June 25, 2026 • 33 mins
Tim Cates sits down with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's inaugural Women's Flag Football coaches, Rod Sherman and Kristen Sherman, to discuss the exciting challenge of building California's first NCAA Division I women's flag football program from the ground up.
The Shermans share what it means to create a program with no previous blueprint—establishing the culture, developing the identity, and laying a foundation that will define Cal Poly Flag Football for years to come. They discuss the importance of recruiting not only elite athletes, but high-character student-athletes who embrace the program's vision and are eager to make history.
The conversation also dives into the rapid growth of girls and women's flag football, now one of the fastest-growing sports in America, fueled by explosive participation at the high school level, NCAA expansion, and the sport's upcoming Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028. Rod and Kristen explain why California has become the epicenter of the sport and how Cal Poly is positioned to become a premier destination for the nation's top talent as the NCAA continues to embrace women's flag football as an emerging sport.
Both Rod and Kristen Sherman both received their Masters in Coaching from Concordia University Irvine and talk about how that has helped them in their professional growth.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He is a longtime high school football head coach. She
the head coach of a girls' high school flag football team.
Together now launching in Division one as head coach and
assistant head coach at cal Paul San Louis Obispo and
their brand new women's flag football program, the fastest growing
(00:21):
sport in America. We talk about it next with Rod
Sherman and Kristin Sherman here on episode eighty six of
the Masters in Coaching podcast. Let's Go Well, Welcome into
episode eighty six of the Masters in Coaching Podcast here
on iHeartRadio YouTube wherever you're listening.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
We certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I am so excited to bring back one of our
first guests to the podcast. He's been on twice already
and now joined by his wife. He is longtime football
coach Rod Sherman and his wife Kristin Sherman. There the
head coach and assistant head coach now at Cal Paul
San Luis Obispo and the women flag football program that
is one of a kind, the first in California at
the D one level, and they start their first season
(01:06):
next year. They are off and running here a few
months on the job, guys, welcome, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Hi, thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
You bet, it's exciting. We're both Concordia lums so getting
a chance to do this, so thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
What have the last few months been like? Off and running?
Getting this program started from the ground up?
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Yeah, I mean a wire rowind for sure. You know
it moved very quickly, trying to transition from from Rod
from his background and tackle into flag and then just
trying to recruit. We've brought in twenty three student athletes already,
so that's been just a crazy adventure. You don't usually
(01:50):
bring in an entire roster of athletes in one year,
so just busy, but really really.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Fun as well.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Do you think about like in the boys game, colleges
have a full recruiting staff when they're bringing in twenty
five twenty to twenty five athletes in a year, So
that could probably tell you what our last few months
has been like with just the two of us and
getting things going. But it's been a super exciting time
to start something.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Christin, you've started a program before at Orange Lutheran and
at the college level with that background. Now having done
it a couple of times, what is this like, is
it different? Is it more challenging? Is that experience been
helpful now to help launch this program.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
I think it's been helpful from the fact that both
of us have really been on the ground floor with
kind of starting programs, understanding about setting a culture and
those things early, kind of figuring out where you want
your program to go. From the recruiting aspect, that kind
of stuff was a little bit unfamiliar, a little familiar
at the junior college level, but the recruiting cycles is
(02:54):
different at the junior college level than it is at
the Division one level obviously, So yeah, definitely some experience
to drawn in terms of how you want to start
your program, how you want to set your culture early,
how you want to lay that foundation, and then some
totally new stuff as well in terms of, you know,
the Division one rules, recruiting rules, NCAA compliance type of stuff,
(03:17):
and so just learning learning.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
A lot too.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Hasn't been a lot of coaches who have started a
program at the college level. What were some of the
first things outside of building the team, certainly, and you
mentioned the roster building and bringing ladies in what have
what have been the things you guys wanted to establish quickly,
and what can you establish in now just putting together
a roster. When you're building a program from scratch.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I'd say first what our program wants to be about?
Our core values? You see them on the screen behind
us of competition, accountability, love. One of the really cool
things about starting a program is you get to set
a vision of where we want to go, and our
goal is to help each of our athletes become the
best versions of themselves, to help them accomplish their dreams.
(04:06):
When we talk about competition, we're not talking about who
we're going to play in our game. But we're really
talking about is the competition that we get internally which
forces us to become the best versions of ourselves. And
that's been the most exciting thing. And we've been able
to at the college level now talk about that culture
(04:26):
that we desire to have in place on recruiting trips
so that athletes know what they're getting into. And we
have been so blessed with these twenty three student athletes
because they've all bought into the culture before they've been here.
And now we get to let these young women develop
(04:47):
the standards that are going to feed into that culture,
and we just feel so grateful. But we have been
really intentional to set the culture on the very front
end because we believe that that's the greatest foundation that
we can lay in this program for years to come.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I want to take a step back real quick, and Kristin,
we've seen this emergence of girls flag.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Football into women's flag football the last five six years. Really,
why why do you think.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
It's taken off the way it has as one of
the fastest growing sports male or female in the country.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah. I mean, I love the game of football.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I've always loved the game of football, wanted the opportunity
to play so badly. So I'm so excited for these
young women. But I haven't seen very many sports, and
I've coached other sports that instill the.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Kind of.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Confidence and efficacy in these young women that flag football does.
It's something that they've had to watch for so long
and haven't really been invited into that conversation, been invited
into the sport itself. So I think getting to be
able to be a part of something that they've been
shut out of for so long for the most part,
is really cool. And then seeing that they can do
(05:59):
it and that they can do it well and at
a really high level. I think just unlocks something inside
of so many of these young women, and it's really fun.
It's a really fun sport to play, you know, it
blends a lot of other sports kind of together. And
I just think that they they love it and they
love showing what they can do, and it's been really
(06:22):
really exciting to watch. But just having played it, you know,
recreationally as a youth and as an adult, you can
see it's just so fun. And why now that they've
been given the opportunities, so many girls are realizing, oh
my gosh, this is like so much more fun than
playing some of these other sports that they've traditionally been
you know, restricted too. And I just think it's going
(06:46):
to continue to grow because it's it's We've really see
that it's contagious, the love for flag football and the
growth of it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You mentioned the opportunity and then and the other thing
I can think of in kind of an example is
I have three girls who went through school and played
lacrosse and it was even a smaller niche sport in
southern California. And to see it grow the way it
did over the five or six years and then last
year our kids high school had girls flag football for
the first time, and the two sports when they both launched,
(07:17):
You're grabbing girls from volleyball, You're grabbing girls from softball,
You're grabbing girls from soccer because they've never played it before.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It's a new sport for everybody at the.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
School, and you're right the opportunity. It's like, as soon
as they get that opportunity. Now you're seeing thirty thirty
five forty girls want to play on the flag football
team coming up next year because they've got that bug.
