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Coach's job all about teaching respect: Senger

Most high school vice-principals aren't always going to have the time to spend doing anything other than attend to the daily requirements of their job.

Most high school vice-principals aren't always going to have the time to spend doing anything other than attend to the daily requirements of their job.

Part of his job as head coach of the high school football and basketball teams involves teaching a certain level of respect. He said several times over the course of an hour-long interview that it's all about respect.

"Respect for your opponent, respect for themselves."

It's that philosophy that vice principal at Sacred Heart High School in Yorkton Trent Senger, saw as being his philosophy as a head coach.

He spent the better part of a cold and rainy Friday morning outlining to the local newspaper all the reason why he does get involving in coaching high school athletes, on top of being the second-most authoritative individual in the entire school body.

From September though to November, he's involved in both the school's senior football team and basketball teams.

"We've been reasonably more successful. When your program is doing well, interest increases."

It's a slightly different approach he takes to it. Being in a position where he says it's usually himself having to discipline a student, his other role as a respected coach demands another 'side' of him where he says gives him a slightly different way to connect with the same group of teenagers.

He's been involved in the development of teenage athletes since he himself was a teenager when a coach of a basketball team got him interested.

He said it's an important part of his job year in and year out, to help his players develop.

"We've taught them since they were five years old. Every little thing they do well is the most important thing in the world."

Senger quickly jumped on board in assisting with younger student/athletes in both basketball and later on with football.

Being a family man with kids, it may seen unlikely that he'd have the time to put into getting a group of young teenagers together for a couple of hours and stress the basics of sport, let alone organizing road trips, taking his team as far away as Manitoba or Alberta.

He said it's good to be able to see his students in a different light, outside of the classroom. The gymnasium at Sacred Heart and the football field have become a bit of a third home for Senger, one he has no plans of leaving anytime soon.