HSFT Stop #22: Baldwyn
Baldwyn has had just five head coaches since 1973, and last season, Neal Allen picked up right where the program left off. The Bearcats went 9-1 in his first regular season as head coach, and Allen says that success comes from the winning standard and discipline that have been built here for decades.
Allen said, “We try to focus on the details of winning. And so the hard work that the competitive spirit that goes into it, the discipline, all of the components that it takes to win a game. So I don’t necessarily look at it as we got to win X number of games. I think if you focus on the details, you have a chance to win. And so that’s the that’s where we put our emphasis on the small things that need to be done each day, each practice, each trip to have a chance to win.”
Allen has been a part of the program for over 20 years and has a special summer routine. The players will go through endurance training they call Speed School, with incentives for everyone on the team.
“Everything in the summer, everything we do is is is has a point system to it,” Allen said. “We compete in the weight room on being trapped squat race, whatever. Our, our big lift is for that day. We compete in sweat, we compete in running. We’re trying to build our young kids into a position. We’ve got a lot of young talent, but they haven’t played much. And so we try to compete and do everything that we can to start that process as early as we can.”
Kmauryen Johnson said, “It’s all competition. Nobody wants to be last. Everybody wants to be first. So when you continue to try to be first, eventually you just keep going. And if you start off last, you just keep working to become first.”
“It’s basically like winning and losing,” Jamarion Robinson said. “When you don’t complete the race, you lose points for your team; you win, you win points for your team at the end or some of the points combined and you’ve got to go do something for us.”
Hardships build relationships at Baldwyn, whether that comes in the form of running the Green Mile or losing games during the season. This senior class has been one of the most successful in school history, and they know they’ve got one more memorable run in them.
“Our bond it very strong,” Johnson said. “I mean, we all started playing from seventh grade up, so I feel like we’re just all right there together. My senior year, you know, just like it was last year, I was just a freshman. Now, I got one more year left with my guys. And I feel like we are coming together as a team. If we keep working hard, we can succeed it, you know?”
Robinson said, “we got we got three or four trophies to win, the Skunk Bowl, the division, the North Side, and state that I would like to get out of my senior year.”
Baldwyn will open up their season at home when they host Kossuth on Aug. 28.
