Repetition: The act or an instance of repeating or being repeated. This word is arguably the best way to describe the life of busy people. Stallion Head Football Coach, Robert Frith, is a busy person.
“It never stops. It’s always seven days a week. Some coaches are watching some 10, 12 hours of film, that’s like two hours a day of film. Then planning practices, it’s just hours and hours of work that has to be done just to get our guys [players] in a position where we feel like they’re comfortable knowing their opponents,” said Frith.
The weekly roller coaster that Frith boards during football season begins with player conferences after the 3:18 bell.
“On Monday we have meetings after school, special teams meetings, offensive meetings, defensive meetings. By the time we are done with our meetings we go onto the field and practice from 6 to 8 on a Monday.”
This is followed up on Tuesday by the team hitting the weightroom, then an after school practice, and of course, more film study.
“On Tuesday we have our fourth period, the kids [players] lift and we watch film of our opponent and practice on Monday. After school Tuesday we practice from 3:45 to 5:30,” said Frith.
All three teams, Freshman, Junior Varsity and Varsity practice on Wednesdays. Freshman and JV teams have their games typically on warm Thursday afternoons. Coach Frith’s mindset is a bit different as he steps out of bed on Fridays.
“I was up today [Friday, 9/15] at 5 am just thinking about things that we gotta get done to be successful. Thinking about our kids [players] and just them having a good day and being ready to go. On Friday there’s adrenaline and there’s stress just because it’s game day. We only get to play one game a week, so we really gotta make sure we’re ready to go. As a coach you kinda worry as a parent. You just hope that the kids have a good night’s rest, they stay hydrated, there’s no distractions on gameday and [that] they can be at their best when we go play that game,” said Frith.
The regular season week is not concluded just yet for Frith after his Friday game. Another early morning follows.
“On Saturday morning we are back in the office at 7:30 as a staff. We are meeting to go over anything that went on Friday night that we got to discuss as a staff. We do injury reports, we do our discipline reports, like ‘did everyone behave the way we want them to behave?’ We go over logistics, we talk about our film review and how our coaching communication,” said Frith.
Around 11am on Saturdays, Coach Frith can now fully commit to the roles he has to fulfill at home.
“Once I go home on a Saturday, I pretty much just try to dedicate my attention to my family. Just relax, kinda take a mental break from Stallion Football and just be myself. Don’t be Coach Frith but be the husband and father that I am. When I have my personal time I try to disconnect a little bit from Stallion Football for a few hours. Usually on Sunday mornings I try to get some exercise just for good mental health. Maybe if I’m interested in [watching] some NFL Football I’ll kinda look a little bit at that. I still have to spend some hours on Sunday watching our opponents’ film and communicating with coaches to make sure everything is set because on Sunday we have to send out the schedule for the week,” said Frith.
Frith’s daughter, Taylor Frith (12), explains how the Frith family works with the busy football schedule to get in valuable family time. Luke Frith (9), Coach Frith’s only son, is a receiver and safety on the freshman roster.
“He’s really big on family and he’ll make sure me and my brother are really involved. Before my brother played football here he was his ball boy for his whole life. He wanted me to help with the trainers so that I was on the field. My mom sits near the end zone so she’s always on the field. Our whole family is involved, my grandpa started becoming a coach with him here. We just have a really good family bonding because we are always together. We are always making sure we are doing stuff in his free time,” said Taylor Frith.
After the weekend concludes, it’s another weekly carousel ride for the Coach. Through El Toro, then San Clemente, and now The Badlands, Offensive Line Coach and Equipment Manager, Andy Jacobs has been by Frith’s side since 2011.
“It takes a dedicated person to do that [head coaching]. I think that Coach Frith is definitely cut from a different cloth where he loves the game and he’s dedicated to it. All of us as coaches, and that’s why he surrounds himself with coaches, we all believe that you gotta work hard,” said Jacobs.
Three of the four league titles that Stallion Football has won had Frith at the helm. In Frith’s second season at San Juan Hills, that season was the lone CIF Title winning season.
