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Comella’s Football Team
By Rama K. Ramaswamy
Comella’s rookie fifth grade football team finished their first year mostly undefeated. Their final win was achieved at the Bay State Super Bowl Championships.
“All players were rookies, and they have had an amazing 2016 season making it this far. My son Christopher has loved playing football and has developed a passion for the game,” said parent Cecilia Brooks. “Thanks to coach Comella, he was able to play football and soccer this past fall. The team experience has been great … Sportsmanship has been big for Christopher, as he has learned that from all his coaches, not to mention the fundamentals of the game. Great experience all around, and he can’t wait for next season!”
The Comella team did not advance to the finals, but they played eight regular season games against a Dual Valley and Central Massachusetts schedule, in addition to two playoffs games. The team lost its final game in the state semis to the Wellesley Broggi Team.
The Comella Team has quite a few, dedicated coaches: Greg Comella, Don Hasselbeck, Matt Hasselbeck, and Chris Keyes all did time in the NFL, and are joined by Paul Battaglino, Angus Leary, Steve Nadeau and Berg Najarían. Comella’s Team had 27 boys and 1 girl.
“Greg Comella wanted the team to use the NFL hitting approach,” said Matt Hasselbeck. “It’s a teaching technique where you take care of the players body and mind so there is less injury.
Always be safe! The team used the ‘tackle the ball’ approach - the Seattle Seahawks use it all the time. It’s called ‘rugby tackling.’ This is where you tackle with the shoulder and not head-on - again, focusing on safety, taking care of the player - so all your players stay safe.
“I love Greg’s ‘get together for pizza before a big game with opponent’ idea,” he added. “Greg had both the Wellesley fifth grade teams get together for pizza before state championships. He did it himself before the Stanford-Michigan game when he played football, and still thinks it’s a great strategy to get teammates together before big game.”
“I coach because the game of football has had a profound impact on my life,” said Comella. “Coaching allows me to return some of the lessons I learned while playing. It becomes about your values and what you want passed on to the kids you’re coaching.
“Our final game had a [cheering] crowd as large as I’ve ever seen at the youth level. I was stunned by the outpouring of support from the community; at almost the moment WYF began discussing the idea last April, the community galvanized around the team.
“Our focus was on development, introducing the game and having fun,” said Comella. “This team isn’t a one-year-and-done experiment. We plan on continuing to grow and develop as a team. There are some very good young athletes who played this fall - kids who otherwise may never have played. Our team consisted of 26 first-year youth football players in the Wellesley program. We hope the Bay State Conference will include us in their 2017 schedule.”
“As a parent, I thought this was a unique experience in that most of these boys had never played football, and I’m not sure they would have had this team not come to be,” Erin Comella said, describing the season. “Greg put the idea out there and people jumped on it - I think mostly because they liked his philosophy on teaching them the fundamentals of football, sportsmanship, leadership and a passion for the game. His focus wasn’t on winning and losing. These are boys who play other sports and were able to continue to play other sports alongside football, which was fantastic. They learned a lot, had fun, and developed great friendships. I think they each felt they contributed to the team in some way. Not to mention that we also had the only female in the Wellesley program on our team, Bianca Horner. The boys welcomed her and supported her through the season; she was truly part of the team. It was a fun ride this season for the players and parents alike.”