They just love it so much and they get an
opportunity now more than outside of a powder puff game,
they get an opportunity to play.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
I think I was on the CIF Southern Section Advisory
Council for flag football, so we kind of talked about
at the CIF level the emergence of flag football and
lacrosse was a little bit similar, but the way that
flag football exploded in terms of the immediate growth of it.
I think there's nearly four hundred schools in the Southern
(08:05):
Section that are going to be playing flag football and
it's only going to be the fourth year. And we
were wondering, you know how long it would take to
be able to meet the threshold to have a CIF championship,
and it took one year and in some cases, you know,
for us, we had fifty sixty girls coming to tryouts.
In some of these bigger schools, I've heard of over
one hundred girls going out to tryouts. So the interest
(08:27):
is there, and I think California saw that when they
added and the more states that you continue to see
adding it, you're seeing the growing interest and it's pretty
fun to watch it.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's pretty cool to be on the ground floor of
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Exploded at the high school level and you've coached at
the community college level. Now, as you mentioned, cal Paul's
the first California school to have it as a D
one program. Who you guys going to play? What other
schools are around you? Have you figured that out? Is
it going to be a lot of travel? Are there
other schools college universities in California that have said, hey,
(09:02):
we're in next year or in two years and have
made that promise, or there's a down the road goal
of having a California only league. Where does that stand?
Because it's so you guys are the first ones.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, it is. It's awesome to be on the front
end of that. You also know it will look different
in the years to come. There was just a conference
that announced they'll have a full, full conference schedule coming
up in twenty twenty six, twenty seven, and realistically this
first year we'll play schools from all different levels. There's
(09:37):
some great NAIA schools that have formed a conference in
AIA has really been the trailblazer in regards to starting
women's flag football at the collegiate level. They just had
a national championship a couple of weeks ago, and so
we'll play all of those teams over the course of
(09:57):
this year. There are some Division One teams say are
our estimation or our estimate is there's probably going to
be fifteen to twenty by the time the season rolls around.
It seems like every few days another one pops up.
But there won't be a national championship that the NCAA
is sponsoring this first year. We anticipate that that will
(10:20):
come in the spring of twenty twenty eight, which will
coincide really well with the Olympics starting professional league starting
things like that. So we'll take some road trips, we'll
have some teams come to us, and hopefully we'll be
able to get it started on the right path this year.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
All right, let's get into coaching. Okay, how is this
going to work? We got two head coaches that have
come together, now a power couple if you will, to
coach at the D one level.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
How is this going to play out? What the dynamics
look like here?
Speaker 5 (10:50):
He's the boss, and that's, honestly, quite frankly, how I
wanted it. He would have been thrilled to let me
be the head coach, to have a female head coach
of the program, but that's not really in my wheelhouse.
I don't love being out in front of things. I
don't love being on camera having my picture taken. I
(11:11):
love to be a little more behind the scenes. So
I think it'll work well. I think it fits his
skill set a little bit better in both of our
skill sets, and hopefully we can combine the best of
both of us to you know, really just help lead
this program.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Yeah. I think if I could be vulnerable for a second,
I am anticipating I'll grow more as a coach this
year than I probably have in any year since I've coached.
And part of that is right. How do you grow?
Do you grow by being put in new situations? You
grow by those around you wanting you to become the
(11:50):
best version of yourself. My goal as a head coach
is to help every player become their best. Well, I
feel like I'm going to be really less that I'm
going to have people around me to help me become
the best version of myself. And sometimes when you're a
head coach, assistants can be a little bit nervous about
(12:13):
bringing those things forward, right because it's like there's a
structure where it's the boss of that, and I think
I'm going to have the opportunity for that to that
feedback to come a little bit more freely, more directly
and quicker. So really, the challenge for me is to
have my heart in a place to recognize, right, when
(12:36):
we as coaches give feedback to an athlete, why do
we do it to help them, to make them better,
to help them accomplish their goals and dreams. But sometimes
as coaches, when we receive feedback, what does it lead
with defensiveness? You don't understand that's true when you get
(12:57):
feedback from parents, when you do survey, Sometimes as coaches
We're much better at delivering feedback than we are receiving feedback.
So I think God's given me that opportunity this year,
and I want to be able to provide that to
the players too. Right, Hey, girls, this is your program,
not my program. Right, I'm simply a trustee. This is
(13:20):
the girls program, and how can they provide me feedback
that helps us become the program that they desire for
it to be. I'm going to grow a lot this year,
and I'm grateful in advance for I think our coaches
will hopefully hold some short accounts with me when I
don't always handle that immediac in the right moment. Hopefully
(13:45):
I'll grow in that and do a better job in
that over time. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Let's talk a little bit about recruiting, if we can.
What that has been like, not only selling the school,
selling a program that's never played a game before, but
selling a sport that is so new to the college level.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
What has that been like?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Is it been a flood of people reaching out to
you seeing that Cal Pauly in California is the first program,
and just a rush to get there because you mentioned
the demand at the high school level, it's popular and
now at the D one level, I imagine you guys
are getting flooded with young women that want to pursue playing.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
We luckily we don't have a ton of competition right now,
but we had to shut off.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
We started a recruiting questionnaire.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
We ended up having to shut it off after we
had over five hundred you know, responses in a pretty
short period of time, and we just end up having
to turn it off because we couldn't even get through
all of them. The interest is there, so we don't
really need to sell the sport because there are so
many girls that were hungry for this opportunity, so many
girls that have been playing growing up, either with the
(14:54):
boys or recently with on their own women's teams and
girls teams that ever thought they'd have the opportunity to
play at the Division one level, and so people are
just really hungry for that opportunity. As a school, I
think how Poly really sells itself. It's obviously beautiful, it's
in a great location. I think it's one of the
few true college towns left in the United States, but
(15:16):
particularly in the state of California and so and the
high academic standards obviously are really appealing to a lot
of our young women. But I just think that there
was such a need for this and people were so excited,
and man, these girls have been amazing. They are so
(15:37):
grateful for the opportunity. Even our most accomplished athletes that
you'll see on commercials that have huge social media followings,
they're just so grateful to be able to have this
opportunity that they never thought they'd have growing up, and
then to be able to give back to the younger
generation and kind of pave a pathway and really lay
the foundation for these little girls that they see.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Playing that will now all have the opportunity to play.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Do it want athletics for you know, their whole careers?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
As a dad, as somebody who maybe his daughter wants
to get recruited and is looking to play at cal Pauly.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
What are you guys looking for in recruits? Is it
a flag?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Football must be a background you have to have played before.
