Warrior walk: Wasilla football program embraces new tradition

Sept. 24, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - Lights are flashing, sirens are sounding, fans are shouting - all as a sea of red floods down a path and through a gate at Veterans Memorial Field.

The Warrior Walk is something Jim Shetter and his coaching staff has brought to the Wasilla football program. It's just one of several things Shetter hopes will become as big a part of Warrior tradition, as wearing the Wasilla red and playing on the grass of the field that sits behind Wasilla High School.

Prior to each home game, a Wasilla Police squad car, with its lights flashing and sirens blaring, leads the Warriors across the WHS parking lot, and to a path that weaves from the lot to the field.

The path, painted in Warrior red, is lined with parents, fans, cheerleaders, teachers, booster club members and junior varsity players - all screaming and cheering.

&#8220The Warrior Walk has turned out to be outstanding,” Shetter said. &#8220It's awesome to be the last one through.”

When Shetter took the position of head coach of the Warrior program last spring, he pledged to bring an enthusiasm to Warrior football. Win or lose, he wanted to create an atmosphere that would rival a college program.

&#8220This is our home field. We want our players to have pride being out there, doing their job as a student-

athlete,” Shetter said.

Every year, Shetter said, the path to the field with have a fresh coat of paint. In part it follows the metaphor, that every year is a new year.

&#8220It's a cleaning and washing of the program,” Shetter said. &#8220Good year or bad year, we're starting over.”

For any coach the ultimate goal is to build a winning program. Shetter said he is trying to build a tradition, without the sole emphasis placed on just the win.

&#8220We don't really talk about wining and losing, but more about being consistent,” Shetter said. &#8220working hard in practice.

&#8220Discipline, desire and dedication are more important to me,” he said. &#8220Winning will fit into that.”

On the field, Shetter stresses work ethic, taking responsibility and being consistent.

&#8220He talks about character, making kids make good decisions, and that pays dividends,” Wasilla assistant principal Dan Michael said.

Off the field, he has an emphasis on involvement.

&#8220He generates enthusiasm, and incorporates a lot of people,” Michael said. &#8220The kids buy into what he's doing, and the community does too.”

Shetter saw it as important to bring the Wasilla band and cheerleaders into the Warrior Walk.

&#8220They're an important asset, and they have the opportunity to shine,” Shetter said. &#8220They're a part of our school, and to me they're a part of the football program.”

Shetter has involved parents, booster club members - the Wasilla community - in about every facet of Warrior football. Pretty much everything aside of calling the plays. There about a dozen committees he has formed, covering everything from field maintenance to awards banquets.

Rather than just having one postseason awards banquet, Shetter hands out honors each week, and names new captains for each game.

Wasilla has also formed a tighter bond with the local youth football programs. During the pre-game introductions before each home game, a youth player from the Mat-Su Youth Football Association's Wasilla squads run to the middle of the field alongside a Warrior varsity player, each time a starter is announced. Shetter said about eight of his varsity players have started to help coach the Wasilla youth football teams.

&#8220It's about giving back to the community,” Shetter said.

Now he sees the Wasilla youth teams running similar plays, working through similar drills and going through similar conditioning. Shetter said he wants to show his players, this is their program.

&#8220The big thing is having ownership in the program,” Shetter said. &#8220This program belongs to them, not me.”

By bringing the young football players, the parents, the cheerleaders, the band and the fans into the activities of the Warrior football program, Shetter hopes to create an atmosphere like something out of the pages of &#8220Friday Night Lights.” During a one-year teaching stint in Kentucky, it's something Shetter saw in the small southern communities.

&#8220Small communities just shut down. It's a community affair versus just high school affair,” Shetter said. &#8220That's what I want.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.