Scott is Blake’s coach, the two don’t always have the opportunity to be together one on one since Scott coaches the defensive line while Blake works with Tyler Weatherford, the wide receiver coach.

“It’s different than a rec league, because he only cared about me, but now he has a lot more people to care about,” Blake said.

Scott has been coaching his son for as long as Blake can remember in most of the sports he has played such as football and basketball. He likes the motivation of having his dad on the sideline with him during the games. He said there is some motivation that he can’t describe between the two. He also feels there is some pressure to make his dad proud of him, because he is a coach on his team.

“I don’t really notice him until the games on Friday,” Blake said.

The same thing goes for another student at SHS. Junior Luke Manning plays golf and his dad Don Manning is the coach. Don has coached Luke in almost all the sports Luke has played such as basketball, soccer, and football. The only exception comes with cross country.

“I’m not sure it helps me just because he is my dad, but I think it is nice to know we can work together to help the team out,” Luke said.

Luke likes being able to know things ahead of time so it is easier to spread the word to the team. For example, if a meet gets cancelled Luke would be able to tell the team earlier than if they had to wait for their coach to notify them.

With the exception of cross country, Don has coached Luke in  everything Luke has done. Luke likes that his dad gets to coach him in high school, but there is some pressure that comes along with it to. Luke said that there is a nice break during cross country but it is nice to have his dad coach him during golf season.

He says he doesn’t get special attention or special privileges because his father is the coach. He also says that his dad is not bias to him or to any other kids on the team he shows fair attention to all.

While Luke works with his dad one on one often it is different for Blake because his dad works with the defense while he plays offense. When it comes to the day of a game, all the coaches help out each other so he finally gets to help Blake out if he isn’t doing something right.

“It is good because he motivates me to the best I can be,” Blake said.

To some kids there is a special motivation knowing that they have a parent on the sideline. Whether it is the motivation of wanting to do better than they did or to make it farther than they did or just to show them your full capability.

For both Blake and Luke they have a coach on their team and in life rooting for them. Their parents help them through life, school and everything in between. They help them get through the hard times that the kids have. Also, they motivate their children in various ways. Both Blake and Luke feel that they get the same experience that any other athlete does.

“If I made a mistake I think my dad would fix it the same way another coach would fix it,” Luke said.