Are you looking for athletes? Are you looking for height?
Are you looking for speed or are you looking at well?
This girl's fast. I can teach her how to run
routes and we can figure out how to play the
game because she's so athletic.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
I'm gonna let Chris n answer that. One of her
thinks she does on our staff is really lead the
recruitment player evaluation. She's much better at it than I am.
So what are you looking for?
Speaker 5 (16:42):
I mean, I think it depends on the year, Like
right now, right this first year, we're obviously taking a
few more chances on girls that might have a little
less experience because by and large, most girls do have
less experience unless you've you know, been in a state
where they've been playing flag football for a long period
of time. Most girls are only going to have you know,
two to three years of experience at most. And for
(17:04):
a lot of them it was a secondary sport because
there wasn't the opportunity to.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Play at a high level.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
So for most of them, they were devoted to that
whatever that other primary sport was. So there are some
girls that were taking a chance on in this first
year in particular, where maybe they haven't played a ton
of football, but we see something in them. I think
in future years you're going to see girl that teams
are going to want girls that have experience in that.
But for sure there's going to be the random you know,
(17:31):
undersized outside hitter in volleyball, or you know basketball guard
that really knows how to move their body and has
decent hands just from doing it, the goalkeepers, and really
what we're looking for in particular at CAW. Pauly and
Rod could probably speak more to this is kids that
are fits for our culture and the program that we
desire to to create. Kids that are student athletes, not
(17:56):
just athlete students, Kids that take their academics seriously and
realize the value of a CalPoly education, and kids.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
That want to be.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
About our poor values and on a team that you know,
really reinforces those things.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, I think coming from the men's game, sometimes recruiting
becomes about one question how much? And out of the
girls we've signed, none of them asked that question. That
doesn't and we have girls that will be able to
have monetary gain through their skills and abilities. But that's
(18:33):
an area like we want and student athletes, right, we
want girls that don't feel like they have to compromise
being a student or an athlete, right that they don't
have to say I want to be able to go
to the professional league, or am I going to be
a good teammate. We want people that understand you can
(18:55):
do both. Our first commit it's just a credible young woman.
Her name is Macy Macy Johnstich, and she just played
this past weekend a ton of snaps on the national team.
So she is on the US national team later this summer,
(19:16):
she's doing a week of rotations with I think it's
the national team doctor who's an orthopedic surgeon because she
wants to go to med school. Wow, high character. She
cares a ton about our teammates. I think the privilege
that we have right now is we're able to find
(19:37):
those athletes that want to do all of that and
want to help their teammate become better and help their
teammate accomplish those things. These three months of recruiting have
been so encouraging to us. And I know Kristen makes
fun of me sometimes because I'm a broken record of like,
(19:57):
oh my gosh, honey, I just I just talked to
this girl.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Every time we talked to.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Right, like, because there is just so there's some similarities
in how they're grateful, they're working really hard, they want
to make a splash in the game of football, and
and there is it's just been a really cool experience
for us.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I can hear it in your voice.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It's it's more I think refreshing, maybe not to put
words in your mouth to have this experience.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Again, maybe it got away.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
From that at the boys level of high school football
and into D one football. But this is back to
the purity of student athlete in its in its purest form,
I guess, right.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yeah, And and look in the United States or in
North America, football is king, right, football is king. I
think that is hard to debate that football is king.
And now we are giving a space for female to
come into an area that has been male dominated and
(21:03):
that is king in North America. Awesome, Right, It's awesome
because I believe it's symbolic of so many other things
in regards to what young women can do if they
are given some margin and some belief and some encouragement
to accomplish. So I think that's the bigger message it's
(21:24):
being woven through this flag football journey that we're on
in the United States and internationally.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Really yeah, I mean, as a father of three daughters,
I love everything you're talking about. And you know, the
way you're describing it is fantastic. X's and o's. It's
getting a little x as and nose. If we can't here,
how's this going to play out? Who's on the offensive
side of the football, who's on the digital defensive side
of the football. And are we on the same page
as a couple and as coaching staff.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
We just had a discussion about some punt coverage this
morning that we were not on the same page on.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I won, but she did. She was I love for
everyone to hear she was right, and I had to
withdraw my suggestion because she was right about that.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
When we divvate it, up Rod is more of a
natural He's coached both offense and defense, but really more
of a natural offensive coach. Loves working with quarterbacks and
that's kind of in his wheelhouse, so that's what he's
going to work with. I'll be working more on the
defensive side of the ball. We'll have a separate defensive coordinator.
(22:32):
I don't desire to be doing that. We still have
two kids at home, and being on the same schedule
is going to be a little bit tough for them,
I think. So I'm going to allow someone else to
kind of take a step forward in that area and
really be a consultant and then run some special teams
as well.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I think program wise, we've created what we want our
long term offensive and defensive identity to be. I think
that ultimately is my responsibility, and I anticipate. I'm really
really prayerful that our assistant coaches will go on and
be head coaches. I'm really hoping that the next head
(23:14):
coach at cal Pauly will be in our team room.
I don't give me a couple of years if you can,
and I hope Kristian is not one of the assistant
coaches that goes somewhere else to be a head coach,
because that'd be awkward for me. But I think it's
a head coach responsibility. So here's kind of an identity,
and that way, if we are fortunate for coaches to
(23:36):
move on to become head coaches in other areas, we
still have our blueprints and our roadmap in place for
how we are going to be successful. So we've talked
about that of here's our overall identity offensively and defensively,
and then coordinators may come in and tweak and adjust
within the general framework we have, because if we don't
(23:58):
do it like that, then we're not doing the best
thing we can for players long term, so we know
we want everything. Frankly, we want twenty three football players.
