By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Rainier Beach Football Head Coach Corey Sampson remains optimistic about his young team’s potential as they navigate a challenging season in the highly competitive Metro League. Entering his 10th season as head coach, Sampson brings decades of experience and a history of success, including a state championship in 2018.
“I played high school football in the Seattle area, and went on to play college football in Louisiana,” says Sampson. “Many years ago, I got the opportunity to coach my sons and other great players at Rainier Beach High School. We got to play in the state championship in 2018 and I was honored to be two-time Coach of the Year for Metro League.”
This year Sampson has his work cut out for him as his team is very young, and has faced significant challenges, including injuries to two of his most talented players in receivers SirJewel Glover and Oteko Mwamba. Both players are tough matchups for any opponent and are noticeably absent from Rainier Beach’s lineup so far this season.
“SirJewel is a great kid. A competitor, hardworking, and he is a pleasure to be around,” says Sampson. “He missed some time this year due to a fractured tibia and fibula back in June, but we are hopeful to have him make his first appearance this season soon,” says Sampson. “Oteko, another one of our talented receivers, he tore his ACL in the offseason. He is one of our big-time players, so we have been missing him as well.”
Injuries for athletes are oftentimes hard to come back from and can take a toll on you mentally and physically. However, Glover has constantly prepared himself mentally and physically for the time he is back out on the field, competing with his teammates.
“Being injured has been very stressful and tough,” says Glover. “I have been doing things like lifting, physical therapy, and practicing to get prepared for when I do get back out on the field. To mentally prepare myself, I do a lot of visualization and get a lot of mental reps at practice.”
Although Rainier Beach started the season with a tough loss to Central Kitsap, Sampson is optimistic that his team will turn their season around and make a push for post season success.
“We started off the season with a loss, then we actually got it back together,” says Sampson. “We got back on track to win and beat Ballard and Garfield. I think a lot of it is that we are a young team, but we are talented. We just have to play a little bit harder, and with us being young, the need to play harder already comes with it.”
Despite the rough start, Glover agrees with his coach’s assessment and says that while his team may not be perfect, they do pick up things quickly, and the Beach Boys are a team full of great leaders who can rally their team to victory.
“The team we have this year is a good group of guys. We aren’t perfect and we do have things to work on still. We got a lot better from last year, with a couple of new coaches and a couple of new players,” says Glover.
“We have a lot of leaders, talent, potential, and hardworking guys on the team,” he continued. “Our team is bigger, better, and stronger than we were last year. [But] there are things we have to work on so we can be successful for the remainder of the season. We as a team need to be disciplined. We make little mistakes like jumping offsides and penalties during the game. We have to stay focused, disciplined, and ready so we can achieve our team goal of winning a state championship.”
Although he is still recovering from his injury, Glover is eager to return to the field and make his first game appearance soon.
“My goals for the rest of the season are to play a game, beat every team we play, and win the state championship this year,” Glover concluded.
