Ray Fenton has certainly proven to be an effective football coach on the field. He led Cypress to a CIF championship and has built and revived other programs in recent years. Yet, despite having a solid year at Fountain Valley last year, Fenton jumped to Los Alamitos High to replace legendary coach John Barnes.
Ray Fenton has certainly proven to be an effective football coach on the field. He led Cypress to a CIF championship and has built and revived other programs in recent years. Yet, despite having a solid year at Fountain Valley last year, Fenton jumped to Los Alamitos High to replace legendary coach John Barnes.
Fenton explained the attraction for him to take over at Los Alamitos to a full crowd at the Los Alamitos Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Friday. For Fenton, guest speaker at the monthly event, the biggest draw for him – the bond the team already had with the school, administration and the community.
Fenton spoke of the respect he has for the program that Barnes built and established and knows that he and his coaching staff have high expectations to fulfil. And it’s a challenge they relish.
“We are attacking the future,” Fenton said.
Having joined the school at the beginning of the year, the Griffins have already seen success on the field. Their lineman took second place at a Lineman Competition at St. John Bosco. Their freshmen won two passing tournaments. But it has been the off-field effort that Fenton has stressed and at which his players have probably grown the most.
When he arrived, he asked the administration about starting a program that was dubbed the “Griffriends” softball game. The game was held in June and more than 100 special needs children were invited to play games of softball, with football players each paring with a child to assist them in the game.
With players assisting on the field and others cheering from the sidelines, the games provided a full day of fun for both players and kids. Administrators helped with busses to bring kids and provide t-shirts, and food for the event.
“It makes things a little more special, it gives them (players) a broader perspective of what’s out there,” Fenton said. “When they’re enriching someone else’s life, they get it back ten-fold.”
Another experience for the players was a community service competition. The 140 players broke up into 10 teams and had to come up with community service projects to do. One team spent a day at a homeless shelter, cooking a meal, serving the meal and cleaning up afterwards. Another spent a few days visiting an assisted living center, helping and socializing with the residents.
It was all part of Fenton’s plan to bond the team and further engrain them in their community. Fenton has long used a philosophy of Line Six, referring to the sixth ling of an eight-line poem, which talks of team and family.
He has used it at past schools to illustrate that when a team stays tight, like a bound fist, it is tougher to break. At Los Al, however, Fenton knew the bond was already there with this football team, the school and the community. So far his mantra has been much simpler.
“I say, ‘WE ARE,’ they say, ‘LOS AL,’” Fenton said.