I think sometimes coaches, probably more male coaches, go down
in their minds. I'm going to go down and work
with the girls, and I'm going to bring things down
to their level. We're coaching receivers same way. I think
(24:24):
I have five former players right now that are playing
in the NFL at various positions. We're going to coach
the young women that we're blessed to coach at Kyle
Paly the same way we coached those young men. These
young women not only can handle it, they want it.
(24:44):
So we're going to do a ton of things. Believe
that our players want more because they want to do
everything that the guys do. And if there's any limiting factor,
it's normally us as coach versus like, oh, we believe
in them, we trust them, they can make decisions on
(25:05):
the field. How can we teach them how to be players,
not just teach them how to run players plays? So
that's our focus schematically for him, I love it.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
A couple of fun questions here at the end for
both of you guys, which one's more competitive.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Okay, probably it's lessening as I get older, but I.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Probably me who's the better play designer?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Sometimes sometimes unless it comes to punk coverage.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Apparently, and that's only through experience, I plan. I've designed
a ton of plays that didn't work, so I keep
them in my mind to make sure I don't design
those again.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
All Right, if you had one play to score from
the five yard line, who gets.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
To call me?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah? And then I can blame it on him it
doesn't go well, not that she would ever do that.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Help finish the sentence. Cal Poly's flag football program will
be known.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
For or amazing young women? Love it? Love it? Sorry,
do you have something different?
Speaker 3 (26:08):
No, that's good.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Final thing? What does success look like a year from now?
If we're talking and we're dissecting what happened after year
one of this program, you're reevaluating your program. You're doing
a self evaluation of what's to come of, what you
need to do. What's success in your guys's mind.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
One retention. Young women that are grad transfers right now
have found a way to stick around because they love
this game, and they go into coaching girls that are
going to get drafted in the professional draft, multiple players
(26:50):
from cal Paly on the Olympic team, and our players
loving their experience. Right, if all those things happen, we'll
have the ability to win national championships, but we want
all those other things. Success on the field will flow
(27:10):
out of that. We have the incredible, this incredible group
of athletes. It's got to help them accomplish their goals.
So one year from now, I hope you could ask
every one of our players, how many of your goals
have you accomplished? And I hope they would all say, Man,
I've accomplished every one of my goals, or I'm working
towards them.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Final thing, if there's a young lady listening who's thinking
about playing flag football, what's your message to that young
lady about why it's important they pursue it and what
the opportunities are opening up more and more for them now?
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Are Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I mean do it. It's so fun.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
I don't think you'll ever regret it, being able to
learn about something new, being able to challenge yourself with
something that you didn't think that you could do before,
and especially to the younger girls. We're the first and
co but we're not going to be the only for
very long. You know, Sacramento State is adding in another
year after that, but nationally I believe it's just going
(28:08):
to explode as well, and so the opportunities are coming.
Don't shy away from that, don't let that limit you.
Invest and really build your skills, build your fundamentals, and
listen to your coaches, and just enjoy the experience.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
That's awesome. Kristin has shared with some at times, get
out of the boat. We talked about it with her
high school team. I think it's so easy for us
to stay in the boat, right, and thinking about the
story of Peter and Jesus walking on the water of
when Jesus called out for Peter to come, so many
(28:50):
of us are so comfortable in the boat. Man, you
miss a lot of life if you never get out
of the boat. And sometimes it's hard to get out
of the boat right as Peter saw right he started sinking,
he took his eyes off the Lord. But you get
so many incredible things in life when you get out
(29:10):
of the boat. Right. I am so one of the
reasons I became so passionate about flag football is my
wife got out of the boat. Kristen jumped out of
the boat to start a program. These young women got
out of the boat to start playing on a team.
We have multiple girls, Milan Heisdor, it's the only girl
(29:31):
on her team of all boys, Ashley clam same thing.
There's so many of those stories. They got out of
the boat, right, And I think that's what we just
want to keep encouraging girls to do. Get out of
the boat, try it, and I think it can be
really enriching for their life.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That was awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Well, I got to tell you about eighty six episodes
now of the podcast Coach. We've talked a couple of times.
I can't I can see it in your face how
excited you are about this and to do it with
your wife is something that is truly unique and an
awesome experience. But I was telling people the last couple
of days that I was going to talk to you guys,
and they're like, oh, hey, that's right cal Poly's women's
(30:12):
flag football program. Like people know, people get it, people
are like, people are excited. And I had people tell Hey,
ask him this question. Hey, ask him like is scholarships available?
Like is this this really happened? It's not a club sport. Right,
I'm like, no, no, no, it's Division one. It's it's
it's legit. Like there's a buzz that you guys are
(30:33):
in the middle of, just so you understand that. And
people are talking about what you guys as a couple
are doing starting this program, and what cal Paly is
doing starting this program in California. So I'm excited to
see what you guys do. I gotta get you guys
back on after the season. We can, you know, we
can all do a self evaluation of how the season
gets together. But I mean, I was so excited to
(30:56):
talk to you guys, and best of luck moving forward
this year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
One, thank you, Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Thanks for what you're doing for Concordia too. Absolutely, the
Masters and Coaching is a great program, So we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
All Right, Well, there they go, the power couple now
at cal polye hell Is Obispo. They are embarking on
a new endeavor. Rod Sherman, longtime head coach at high
school football Valor Christian in Colorado, most recently five seasons
in the Trinity League at Orange Lutheran High School. His
wife Kristin helped launch the girls flag football program back
(31:29):
in twenty twenty three at Orange Lutheran, one of the
first programs in California for girls flag football.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
She also was a coach at the community college level.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
And together they're heading up the coast to Cal Paul
Santas Obispo and launching this first Division one program in
the state of California.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Their first season coming up.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
They've just gotten done putting together their first roster through recruiting,
and again they are embarking on something brand new.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
We are excited for them.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Both of them have great experience and both of them
of course got their Masters in Coaching from Concordia University, Irvine,
and they are excited to implement what they have learned
into their new endeavor at cal Poly SAMs Obispo. If
you want to find out more about the Masters in
Coaching program at Concordia University Irvine, just go to CUI
dot edu slash coaching.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Whether you're an administrator, a coach, looking to take that
next step.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
In your life in your career, CUI dot edu slash
coaching a first time student, we'll get a thousand dollars
scholarship to the official program of the CIF here in
California again.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Find out more.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
If it's a right fit for you, it'll fit into
your schedule, They'll make it work. CUI dot edu slash coaching.
