Football coach, players reflect on sport’s life lessons
ARHS varsity football Head Coach Vinnie Guiel calls football “the ultimate team game.”
“These kids work their tails off. It’s not always pretty,” said Guiel. “There are ups and downs, and a lot of emotions but they show up, and they give everything they’ve got. That’s what matters.”
Last year, the team was 8-2. This year, they finished 5-5. “It’s not the season we hoped for, but we fought hard and learned a lot along the way,” said Guiel.
According to Guiel, practice is all about preparation. “We focus on the fundamentals, blocking, tackling, and executing our plays,” he said. But they also spend time building trust with one another. “We push each other to get better every single day,” he said.
The team’s goal was to make the state playoffs. “That’s always the focus, to give ourselves a shot to compete with the best,” he said. “This season East Longmeadow and Wahconah were huge wins for us. Those games showed what we’re capable of when we come together and play to our potential.”
For Guiel, football is not just a game. He said he went through a lot as a teenager, and “football saved my life.”
He added, “If it wasn’t for the adults who stepped up for me, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. My goal is to give that back to help kids grow, learn from their mistakes, and realize that football is about more than just the game. It’s about life. There are a TON of life lessons in the game.”
One of Amherst’s team captains, senior Leo Inoue, has a similar mindset. “A big part of what I do is try to be a good role model for the younger guys,” he said, to make sure they do the right things moving forward to “create a good culture.”
Inoue’s advice for upcoming players is that it is a big jump from middle school, so they have to “be open to criticism and understand that you can get much better through hard work.” Inoue said the team didn’t have many bonding activities this year and “we hope that’s different moving forward.”
“We want everyone to really connect,” he said. Inoue enjoys it when they win as a team, and everyone does their jobs well and they feel their practice is paying off.
Steven Varela, a freshman starting out on JV, said it can be tough being a freshman around older kids with bigger energy to keep a positive mindset. Varsity also gets a lot more attention, noted Varela, “Sometimes I wish we did more team bonding activities to be closer as a team,” he said.
After the season was over, the Hurricanes came together for one last match, a fundraising volleyball game: boys’ football versus girls’ volleyball. Although this wasn’t their typical Friday night under the lights, it was an intense match. The varsity girls were in the lead for the first three matches, but the boys soon took the lead and won the game. After a tough season, they said, this matchup was a great way to end it.
