Coaches Teach, Support, and Mentor Players

While a coach is tasked with teaching players the skills needed for the game, coaches tend to play a much larger role in the daily lives of the students. They serve as mentors and provide support for the students' academic pursuits. Coach Lou Richie, the coach for the Dragons, even takes his role farther.

The reader will see the first indication of this during author Gene Yang's introduction of two of the O'Dowd Dragons – Ivan Raab and Paris Austin. Ivan is reluctant to tell Gene about himself, but Gene finds a video featuring interviews with Ivan and Coach Lou Richie. During that interview, Lou says Ivan lived in a rough neighborhood when he first began school at O'Dowd. A couple of times, Lou was unable to get all the way to Ivan's home because police had blocked off streets. Lou does...