Bendorf Sees a Bit of Himself in His Players
Pete Bendorf was an all-district defensive back at Marshall High in 1978 despite being 5 feet 6. "If I could do it, you can do it," he said he tells his players.
(By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Before he even got to know them, South County Coach Pete Bendorf figured he would see eye to eye with Eric Dorsey and Karlos Morgan.
Dorsey, a sophomore running back, is 5 feet 6, 160 pounds. Morgan, a sophomore defensive back, is 5-4, 140.
Bendorf is 5-6, 175, and was 5-6, 150 when he was an all-district defensive back at Marshall High School in 1978.
"I like to have big, fast people, but I probably have a soft spot for shorter, smaller people because I was that guy in high school," Bendorf said. "I never let it bother me. [I tell them], 'I'm 5-foot-nothing, 100-nothing. If I could do it, you can do it.' "
Bendorf said when he was in high school he never hesitated to volunteer for a drill or to speak up in practice. The idea was to get noticed and to prove that being small wasn't a shortcoming. That's what he tries to teach Dorsey, Morgan and others.
"He understands where you're coming from," said Dorsey, adding that sometimes the Stallions joke with Bendorf about his size, or challenge the coach to jump up and touch the goalpost, which he does on occasion.
"He can relate more to us than the bigger coaches can," Morgan said. "Coach Bendorf tells us to make sure you have the technique down because people are going to come out and make adjustments because you're a smaller guy on the field. Smaller players have to have a lot of swagger because you can't do anything scared."
Bendorf said in some ways it might be more difficult to be a smaller player today than when he was in high school because the typical player now is a lot bigger than the typical player was then. On the other hand, the game is more wide open now, which can benefit the smaller, faster player.
And as a coach, Bendorf can think of at least one example of how his modest stature can come in handy.
"We've won championships, and [the kids] always try to get me with a Gatorade bath," said Bendorf, whose Oakton team won the Virginia AAA Northern Region Division 6 title in 2002. "I think [my size] helps me be quick because I can dodge that pretty quickly. Plus, I can hide pretty well."
