The leader of St. Raphael Football is reassuring families that the organization is dealing with the fight that broke between coaches during league play on Saturday.
“Over this past weekend our St. Raphael’s youth football family experienced an issue between the coaching staffs of two teams, which was quickly brought under control and resolved,” said Paul O’Toole, president of St. Raphael Football in a prepared statement Thursday afternoon.
“We have discussed this incident with all parties involved, including coaches, parents and players, on appropriate behavior and how living up to the St. Raphael standards of respect for everyone is critical,” O’Toole said. “We have been very fortunate over the past 53 years in that we rarely (have) had any issues. Our goals for our children are safety, fun, skill development and most importantly, respect for each other and the game.”
The president would not provide any additional details on the fight, note would elaborate on any ramifications other than to say the matter was being handled internally.
Upholding the credo established by the organization 53 years ago of safety, fun and the development of life skills that can be used on and off the field is why former players like O’Toole and others in the group’s leadership returned to coach and volunteer.
A decade ago, more than 2,500 kids were playing football through St. Raphael, though that number has dropped off slightly in recent years because of increased activity options for children and parents fears of injury.
O’Toole recalls starting in first grade and playing football with the league through eighth grade.
The greatest accomplish for the coaches, he said, was watching the kids they’ve coached over the years go on to play ball at “the big five” public high schools that serve in Naperville — Naperville Central and North, and Metea, Neuqua and Waubonsie Valley — as well as Benet Academy in Lisle.
Former St. Rafael president Jim Brown, who was involved with the organization nearly 50 years, was surprised to hear that an incident involving coaches occurred.
“We try to vet coaches in the interview process,” he said. “We want the coaches to be role models.”
While personalities might vary from coach to coach, Brown said all must use positive reinforcement and teach kids life skills, such as never giving up, always giving their best and dealing with difficult situations or failure.
On occasion a coach violates one of the organization’s underlying principles or a commissioner observes a developmental need. “Usually it is when a coach loses sight that these are little kids,” Brown said.
That is when the commissioner steps into work one-on-one with the coach to change the behavior.
Brown said sometimes a more experienced coach will become a mentor and suggest ways for the coach to be less negative. “It depends on the situation,” he said.
“There have been a few times a coach is asked to leave, as a last resort,” he said. “That has only been a few times in the 40 to 50 years I’ve been involved.”
Brown fully understands how O’Toole and others who volunteer for St. Raphael Football feel when they have to deal with coaching issues. He said someone once calculated that people volunteer 100,000 hours to run the St. Raphael program.
“You take your job so seriously,” he said. “In an incident like this, you tend to focus on it. I imagine he’s not getting much sleep. I know I wouldn’t be.”
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