LA Rams Host High School Coaches Shadow Program, Adding Girls’ Flag Football for First Time

Forty coaches from across Southern California — including both boys tackle and girls flag football — learned pro-level drills, organization, and leadership from Rams staff during training camp

Oct 20, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and other coaches watches during the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images / Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images

For the fourth year in a row, the LA Rams hosted a High School Coaches Shadow Program during training camp at Loyola Marymount University. The program, which took place during all eight open practice days, as well as closed practice days, gave the opportunity for local LA high school football coaches to watch and learn directly from the Rams coaching staff.  

Approximately 40 high school coaches, five at each practice, participated in the program over several days, and included coaches from both boys tackle football and girls flag football. This was the first year that girls' flag football was included in the program.

The High School Coaches Shadow Program was developed to help elevate high school coaches' philosophies and strategies for implementing practice schedules, as well as provide insights on skills and leadership development for their players. The coaches were able to observe the pro players and coaches on practice fields from the sidelines and also were able to spend some one-on-one conversation time with the Rams Coaching Staff.

Questions Asked; Questions Answered

“I talked to Head Coach Sean McVey and Receivers coach Eric Yarber,” said Elijah Asante, the head football coach at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. He continued, “McVay asked what kind of offense I ran, and I told him we pass the ball. Eric and I have known each other for years, and we just caught up on some old times.”

Organization Is Key

As far as what the high school coaches learned, it seemed “organization on the field’ was a big takeaway.

Asante stated, “I really liked the way they were organized- how they organized practices, the run sets, the pass sets that move the ball up and down the field.”

“I'm just admiring how smoothly the practices are going,” said Camille Sosa, third-year head coach of girls flag football at King Drew Magnet High School in Los Angeles. She continued, “They’re moving quickly from one drill to the next, and it’s something that I’m looking to implement into our program.”

“It’s awesome”, said Eric Elias, head football coach at Arcadia High School in Arcadia. He continued, “They don’t waste any time; they are in and out of drills. It’s amazing.”

Highlighting the Similarities Between High Schools and Pros

Some high school coaches saw similarities in the way they run their programs.

“I was just telling my counterpart, it was fun whenever the defense got a pick and the offense is like, oh run it back and I said, oh that happens to us too- so it’s kind of fun to see some of those things” said Amy Campbell, head coach of girls flag football at Ayala High School in Chino Hills and also the Rams recipient of Girls Flag Coach of the Year.

“I was watching some things that I can take back over to our kids, but also some affirmations,” said Ruben Guerrero, coach of Norwalk High School in Norwalk. He continued, “I think I’m on the right track with the structure of practice- it kind of looks like I’m at home, so I’m watching my guys and my coaches run things, so it's cool.”

“I was watching different drills, and to me, that's great. I'm like, hey, I do that warming-up drill so you get validation. You're like, I do that. We do that. We know we're doing something right,” said Ken Batdorf, the head football coach at Norte Vista High School in Riverside.

“The quarterback drill, when they were weaving through the step overs, we do things like that,” said James Vondra, Head football Coach at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster.

Taking It Back to High School Athletes

Several coaches also saw things on the field that they plan to take back to their high school athletes.

“So they're going over some of the drills that they do for the special teams, and it is invaluable to me because I didn't grow up playing football, but I’m going into my third-year coaching,” said Brooke Kalama, the head girls flag football coach at Sylmar High School. She continued, “This is a massive opportunity for me to see how it's done on a professional level. I'm loving the idea that I can pencil some ideas on how to manage those special teams, individual training, footwork, all of that stuff. So that we can, you know, show our girls.”

“I saw something they were doing for their hip flexor. So I'm like we should do that,” said Batdorf. He continued, “I think the biggest thing is just the timing, getting out here on time. (…) You know, some of the guys were here early. Guys are warming up early. They're doing all those little things to make them better and the team better. And that's a big thing we want to stress.”

“I've been watching them do kick returns, and it's just simple things like watching their coach bounce the ball off the ground and catches like, oh, we gotta do, we can do that at practice.” said Nicole Ryan, head coach of girls' flag football at Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth. She continued, “We need to learn to be prepared for things not to go exactly as planned. And seeing that even professionals are working on that. It's really inspiring to bring that back to our team.”

“Watching their special teams, the double team drills. It would be great to kind of take back some of those things to our practices because we do the same schemes that they utilize,” said Vondra. He continued, “For the defense watching the tackle drills, and they use the medicine balls. We do have medicine balls in our weight room. So, we can kind of bring those out and utilize that and kind of mimic some of the drills they're doing out here.”

Watching the Pros Is Invaluable

No matter what the High School coaches took away from the Shadow program, they all agreed the experience was invaluable.

“It’s such an amazing opportunity to come out and just experience this. I think if we had more high school coaches do this, it will educate them a little more. I know I’m learning a lot from this event myself, so it’s a great thing to do,” said Elias.

"I think it's really a great opportunity for us to see things at the next level. The learning to seeing how they handle things, the interaction between coaches at this level to their athletes, to me and my athletes, so there's so many comparisons that we can make. And again, make it a learning experience. It's great to be here. And a lot of people are starstruck. I'm more interested in how could I be better? How could my school be better?" said Batdorf.

The 40 high school coaches to participate in the Rams Coaches Shadow program were:

High School Coaches		Schools
Megan	McCann	El Segundo High School
Heather	Inglima	Upland High School
William	Lowe	Carson High School
Edward	Breceda	Reseda High School
Rex	Templin	Sherman Oaks for Enriched Studies High School (SOCES)
Raymond	Carter	Torrance High School
Kelly	Allister	Ramona High School
Beverly	Robles	Saddleback High School
Corey	Dawson	Temecula Prep High School
Bryan	Robinson	University High School
Erik	Romo	Valley Oaks CES (VOCES)
Bobby	Bolden	Westchester High School
Assistant	Coach	Santee High School
Armando	Fernandez	Godinez Fundamental HS
Alex	VanderWeide	Hesperia Christian School
Aron	Kaye	Franklin High School
Madison	Krusmark	Irvine High School
Sherrelle	Holmes	Narbonne High School
Keith	Adams	California School for the Deaf
Andrew	Ramer	Chapparal High School
Julie	Wilkins	Eagles Rock
Jennifer	Constuble	Elenor Roosevelt
Mario	Guzman	Cleveland Charter High School
Charles	Mincy	St. Bernard College Prep
David	Cortez	Santa Clara High School
Jackie	Bayona	Ranco Cucamonga High School
Kyle	McFadden	Canyon Springs High School
James	Boyd Jr	Jordan High School
Christian	Dearborn	Moorepark High School
Latrice	Luave	Ednovate- Brio College Prep
Cory	Glass	Redlands High School
Elijah	Asante	Hamilton High School
Eric	Elias	Arcadia High School
Ruben	Guerrero	Norwalk High School
Camille	Sosa	King Drew High School
Nicole	Ryan	Chatswork Charter High School
Brooke	Kalama	Sylmar High School
James	Vondra	Antelope Valley High School
Ken	Batdorf	Norte Vista High School
Nate	Hollister	Banning High School