We all know those iconic Friday evenings where varsity players run onto the field, ready to exhibit their athleticism in front of hundreds in the stands. But, on Mondays, there goes the chance for Junior varsity players to show their athletic progress in front of coaches. Players learn how to compete with other players during those games. As the junior varsity program makes young players ready to become varsity players in the future, it is evaluated as the future of the team.
AJ Torre, who is now a Junior Varsity Coach for the Ridgewood Maroons football team, is ready to lead Maroons towards an exceptional season. As a former athlete from Ridgewood High School in 2006, he has had experience playing three sports which include football, hockey, and baseball. In fact, he played those sports for all 4 years during his time at RHS. With this experience, we wanted to learn more about his experience as a coach and his viewpoints on football, in general.
Torre did not apply to be coach. The head coach asked him to help with JV as one of his duties as a football coach at the varsity level. He explained that the main difference between JV and Varsity is the speed of the game and the experience of the players. For varsity, everything goes much quicker and faster than JV. It requires a lot of skills for JV players to be a varsity player.
As the scout team coach, he have several jobs. The main job is to make sure he has the best 22 players that are not on the first and second string for varsity to run the offense and defense of the team we are playing that week. To also make sure the JV players know their assignments and execute them to the best of their ability.
Torre explained that the main thing that he has seen change since he graduated in 2006 is the dedication. He says: “I don’t see as many student athletes making football a priority. What I emphasize as a coach to the players is that football should be the third important subject in their lives after family and school. This team has a lot of energy and passion which will take us a long way, I just hope we can control it.”
Torre’s main goal is expecting the players to show up every day, on time, ready to work hard on the week’s opponent. And he stated, “Focus is the main goal.” This mentality will hopefully lead the JV football program into a great season!
Joongho Sohn (staff writer)
Graphic: Name of Illustrator