OREM — No coach wants to see a player throw a chair in response to a loss.
Punishment, including time away from the sport, is an understandable reaction.
But Orem head football coach Jeremy Hill reacted differently, and his reaction helped a then-10-year-old boy find a sport that satisfied his competitive nature like nothing else while teaching him the value of hard work, commitment and trust.
“We got done playing, and he was scrappy, always bodying people up,” said Hill, who coached Ethan Slade in a recreation basketball team that was playing in a tournament at the University of Utah. “We lost a game, and he was so mad, he chucked a chair.” Orem’s head football coach pulled Slade aside and a discussion about his behavior led to a question.
“Have you ever played football?” Hill asked him.
Slade said he’d never really considered it.
“It didn’t really occur to me to play,” Slade said. “He thought I’d be good, that I could use that anger.”
Hill was coaching a football team that played the next day, and with no training and very little instruction, he threw Slade into the game as a lineman, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“He just fell in love,” Hill said, of the senior whose defensive efforts have helped the top-ranked Tigers to this week’s 4A championship game against Pine View. “He got to take some of those frustrations out in an (appropriate) way.”
What was classified as too aggressive in other sports was perfect for the football field — especially because Slade gravitated to playing defense.
Slade is grateful Hill helped him channel his competitive nature into more positive behaviors because the game has had a profound impact on who he's become.
“I love the team unity,” Slade said. “I feel like you grow close with all of the teammates on the team over the eight months practicing and it makes it super enjoyable being around your friends like that every day.”
Some of the lessons, he expected, like hard work and commitment. Some, however, caught him off guard.
“Something I’d never really thought about is trust,” he said of what the game taught him. “With this game there are 11 players on the field at a time, and you have to learn to trust the other 10 out there with you. I trust them that they’ll do their jobs, and they trust me to do my job. We have to trust each other, and when we do, that’s when the best football comes out.”
Slade’s worked hard to make himself a faster, stronger and bigger football player. After last year’s state championship, he decided to work even harder, signing up for summer workouts with a trainer, to make his senior season something special.
“I knew I needed to improve,” he said. “This summer is when I put in the extra time.”
Slade is averaging 6.8 tackles per game, with 88 in 13 games. In the Tigers' 4-2-5 defense, he plays what they call the "Tiger safety" — essentially a strong safety close to the line of scrimmage. He also fills just about any role, including holder for the kicker, that coaches need.
“When he was in sixth grade, he sort of wanted to play offense, catch a ball, and I told him, ‘If you commit yourself to defense, you’re going to be one of the top players on the defensive side of the ball," Hill said. "It’s been fun to watch him commit, and then to see him be one of the best in 4A.”
Hill said Slade is fearless on defense. He plays with the kind of abandon and instincts that causes opposing receivers to run routes with a hint of anxiety.
“I’ve never had a kid like him,” Hill said. “He wills himself to greatness, not because of his talent but because of his work ethic. “He’s the most competitive kid we have.”
Slade battles one of the best receivers in the country every day in practice in USC-commit Puka Nacua. “They go at each other all day long,” Hill said. “They are two great competitors. Puka is a little bit more naturally gifted, but (Slade) has made himself into a competitor because he hates to lose.”
Slade said that football has been such a blessing in his life that even if the Tigers come up short on Friday morning, he will never regret the time and energy he dedicated to the game.
“All the sacrifices I have made,” he said, “(they) made me who I am today. I learned from them. It’s all for this week, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to waste.” And then he pauses briefly before adding, “but it would be very disappointing to lose.”