So great to catch up with Rod Sherman and his
wife Kristin Sherman as they embark now on this brand
new journey at Division one with women's flag football. So
excited for them, and we'll check back in with them
next year after the season is over. Thank you so
(32:59):
much for Thank you so much for listening to episode
eighty six of the Masters in Coaching podcasts now in
the books until next time, Tim Kate saying so long everybody,
He is a longtime high school football head coach. She
the head coach of a girls' high school flag football team.
Together now launching in Division one as head coach and
assistant head coach at cal Paul San Louis Obispo and
their brand new women's flag football program, the fastest growing
(00:21):
sport in America. We talk about it next with Rod
Sherman and Kristin Sherman here on episode eighty six of
the Masters in Coaching podcast. Let's Go Well, Welcome into
episode eighty six of the Masters in Coaching Podcast here
on iHeartRadio YouTube wherever you're listening.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
We certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I am so excited to bring back one of our
first guests to the podcast. He's been on twice already
and now joined by his wife. He is longtime football
coach Rod Sherman and his wife Kristin Sherman. There the
head coach and assistant head coach now at Cal Paul
San Luis Obispo and the women flag football program that
is one of a kind, the first in California at
the D one level, and they start their first season
(01:06):
next year. They are off and running here a few
months on the job, guys, welcome, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Hi, thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
You bet, it's exciting. We're both Concordia lums so getting
a chance to do this, so thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
What have the last few months been like? Off and running?
Getting this program started from the ground up?
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Yeah, I mean a wire rowind for sure. You know
it moved very quickly, trying to transition from from Rod
from his background and tackle into flag and then just
trying to recruit. We've brought in twenty three student athletes already,
so that's been just a crazy adventure. You don't usually
(01:50):
bring in an entire roster of athletes in one year,
so just busy, but really really.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Fun as well.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Do you think about like in the boys game, colleges
have a full recruiting staff when they're bringing in twenty
five twenty to twenty five athletes in a year, So
that could probably tell you what our last few months
has been like with just the two of us and
getting things going. But it's been a super exciting time
to start something.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Christin, you've started a program before at Orange Lutheran and
at the college level with that background. Now having done
it a couple of times, what is this like, is
it different? Is it more challenging? Is that experience been
helpful now to help launch this program.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
I think it's been helpful from the fact that both
of us have really been on the ground floor with
kind of starting programs, understanding about setting a culture and
those things early, kind of figuring out where you want
your program to go. From the recruiting aspect, that kind
of stuff was a little bit unfamiliar, a little familiar
at the junior college level, but the recruiting cycles is
(02:54):
different at the junior college level than it is at
the Division one level obviously, So yeah, definitely some experience
to drawn in terms of how you want to start
your program, how you want to set your culture early,
how you want to lay that foundation, and then some
totally new stuff as well in terms of, you know,
the Division one rules, recruiting rules, NCAA compliance type of stuff,
(03:17):
and so just learning learning.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
A lot too.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Hasn't been a lot of coaches who have started a
program at the college level. What were some of the
first things outside of building the team, certainly, and you
mentioned the roster building and bringing ladies in what have
what have been the things you guys wanted to establish quickly,
and what can you establish in now just putting together
a roster. When you're building a program from scratch.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I'd say first what our program wants to be about?
Our core values? You see them on the screen behind
us of competition, accountability, love. One of the really cool
things about starting a program is you get to set
a vision of where we want to go, and our
goal is to help each of our athletes become the
best versions of themselves, to help them accomplish their dreams.
(04:06):
When we talk about competition, we're not talking about who
we're going to play in our game. But we're really
talking about is the competition that we get internally which
forces us to become the best versions of ourselves. And
that's been the most exciting thing. And we've been able
to at the college level now talk about that culture
(04:26):
that we desire to have in place on recruiting trips
so that athletes know what they're getting into. And we
have been so blessed with these twenty three student athletes
because they've all bought into the culture before they've been here.
And now we get to let these young women develop
(04:47):
the standards that are going to feed into that culture,
and we just feel so grateful. But we have been
really intentional to set the culture on the very front
end because we believe that that's the greatest foundation that
we can lay in this program for years to come.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I want to take a step back real quick, and Kristin,
we've seen this emergence of girls flag.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Football into women's flag football the last five six years. Really,
why why do you think.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
It's taken off the way it has as one of
the fastest growing sports male or female in the country.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah. I mean, I love the game of football.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I've always loved the game of football, wanted the opportunity
to play so badly. So I'm so excited for these
young women. But I haven't seen very many sports, and
I've coached other sports that instill the.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Kind of.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Confidence and efficacy in these young women that flag football does.
It's something that they've had to watch for so long
and haven't really been invited into that conversation, been invited
into the sport itself. So I think getting to be
able to be a part of something that they've been
shut out of for so long for the most part,
is really cool. And then seeing that they can do
(05:59):
it and that they can do it well and at
a really high level. I think just unlocks something inside
of so many of these young women, and it's really fun.
It's a really fun sport to play, you know, it
blends a lot of other sports kind of together. And
I just think that they they love it and they
love showing what they can do, and it's been really
(06:22):
really exciting to watch. But just having played it, you know,
recreationally as a youth and as an adult, you can
see it's just so fun. And why now that they've
been given the opportunities, so many girls are realizing, oh
my gosh, this is like so much more fun than
playing some of these other sports that they've traditionally been
you know, restricted too. And I just think it's going
(06:46):
to continue to grow because it's it's We've really see
that it's contagious, the love for flag football and the
growth of it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
You mentioned the opportunity and then and the other thing
I can think of in kind of an example is
I have three girls who went through school and played
lacrosse and it was even a smaller niche sport in
southern California. And to see it grow the way it
did over the five or six years and then last
year our kids high school had girls flag football for
the first time, and the two sports when they both launched,
(07:17):
You're grabbing girls from volleyball, You're grabbing girls from softball,
You're grabbing girls from soccer because they've never played it before.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It's a new sport for everybody at the.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
School, and you're right the opportunity. It's like, as soon
as they get that opportunity. Now you're seeing thirty thirty
five forty girls want to play on the flag football
team coming up next year because they've got that bug.
