Head coaches Gabe Infante and Pat Murphy have spent the past few months preparing their players week in and week out for their team's upcoming competition. And after all the big wins and the crushing defeats, the door will soon be closing on this year's high school football season. But it won't signify the off-season for these coaches just yet - this is when their work will have just begun as they tackle their next assignments coaching USA Football's 2010 Junior National Team.
The first-ever "Team USA vs. The World" game will match USA Football's 2010 Junior National Team - consisting of 45 of the country's top high school seniors - against a World Select team composed of the best players aged 19 and under from outside the United States, spanning four continents.
The game will be played in Ft. Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium on Jan. 30 and has been designated as an official Pro Bowl week event by the NFL. Both sides will have their work cut out for them with less than three months to fill roster spots and devise a game plan, but Infante, Team USA's defensive coordinator, is certainly up for the challenge.
"I'm honored and extremely excited," said Infante, also the head coach of Paramus (N.J.) Catholic High School."Coaching football for me is not a career, it is a passion.The opportunity to represent my country in the sport I love is a dream I never thought possible. I am grateful for the chance to be a member of this team and am humbled by my selection."
Murphy, Team USA's defensive backs coach, said he too was honored to be selected to the coaching staff - but when he first got a call from Team USA General Manager Todd Bell, he didn't know what to expect.
"Todd Bell had left a few messages to call him," said Murphy, who has led Helena (Mont.) Capital High School to an 11-0 record this season. "We have a blue-chip athlete on our team that is getting a lot of national attention and many calls from recruiters. Having to deal with literally hundreds of calls for him, I assumed Todd wanted info on him.
"So when I finally contact Todd, he asked if I wanted to coach Team USA. I think my initial reply was "Huh?" Then it finally sunk in that I was just presented an opportunity of a lifetime."
The head coach of USA Football's team is Chris Merritt, head coach of Miami Christopher Columbus High School. Merritt was also the defensive backs coach for the 2009 Junior National Team that earned a gold medal in Canton, Ohio, this past July in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Junior World Championship - something the newest junior national team will hope to accomplish as well.
"Our goal is simple - win," Infante said."To help our team to that end, I want our defense to be dominant. Dominance to me is about being physical and playing an aggressive style of defense.I want our kids to play fast and be able to showcase their talents and abilities.
"It is an incredible honor to be selected to represent your country in a game like this, and I want them to enjoy the experience."
USA Football's roster will be hand-selected through research and film study and will be announced before Jan. 1. Players and coaches will arrive the week of Jan. 25 ahead of the Saturday kickoff, which will only leave several days for both squads to practice and get to know one another as teammates.
"We will have some of the greatest athletes in the land; they will be well coached and schooled in fundamentals," Murphy said. "We will need to fine tune their footwork and fundamentals and get them ready for game speed. After that, the majority of the time will be spent on our defensive schemes and coverages."
Because there will be little time to prepare, Infante knows a Team USA victory is going to come down to the basics.
"Football is a simple game, which we as coaches love to complicate with sophisticated schemes and game plans," he said. "Ultimately it's the young men in the uniform who have to execute, however. So we want to keep things simple and let our kids play fast with incredible confidence."
