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TruePLAY3R continues our elite coaches interview series with UBC Thunderbirds head coach Ted Goveia.

Describe your earliest memory of connecting with football.

Growing up in my neighborhood, I was the youngest kid on my block. There were ten other kids who were a couple years older and they played football. They played minor league football but my parents said I could only play hockey. So these older guys used to make me come out to the park with my hockey equipment on and made me play running back. I’d go out there with a hockey helmet on and hockey shoulder pads on. These guys were probably 11 or 12 years old and I was about 9 years old. They would chase me around the park and tackle me. The next year I convinced my mom that I should play football instead of hockey.

What role has your family played in your passion for football?

I would say it was my coaches that fueled my passion for football. My parents were immigrants who didn’t have football where they grew up. I think my life in football has made them fans of the game.

Did you always know you wanted to be a coach?

You know what? I bought my first coaching book when I was 13 years old, at a garage sale. I remember it was a big orange book. I think I knew at a really young age. I had great minor league coaches who made the game really fun. I think that’s what got me involved.

You live & work in one of the more densely populated areas of Canada but how do you find players outside BC? Or do you even bother with that?

Actually, we do bother with it. Like any program, we want to attract the best kids from our own backyard. It’s easier to build an alumni base and get community involvement. But at the same time, to be competitive at a school like UBC it’s important that we recruit outside the area.
We use recruiting services. We go to combines and camps. We scout and we have contact everywhere. We’ve got kids on our team from Finland, Mexico, Hawaii, Michigan and all over the place. They don’t play great football in Finland either but he’s a big kid.

Where does the information & confirmation come from to lead you to recruit an individual? Especially recruiting student-athletes from outside BC?

From outside the province, it’s more word-of-mouth. It’s easy to identify the best athletes. They win awards. News is posted on the internet. We use many of the same avenues other teams use—places we can go to get maximum exposure. We got to camps or combines where we can see a lot of kids, not just one or two. We scout games and sometimes just have people shoe up at a game. We use our alumni, etc.

Every team has back-up players at every position but stands out to you about a player you try to bring to UBC to have an immediate impact, other than size?

If a kid is training and he’s a strong student, those are usually two key indicators for me. Everybody wants to play right away. But the reality is that very few are willing to do what it takes ahead of time. So if I meet a young kid and I know that he’s keen on training and he’s a good student—meaning that he’d be smart enough to pick up our systems, attend UBC and last—that’s automatically a very intriguing prospect for me. If you have trained and you lift weights, you usually get results. Then you’re hooked. It’s something that becomes part of your life. That’s what we look for ahead of time.

What do you do to relax and unwind away from football?

I work out. I ski and I kite surf. I picked up kite surfing at a camp in Costa Rica. But I’ve always sailed and skied so kite surfing was a natural combination of skiing and sailing. I never do enough of any of those activities but that’s what I’d choose. And I play guitar. I’m from a family of guitar players.

This week Sport Centre reported that Patrick Roy turned down the invitation to be the Head Coach and General Manager of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. If you could be handed the reins and dream support staff to lead any football team or franchise, which would you choose?

I kinda like where I’m at, to be honest with you. If I had to go with my favorite team, which most people would, it’d be the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the guy they have there is doing a pretty good job so I don’t think that’ll happen for me.

Do any particular football heroes stand out in our mind? Coaches? Players? Anyone in the football pantheon stick out as someone you may have modeled yourself after in some way?

I’ve had the chance to work with some great people. I worked with Greg Marshall at McMaster. I learned a lot from Greg about building a program. I worked with Pinball Clemmons for eight years when he coached with the Toronto Argonauts. He’s been a great mentor to me, as General Manager of the Toronto Argonauts. I learned a ton from Kent Austin in Saskatchewan. I’ve been lucky in football. I found that everyone is very helpful in terms of giving information. They’ve allowed me to come into their camps and learn from them.
I’ve been pretty lucky. My high school coach is probably the most influential person in my development—Mike Harris at Assumption High School in Burlington, Ontario. Mike is now at Christ the King High School in Georgetown, Ontario. Most guys end up coaching for a long time because somebody had a deeply positive impact on their life. I can’t speak for all coaches but I’d think that’s a common experience.

The fraternity of football coaches seems to be a fairly tight community with a lot of mentoring. How do you encourage UBC players to live out that mentoring spirit on your team?