They just love it so much and they get an
opportunity now more than outside of a powder puff game,
they get an opportunity to play.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
I think I was on the CIF Southern Section Advisory
Council for flag football, so we kind of talked about
at the CIF level the emergence of flag football and
lacrosse was a little bit similar, but the way that
flag football exploded in terms of the immediate growth of it.
I think there's nearly four hundred schools in the Southern
(08:05):
Section that are going to be playing flag football and
it's only going to be the fourth year. And we
were wondering, you know how long it would take to
be able to meet the threshold to have a CIF championship,
and it took one year and in some cases, you know,
for us, we had fifty sixty girls coming to tryouts.
In some of these bigger schools, I've heard of over
one hundred girls going out to tryouts. So the interest
(08:27):
is there, and I think California saw that when they
added and the more states that you continue to see
adding it, you're seeing the growing interest and it's pretty
fun to watch it.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's pretty cool to be on the ground floor of
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Exploded at the high school level and you've coached at
the community college level. Now, as you mentioned, cal Paul's
the first California school to have it as a D
one program. Who you guys going to play? What other
schools are around you? Have you figured that out? Is
it going to be a lot of travel? Are there
other schools college universities in California that have said, hey,
(09:02):
we're in next year or in two years and have
made that promise, or there's a down the road goal
of having a California only league. Where does that stand?
Because it's so you guys are the first ones.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, it is. It's awesome to be on the front
end of that. You also know it will look different
in the years to come. There was just a conference
that announced they'll have a full, full conference schedule coming
up in twenty twenty six, twenty seven, and realistically this
first year we'll play schools from all different levels. There's
(09:37):
some great NAIA schools that have formed a conference in
AIA has really been the trailblazer in regards to starting
women's flag football at the collegiate level. They just had
a national championship a couple of weeks ago, and so
we'll play all of those teams over the course of
(09:57):
this year. There are some Division One teams say are
our estimation or our estimate is there's probably going to
be fifteen to twenty by the time the season rolls around.
It seems like every few days another one pops up.
But there won't be a national championship that the NCAA
is sponsoring this first year. We anticipate that that will
(10:20):
come in the spring of twenty twenty eight, which will
coincide really well with the Olympics starting professional league starting
things like that. So we'll take some road trips, we'll
have some teams come to us, and hopefully we'll be
able to get it started on the right path this year.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
All right, let's get into coaching. Okay, how is this
going to work? We got two head coaches that have
come together, now a power couple if you will, to
coach at the D one level.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
How is this going to play out? What the dynamics
look like here?
Speaker 5 (10:50):
He's the boss, and that's, honestly, quite frankly, how I
wanted it. He would have been thrilled to let me
be the head coach, to have a female head coach
of the program, but that's not really in my wheelhouse.
I don't love being out in front of things. I
don't love being on camera having my picture taken. I
(11:11):
love to be a little more behind the scenes. So
I think it'll work well. I think it fits his
skill set a little bit better in both of our
skill sets, and hopefully we can combine the best of
both of us to you know, really just help lead
this program.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Yeah. I think if I could be vulnerable for a second,
I am anticipating I'll grow more as a coach this
year than I probably have in any year since I've coached.
And part of that is right. How do you grow?
Do you grow by being put in new situations? You
grow by those around you wanting you to become the
(11:50):
best version of yourself. My goal as a head coach
is to help every player become their best. Well, I
feel like I'm going to be really less that I'm
going to have people around me to help me become
the best version of myself. And sometimes when you're a
head coach, assistants can be a little bit nervous about
(12:13):
bringing those things forward, right because it's like there's a
structure where it's the boss of that, and I think
I'm going to have the opportunity for that to that
feedback to come a little bit more freely, more directly
and quicker. So really, the challenge for me is to
have my heart in a place to recognize, right, when
(12:36):
we as coaches give feedback to an athlete, why do
we do it to help them, to make them better,
to help them accomplish their goals and dreams. But sometimes
as coaches, when we receive feedback, what does it lead
with defensiveness? You don't understand that's true when you get
(12:57):
feedback from parents, when you do survey, Sometimes as coaches
We're much better at delivering feedback than we are receiving feedback.
So I think God's given me that opportunity this year,
and I want to be able to provide that to
the players too. Right, Hey, girls, this is your program,
not my program. Right, I'm simply a trustee. This is
(13:20):
the girls program, and how can they provide me feedback
that helps us become the program that they desire for
it to be. I'm going to grow a lot this year,
and I'm grateful in advance for I think our coaches
will hopefully hold some short accounts with me when I
don't always handle that immediac in the right moment. Hopefully
(13:45):
I'll grow in that and do a better job in
that over time. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Let's talk a little bit about recruiting, if we can.
What that has been like, not only selling the school,
selling a program that's never played a game before, but
selling a sport that is so new to the college level.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
What has that been like?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Is it been a flood of people reaching out to
you seeing that Cal Pauly in California is the first program,
and just a rush to get there because you mentioned
the demand at the high school level, it's popular and
now at the D one level, I imagine you guys
are getting flooded with young women that want to pursue playing.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
We luckily we don't have a ton of competition right now,
but we had to shut off.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
We started a recruiting questionnaire.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
We ended up having to shut it off after we
had over five hundred you know, responses in a pretty
short period of time, and we just end up having
to turn it off because we couldn't even get through
all of them. The interest is there, so we don't
really need to sell the sport because there are so
many girls that were hungry for this opportunity, so many
girls that have been playing growing up, either with the
(14:54):
boys or recently with on their own women's teams and
girls teams that ever thought they'd have the opportunity to
play at the Division one level, and so people are
just really hungry for that opportunity. As a school, I
think how Poly really sells itself. It's obviously beautiful, it's
in a great location. I think it's one of the
few true college towns left in the United States, but
(15:16):
particularly in the state of California and so and the
high academic standards obviously are really appealing to a lot
of our young women. But I just think that there
was such a need for this and people were so excited,
and man, these girls have been amazing. They are so
(15:37):
grateful for the opportunity. Even our most accomplished athletes that
you'll see on commercials that have huge social media followings,
they're just so grateful to be able to have this
opportunity that they never thought they'd have growing up, and
then to be able to give back to the younger
generation and kind of pave a pathway and really lay
the foundation for these little girls that they see.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Playing that will now all have the opportunity to play.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Do it want athletics for you know, their whole careers?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
As a dad, as somebody who maybe his daughter wants
to get recruited and is looking to play at cal Pauly.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
What are you guys looking for in recruits? Is it
a flag?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Football must be a background you have to have played before.
