How adversity drove this football coach

Over two decades ago, Juniata head football coach Kevin Burke was deep in the recruiting process, showing videos to his coaches and staff.

He got to a video of a kicker from LaGrangeville, New York, and asked the staff to take a look. They were impressed enough that they wanted to recruit this kicker.

Coach Burke then said, “Add her to the list.”

The staff didn’t know that the tape they just saw was of a female kicker. They just saw a really good kicker.

That really good kicker was Erica Vinson-Ondecko. For over a decade, she has worked at Waynesboro Area High School as a school psychologist — and as the kicking coach for the varsity football team.

Waynesboro kicking coach Erica Vinson-Ondecko chats with kicker Andrew Soffe. Vinson-Ondecko has been a kicking coach for the Indians for the past 11 years.

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She was always an athlete, playing soccer for much of her childhood. In eighth grade, she was playing football for fun with her friends, when she punted the ball. Her friends were amazed as the punt had a perfect spiral.

She told her dad, and that summer, she went to Penn State’s place kicking camp. And from there, she was hooked.

Girls playing high school football today is still pretty uncommon. Back in 1999, when Vinson-Ondecko joined the Arlington football team as a freshman, it was almost unheard of.

“My teammates had no idea what to expect,” Vinson-Ondecko said. “When I started, very few guys would talk to me. Only a handful of guys would acknowledge I was there. So, it was very isolating.”

Current Waynesboro kicking coach Erica Vinson-Ondecko started her football career as a member of the Arlington High School football team in LaGrangeville, NY

She had to build a relationship with her teammates from the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/voice-isnt-other-coaches-adversity-090125514.html

Author : Chambersburg Public Opinion

Publish date : 2023-11-16 09:01:25

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