Family Matters: Family atmosphere present from coaches to players at Silver Valley

YERMO —  Andy Campbell looks up and down the sidelines as the National Anthem plays before each football game.

He takes in the atmosphere, looks around at his players and eventually sees his wife Amy and son Ian.

These are special moments for Andy.

Football sidelines hardly seem like a place for a family outing on Friday nights.

The sidelines are full of big, sweaty players and there’s always a few plays that spill over from the playing field. However, it’s where the Campbell family decides to spend Fridays.

“It’s those little things,” Campbell said. “Ten years, 20 years from now I won’t remember the score of the game that happened, but I’ll remember looking over my shoulder, seeing my wife, seeing my son, seeing my group of seniors that put so much time in. Those kind of things are what you’ll remember. Those kind of things are what make this game as sweet as it is.”

While Andy is busy calling plays and managing the game, Amy, who severed as the Trojans game day coordinator last year, cheers and is often the loudest person on the sidelines. Ian sits in a lawn chair and watches the game.

Silver Valley players even call the Ian and Amy part of their family.

“Coach Campbell is all about family first, and it’s not just his family, his wife and his kid, it’s us,” senior Josh Estes said.

Total team
Family is a concept ingrained into the Silver Valley football program. From the Campbells heavy involvement in the program to the structure Andy has implemented as coach for the last two seasons, family is stressed at every level.

At the outset of training camp, Campbell said he wasn’t thinking about game plans, drills or securing a playoff spot. He was just excited to reunite with the coaches and players.

As the head coach, Campbell could be the dad of Silver Valley football team, but he needs help. With a field full of high schoolers, he takes input from coaches. Senior players are matched up with younger players in order better help them enter school at Silver Valley.

“I try to set an example for all these younger classmen, help them as much as I can so they can be better,” senior Matt Baca said. “We look after them on and off the field.”

Players say they can and have contacted coaches for problems well outside of the scope of football. Coaches are available in person, by phone, text or e-mail.

Coaching family
The Silver Valley coaches hold a meeting following each practice, a move they didn’t do last year.

The topic of discussion ranges from practice drills to player performances to women but only for 20 minutes. Campbell sets a kitchen timer, and once the timer rings, save a five-minute overtime session, coaches scurry out of Campbell’s office and head back home to their families.

“Once that buzzer rings, it’s get out,” Andy said. “Everything is kind of done and dropped because I could be there forever. You know, I have a family, and I know these guys have places they need to be. All our coaches have families and kids.”

Even when the meeting ends, several of the coaches interaction is hardly over.

Andy, and assistant coaches Brian Major and Paul Bourke all live in Silver Lakes. Major and Bourke are a daily presence in the Campbell household — and that’s exactly how the Campbells prefer it.

The young group shares several commonalties — Midwest upbringings, love of sports and the appreciation of grass and water.

The Campbell family arrived at Silver Valley High School in 2006 and spent their first year living in a Barstow apartment but opted for Silver Lakes instead.

Bourke and Major moved from Michigan to teach at Silver Valley in 2007. When the desert landscape of Barstow wasn’t entirely appealing, administrators at Silver Valley suggested they look at Silver Lakes for living arrangements. Both decided to move to the community.

 “I didn’t even plan on coaching football when I got out here. I got talked into it, and I’m glad I was because I do have a family out here.” said Bourke, pretending to tear up.

Andy, Major and Bourke, who already spend hours together on the football field, carpool on their way to and from Silver Valley. In their free time, the group still hangs out.

Those on the outside looking in have had trouble understanding their unique family. Amy said she’s been asked if she ever tires from having the duo over.

It’s an easy answer.

“I’m not tallying up their bar tabs after every night,” Amy said. “I love baking, and it’s no fun to bake if nobody eats it.
“I like that, I need that. If it’s just us three like over the summer, I’m like ‘I miss those guys. When are they coming back?’ ”

Love, Love, Love
Estes argues the Trojans are as close as family and a team as ever heading into the season opener tonight.

“You have to be able to rely on each other no matter what,” Estes said. “You try to do somebody else’s job out.
“If you can’t count of the person next to you, then obviously you are not a team.”

When discussing how he can count on his teammates for anything, Estes said that they’d give him a million dollars if he needed it.

Senior quarterback Chris Bailey added in a good-natured family ribbing — “Two fifty at the most,” he said.

“We just got love out here, man,” Estes said. “It’s football. There’s no other way to explain it.”
Except maybe as family.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4124 or
matthew_peters@link.freedom.com