Are you looking for athletes? Are you looking for height?
Are you looking for speed or are you looking at well?
This girl's fast. I can teach her how to run
routes and we can figure out how to play the
game because she's so athletic.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
I'm gonna let Chris n answer that. One of her
thinks she does on our staff is really lead the
recruitment player evaluation. She's much better at it than I am.
So what are you looking for?
Speaker 5 (16:42):
I mean, I think it depends on the year, Like
right now, right this first year, we're obviously taking a
few more chances on girls that might have a little
less experience because by and large, most girls do have
less experience unless you've you know, been in a state
where they've been playing flag football for a long period
of time. Most girls are only going to have you know,
two to three years of experience at most. And for
(17:04):
a lot of them it was a secondary sport because
there wasn't the opportunity to.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Play at a high level.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
So for most of them, they were devoted to that
whatever that other primary sport was. So there are some
girls that were taking a chance on in this first
year in particular, where maybe they haven't played a ton
of football, but we see something in them. I think
in future years you're going to see girl that teams
are going to want girls that have experience in that.
But for sure there's going to be the random you know,
(17:31):
undersized outside hitter in volleyball, or you know basketball guard
that really knows how to move their body and has
decent hands just from doing it, the goalkeepers, and really
what we're looking for in particular at CAW. Pauly and
Rod could probably speak more to this is kids that
are fits for our culture and the program that we
desire to to create. Kids that are student athletes, not
(17:56):
just athlete students, Kids that take their academics seriously and
realize the value of a CalPoly education, and kids.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
That want to be.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
About our poor values and on a team that you know,
really reinforces those things.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, I think coming from the men's game, sometimes recruiting
becomes about one question how much? And out of the
girls we've signed, none of them asked that question. That
doesn't and we have girls that will be able to
have monetary gain through their skills and abilities. But that's
(18:33):
an area like we want and student athletes, right, we
want girls that don't feel like they have to compromise
being a student or an athlete, right that they don't
have to say I want to be able to go
to the professional league, or am I going to be
a good teammate. We want people that understand you can
(18:55):
do both. Our first commit it's just a credible young woman.
Her name is Macy Macy Johnstich, and she just played
this past weekend a ton of snaps on the national team.
So she is on the US national team later this summer,
(19:16):
she's doing a week of rotations with I think it's
the national team doctor who's an orthopedic surgeon because she
wants to go to med school. Wow, high character. She
cares a ton about our teammates. I think the privilege
that we have right now is we're able to find
(19:37):
those athletes that want to do all of that and
want to help their teammate become better and help their
teammate accomplish those things. These three months of recruiting have
been so encouraging to us. And I know Kristen makes
fun of me sometimes because I'm a broken record of like,
(19:57):
oh my gosh, honey, I just I just talked to
this girl.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Every time we talked to.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Right, like, because there is just so there's some similarities
in how they're grateful, they're working really hard, they want
to make a splash in the game of football, and
and there is it's just been a really cool experience
for us.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I can hear it in your voice.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It's it's more I think refreshing, maybe not to put
words in your mouth to have this experience.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Again, maybe it got away.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
From that at the boys level of high school football
and into D one football. But this is back to
the purity of student athlete in its in its purest form,
I guess, right.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Yeah, And and look in the United States or in
North America, football is king, right, football is king. I
think that is hard to debate that football is king.
And now we are giving a space for female to
come into an area that has been male dominated and
(21:03):
that is king in North America. Awesome, Right, It's awesome
because I believe it's symbolic of so many other things
in regards to what young women can do if they
are given some margin and some belief and some encouragement
to accomplish. So I think that's the bigger message it's
(21:24):
being woven through this flag football journey that we're on
in the United States and internationally.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Really yeah, I mean, as a father of three daughters,
I love everything you're talking about. And you know, the
way you're describing it is fantastic. X's and o's. It's
getting a little x as and nose. If we can't here,
how's this going to play out? Who's on the offensive
side of the football, who's on the digital defensive side
of the football. And are we on the same page
as a couple and as coaching staff.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
We just had a discussion about some punt coverage this
morning that we were not on the same page on.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I won, but she did. She was I love for
everyone to hear she was right, and I had to
withdraw my suggestion because she was right about that.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
When we divvate it, up Rod is more of a
natural He's coached both offense and defense, but really more
of a natural offensive coach. Loves working with quarterbacks and
that's kind of in his wheelhouse, so that's what he's
going to work with. I'll be working more on the
defensive side of the ball. We'll have a separate defensive coordinator.
(22:32):
I don't desire to be doing that. We still have
two kids at home, and being on the same schedule
is going to be a little bit tough for them,
I think. So I'm going to allow someone else to
kind of take a step forward in that area and
really be a consultant and then run some special teams
as well.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I think program wise, we've created what we want our
long term offensive and defensive identity to be. I think
that ultimately is my responsibility, and I anticipate. I'm really
really prayerful that our assistant coaches will go on and
be head coaches. I'm really hoping that the next head
(23:14):
coach at cal Pauly will be in our team room.
I don't give me a couple of years if you can,
and I hope Kristian is not one of the assistant
coaches that goes somewhere else to be a head coach,
because that'd be awkward for me. But I think it's
a head coach responsibility. So here's kind of an identity,
and that way, if we are fortunate for coaches to
(23:36):
move on to become head coaches in other areas, we
still have our blueprints and our roadmap in place for
how we are going to be successful. So we've talked
about that of here's our overall identity offensively and defensively,
and then coordinators may come in and tweak and adjust
within the general framework we have, because if we don't
(23:58):
do it like that, then we're not doing the best
thing we can for players long term, so we know
we want everything. Frankly, we want twenty three football players.
I think sometimes coaches, probably more male coaches, go down
in their minds. I'm going to go down and work
with the girls, and I'm going to bring things down
to their level. We're coaching receivers same way. I think
(24:24):
I have five former players right now that are playing
in the NFL at various positions. We're going to coach
the young women that we're blessed to coach at Kyle
Paly the same way we coached those young men. These
young women not only can handle it, they want it.