That’s a good question. Each incoming freshman is matched up with a faculty member and a senior player. They try to meet once a week to go over basic stuff one-on-one. The university conducts leadership seminars for the players on different types of skills set they need too. But I’m pretty blessed with really strong leadership on our team. UBC has fairly high entrance standards. We’ve got pretty bright kids who are natural leaders.

In November 2008, NFL Canada named QUINN SKELTON The Home Depot NFL Youth Coach of the Year. Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football players submitted short essays recognizing the positive impact their former high school, community, or varsity coach had on young players. Players were asked to consider how their coach taught respect, safety, motivation, leadership and appreciation for the game of football when drafting their nominations. Skelton was nominated by Reed Alexander, a Medicine Hat High School graduate and currently an offensive lineman at the University of Calgary. Skelton was selected from a shortlist of five community and high school coaches from across Canada to receive the honour. A panel of journalists, NFL officials and The Home Depot representatives selected the winner.

This year Coach Skelton is part of the group of coaches leading the South Team at the Football Alberta Senior Bowl and Football Canada Cup. PLAY3R thanks Coach Skelton for sharing his experiences through a series of interviews.

Game day prep. Kids are nervous. It’s a big game for some. Maybe it’s not feeling like a big game for others. What do you tell kids?

Our game day prep starts with practice the night before a game. All our work should be done at that point in time. So if we’re prepared and we’re comfortable with the work we’ve put in, all we’ve got left is to play the game. Go home. Look after yourself. Take care of proper food and hydration. The next day should be a regular day. Do your school work, go to classes, and eat properly. Stay focused on your regular daily routine so when you get to the game it stays routine. We want people to react properly and not overthink things. Don’t get too wound up by concentrating only on the game. Try to stay as routine as possible and trust your preparation. Get into the game and just react. Try not to overthink the whole process.

Many athletes and coaches have routines that some might call superstitions, like wearing the same pair of socks. Do you have anything like that?

No, I don’t think so… definitely not the same pair of socks. No real superstitions for doing things in order, meals or anything like that. Like I said, we try to get all our work done the day before and the next day is just game day. Show up prepared and have everything in order.

Do you typically have someone give a last minute chat before heading onto the field, maybe a team captain, you or a chaplain?

We usually do a team walk-through prior to the game. Then we’ll travel to the field. Just before getting off the bus, we have a quick few words about pride, tradition and motivation. But we keep it short. The boys leave the bus. Jog down to one of the endzones. They take a knee and one of the team captains will usually do a team prayer. Then we get at it with warm-up and team unit work. Get ready for kickoff. Go on the field and execute the game they were meant to play. No huge Knute Rockne speeches at that point in time. Our captains play a role in getting the boys ready mentally. Just trust your preparation.

Is there anything special or different with event like the Senior Bowl where you’re dealing with kids from other schools and other communities?

Yeah, that is different because so many teams approach the game from different angles. Ultimately they all have to go out there and do the same thing—perform as well as they can. Some kids will be looking for that motivation. Some kids want to be left alone, listen to their music. At the end of the day hopefully someone will say a few right words and have everybody mentally prepared to take the field. It’s always special to see different kids’ approach to the game when they come from so many different backgrounds.

Is it hard for you to be impartial in the selection of an all-star team?

Not really. Our role with Football Alberta is ultimately to piece together a provincial-caliber team. We spend a lot of hours in the selection process. North and South both look for the best kids we can put on the field to bring back a national championship. The top level kids certainly jump out at you right away. The toughest selection is the last few picks to put on your roster. There you’re splitting hairs between really good quality kids. You’re looking for character and dedication. You’re looking for fine things in kids who will make a difference.
As far as getting caught up in the whole politics of things, nah not really. There’s certainly pluses and minuses with big programs and small programs. You can often spot the kids who’ve played in high competition games, whether it be Div 1 or down in the U.S. on exhibition games. That [experience] does play into their abilities.

So when an athlete shows up at an all-star selection camp, what can they do that will get noticed by the coaches? How can you gauge someone’s character in two days?

A lot of the coaches charged with making selection choices are not right up in front of each unit as the process is going on. They are paying attention from the background. You can pick up attitude and the type of motivation players have just by body language.

How do they respond to drills or direction from coaches?

