Senior football players lead by example
The St. Martin’s football team had high hopes for this year’s season. Even through the long hard days of practicing and playing, the team believed they could improve their bonds and their skills.
When the season began, the football team had a rough start due to Hurricane Ida, according to Frank Gendusa, head football coach.
“We’re not back to where we were prior to Hurricane Ida, but we’re getting there,” Gendusa said.
While the team had a lot of setbacks due to the storm, he believes that “you get through it and you get stronger by it and hopefully the kids become stronger.”
Senior Colin Saucier joined the football team just this year. Being a new player on the team, Saucier stated that he was initially nervous about getting involved in a new sport.
“At first I felt worried about getting hurt or concussed, but after the first real game those worries went away and I started to get excited about playing,” Saucier said.
At the game against Ascension Christian, Saucier’s worries went away when he scored his first touchdown.
Senior Stefen Brower, who has been on the team since his freshman year, believes that all his team needs to win this year is “to learn to work together more and be able to rely on each other if we wanna turn this season around.”
Brower has been extremely dedicated to the team since his freshman year and hopes that his team can turn around their streak of losses.
Similarly, senior Skyler Shank, who has also been on the team since freshman year, has emerged as one of the team’s leaders this year.
“Skyler works hard on and off the field and has given his heart and soul to this team since we were freshman back in 2018,” Brower said. “I’ve never been more proud of a guy’s work ethic than what I’ve seen in Skyler.”
Saucier thinks that the way to win is “to start acting like a team and not be focused on the individuals.”
One person can’t carry a team and one person can’t bring the downfall for the team,” Saucier said.
As a team, all of the boys feel as though they have come together as a team emotionally that aided their win against Ascension Christian. This game helped the boys make a comeback after their initial losses, according to Saucier.
“If we work like a team we can have great results and comebacks like that game,” Saucier said.
Even though Gendusa often has 16 hour days on game days, he has a positive outlook on his job. He believes that coaching and teaching are very similar.
“They are one in the same,” Gendusa said. “A teacher is actually a coach. They’re in there coaching you, and a coach is a teacher, out there teaching you how to play.”
When coaching or teaching his team Gendusa, his best advice he has given to his football players is “if you’re going to do something, do it right and do it to the best of your ability.”