(24:44):
So we're going to do a ton of things. Believe
that our players want more because they want to do
everything that the guys do. And if there's any limiting factor,
it's normally us as coach versus like, oh, we believe
in them, we trust them, they can make decisions on
(25:05):
the field. How can we teach them how to be players,
not just teach them how to run players plays? So
that's our focus schematically for him, I love it.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
A couple of fun questions here at the end for
both of you guys, which one's more competitive.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Okay, probably it's lessening as I get older, but I.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Probably me who's the better play designer?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Sometimes sometimes unless it comes to punk coverage.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Apparently, and that's only through experience, I plan. I've designed
a ton of plays that didn't work, so I keep
them in my mind to make sure I don't design
those again.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
All Right, if you had one play to score from
the five yard line, who gets.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
To call me?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah? And then I can blame it on him it
doesn't go well, not that she would ever do that.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Help finish the sentence. Cal Poly's flag football program will
be known.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
For or amazing young women? Love it? Love it? Sorry,
do you have something different?
Speaker 3 (26:08):
No, that's good.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Final thing? What does success look like a year from now?
If we're talking and we're dissecting what happened after year
one of this program, you're reevaluating your program. You're doing
a self evaluation of what's to come of, what you
need to do. What's success in your guys's mind.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
One retention. Young women that are grad transfers right now
have found a way to stick around because they love
this game, and they go into coaching girls that are
going to get drafted in the professional draft, multiple players
(26:50):
from cal Paly on the Olympic team, and our players
loving their experience. Right, if all those things happen, we'll
have the ability to win national championships, but we want
all those other things. Success on the field will flow
(27:10):
out of that. We have the incredible, this incredible group
of athletes. It's got to help them accomplish their goals.
So one year from now, I hope you could ask
every one of our players, how many of your goals
have you accomplished? And I hope they would all say, Man,
I've accomplished every one of my goals, or I'm working
towards them.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Final thing, if there's a young lady listening who's thinking
about playing flag football, what's your message to that young
lady about why it's important they pursue it and what
the opportunities are opening up more and more for them now?
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Are Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I mean do it. It's so fun.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
I don't think you'll ever regret it, being able to
learn about something new, being able to challenge yourself with
something that you didn't think that you could do before,
and especially to the younger girls. We're the first and
co but we're not going to be the only for
very long. You know, Sacramento State is adding in another
year after that, but nationally I believe it's just going
(28:08):
to explode as well, and so the opportunities are coming.
Don't shy away from that, don't let that limit you.
Invest and really build your skills, build your fundamentals, and
listen to your coaches, and just enjoy the experience.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
That's awesome. Kristin has shared with some at times, get
out of the boat. We talked about it with her
high school team. I think it's so easy for us
to stay in the boat, right, and thinking about the
story of Peter and Jesus walking on the water of
when Jesus called out for Peter to come, so many
(28:50):
of us are so comfortable in the boat. Man, you
miss a lot of life if you never get out
of the boat. And sometimes it's hard to get out
of the boat right as Peter saw right he started sinking,
he took his eyes off the Lord. But you get
so many incredible things in life when you get out
(29:10):
of the boat. Right. I am so one of the
reasons I became so passionate about flag football is my
wife got out of the boat. Kristen jumped out of
the boat to start a program. These young women got
out of the boat to start playing on a team.
We have multiple girls, Milan Heisdor, it's the only girl
(29:31):
on her team of all boys, Ashley clam same thing.
There's so many of those stories. They got out of
the boat, right, And I think that's what we just
want to keep encouraging girls to do. Get out of
the boat, try it, and I think it can be
really enriching for their life.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That was awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Well, I got to tell you about eighty six episodes
now of the podcast Coach. We've talked a couple of times.
I can't I can see it in your face how
excited you are about this and to do it with
your wife is something that is truly unique and an
awesome experience. But I was telling people the last couple
of days that I was going to talk to you guys,
and they're like, oh, hey, that's right cal Poly's women's
(30:12):
flag football program. Like people know, people get it, people
are like, people are excited. And I had people tell Hey,
ask him this question. Hey, ask him like is scholarships available?
Like is this this really happened? It's not a club sport. Right,
I'm like, no, no, no, it's Division one. It's it's
it's legit. Like there's a buzz that you guys are
(30:33):
in the middle of, just so you understand that. And
people are talking about what you guys as a couple
are doing starting this program, and what cal Paly is
doing starting this program in California. So I'm excited to
see what you guys do. I gotta get you guys
back on after the season. We can, you know, we
can all do a self evaluation of how the season
gets together. But I mean, I was so excited to
(30:56):
talk to you guys, and best of luck moving forward
this year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
One, thank you, Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Thanks for what you're doing for Concordia too. Absolutely, the
Masters and Coaching is a great program, So we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
All Right, Well, there they go, the power couple now
at cal polye hell Is Obispo. They are embarking on
a new endeavor. Rod Sherman, longtime head coach at high
school football Valor Christian in Colorado, most recently five seasons
in the Trinity League at Orange Lutheran High School. His
wife Kristin helped launch the girls flag football program back
(31:29):
in twenty twenty three at Orange Lutheran, one of the
first programs in California for girls flag football.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
She also was a coach at the community college level.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
And together they're heading up the coast to Cal Paul
Santas Obispo and launching this first Division one program in
the state of California.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Their first season coming up.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
They've just gotten done putting together their first roster through recruiting,
and again they are embarking on something brand new.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
We are excited for them.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Both of them have great experience and both of them
of course got their Masters in Coaching from Concordia University, Irvine,
and they are excited to implement what they have learned
into their new endeavor at cal Poly SAMs Obispo. If
you want to find out more about the Masters in
Coaching program at Concordia University Irvine, just go to CUI
dot edu slash coaching.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Whether you're an administrator, a coach, looking to take that
next step.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
In your life in your career, CUI dot edu slash
coaching a first time student, we'll get a thousand dollars
scholarship to the official program of the CIF here in
California again.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Find out more.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
If it's a right fit for you, it'll fit into
your schedule, They'll make it work. CUI dot edu slash coaching.
So great to catch up with Rod Sherman and his
wife Kristin Sherman as they embark now on this brand
new journey at Division one with women's flag football. So
excited for them, and we'll check back in with them
next year after the season is over. Thank you so
(32:59):
much for Thank you so much for listening to episode
eighty six of the Masters in Coaching podcasts now in
the books until next time, Tim Kate saying so long everybody,
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