If they are a kid standing in the back complaining and not liking the way things are going, that would register and make an impression on selectors who are paying attention. Players don’t know who the selectors are necessarily. But the selectors are watching them, under the microscope, the whole time.

How do the players interact with trainers or other players? Are they leaders? Are they a problem in the locker room? How do they treat the support staff?

Selectors pay attention because what you don’t need is attitudes that breed like a cancer within a team. You’re on the road and away from home for two weeks with these guys. I always tell my kids to do all the little things well. Be leader when you can be a leader. Always be positive and make a good impression on people. You never know which people will have the influence on whether you make the team or not.

That’s great advice. That might be true for the rest of your life… no matter where you are.

True. First impressions are a one-chance opportunity. If you blow it that one time, it’s often tough to make up. You don’t know where or when the bridge you may burn can come back to haunt you. So I always remind kids to stay positive and let the cards fall where they may. There are a lot of kids who don’t make those all-star teams who go on to great careers in junior and university football. There are a lot of kids on all-star teams who never play another down of football too. Either way, making the all-star teams or not, is not the end of the world

In November 2008, NFL Canada named QUINN SKELTON The Home Depot NFL Youth Coach of the Year. Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football players submitted short essays recognizing the positive impact their former high school, community, or varsity coach had on young players. Players were asked to consider how their coach taught respect, safety, motivation, leadership and appreciation for the game of football when drafting their nominations. Skelton was nominated by Reed Alexander, a Medicine Hat High School graduate and currently an offensive lineman at the University of Calgary. Skelton was selected from a shortlist of five community and high school coaches from across Canada to receive the honour. A panel of journalists, NFL officials and The Home Depot representatives selected the winner.

This year Coach Skelton is part of the group of coaches leading the South Team at the Football Alberta Senior Bowl and Football Canada Cup. PLAY3R thanks Coach Skelton for sharing his experiences through a series of interview blogs.

Going as far back as you can remember, where would you say your passion for football began?

My background with football [began from] sitting on the couch with my uncle in rural Saskatchewan. Briercrest is just south of Moose Jaw. We’d watch the Saskatchewan Rough Riders with Ron Lancaster and that crew back in the day. So that’s probably when I first became attached to the game. I’d have to say my uncle would be my influence in my introduction to the game.

So over the years did you always know you wanted to coach football?

Certainly not. I think that just went with the territory of becoming a teacher. I just naturally migrated to football. My first day of coaching was actually before my first day of teaching. In the Fall of 1990, I started coaching on a Monday and teaching on a Tuesday.

Did coaching come naturally because you’d been involved in the game for so long?

I always believed that football played a huge part in my [life] through high school. The friends and influences I had through high school had a lot to do with football. The coaching that I had through football had a huge impact on going to university, getting a degree and doing what I’m doing now.

If football had not been a big part of your life, do you think things would’ve turned out differently for you?

Certainly. My parents weren’t post-secondary educated. My dad was a carpenter. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. The influences that would’ve taken me towards university came from teammates involved with football and living the dream of doing something after high school.

What do you love most about the game of football?

There’s something about the game of football that’s very unique in the world of sport. [The game] encompasses so many different types of positions, and different types of characters, and athletic types. I think it fits the definition of a team game. Football has so many different facets to it. It’s certainly not one-dimensional. In that regard, the camaraderie and the bonds that are formed is what make football such a unique game.

What do you love most about your role as a coach?

Funny I just had this conversation with a kid this morning. I’ve been blessed to have coaches with the same motivation that I have. We all want to coach the game. We believe that the game itself will help these guys be better people. Watching changes over two, three, four years in kids that leave the program and go on to bigger and better things… seeing them come back as better people—fathers, husbands, and contributing members of society. That’d probably be the main motivation behind it all.

What would athletes who’ve played for you say is one of your core messages?

Well, for on the field success with football itself an approach we’ve taken over the last several years is PREPARE TO WIN. That’s about doing all the hard work in the off-season, behind-the-scenes, in practice, in the weight room, and in the class room to prepare to win. Winning just doesn’t come by accident. It takes a lot of hard work to get there.
Off the field I [talk about] having the respect and taking the responsibility of doing what’s right for your teammate, your academics, and yourself. Academics and family always come first. It’s a player’s responsibility to take care of those so they can be a contributing part of the team.