Former Redwood Multi-Sport Athlete: Mr. Clements

When Mr. Clements, ‘92, attended Redwood High School, he played Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Wrestling.

By: Alex Neal

As kids, we develop hobbies and begin new activities. Those hobbies and activities sometimes stick with us as we get older, whether a parent signed us up or we asked our parents to sign us up.

Sometimes we choose to do more with our interests, and instead of participating outside of school, we participate for the school.

In high school, Mr. Clements said he played, “Three years wrestling, four years football, one year basketball, and two years baseball.”

He was on Varsity Football for three years and said, “We had a really, really good team my senior year that made it to the division one semifinals.”

In baseball, he played a year on the Freshman team and the next on JV. He also played on the Freshman team for basketball and decided to continue with JV Wrestling for a year and Varsity Wrestling for two years.

He said, “I played that year. And then I switched back back to wrestling and wound up finishing high school as a wrestler instead of a basketball player. But basketball to me was always really, really fun.”

He added, “There was a level of fun in basketball that just didn’t exist in other sports. Like, even practice in basketball was fun. I always loved basketball.” The reason he gave for discontinuing basketball was that he was too short.

For baseball he said, “It was just one of those games that as I got older, I just wasn’t talented enough. And primarily it was in the batter’s box where I didn’t excel, as a hitter, as I got older. So it was one of those games where I could kind of see the writing on the wall and as I got older, I got less and less playing time.”

Baseball and basketball were sports that Mr. Clements said he didn’t excel at, but he said he was better in football and wrestling.

He said, “You know, football is just a bunch of hard work, and wrestling was the same way. Wrestling is an incredible amount of hard work.” He would train and focus his time on football by lifting weights in the weightroom.

After graduating in 1992 he decided to continue playing football in college. He said, “I played two years at the College of Sequoias and then I played one season at San Francisco State University.”

When he was a kid, he considered playing professionally, but decided against it as he got older. He said, “I think by the time I was in high school, I knew that I wasn’t going to be good enough to play professionally.”

Even if he didn’t continue to professionally play football, he was still happy to play in college.

His reason for becoming an English teacher and coach was, “I think it does have a lot to do with my time at Redwood where I had these really great coaches, and they were also great teachers.”

He added, “I always did really well in my English classes, and that’s kind of how I became an English major. I had always accepted that I was never really great at math, so English just made the most sense for me.”

He also said that becoming a coach was something he thought about since he was a young kid.

He said, “I just enjoy that it’s very different than the classroom. So it’s a good change of pace at the end of the day, after being stuck inside all day. ”

He added, “That’s really my favorite part. Seeing students from two different perspectives from inside the classroom, and then you have a chance to be in a more relaxed setting and interact with them on the practice field.”

Interacting with students outside of the classroom gives Mr. Clements a chance to see a different side of students. It can help him understand them a bit better and create a better bond with his students as a teacher.

As soon as he finished college he started working. He’s been teaching and coaching for 27 years.

A piece of advice he’d give to young students wanting to play football is, “Football is a tough sport. It’s not for everyone. But I think with time anyone can improve, if they put the work in, and they have to be in the weight room, and then you just have to stick to it.”

He added, “Sometimes when you’re young, it’s really difficult, and you have to push through that. And then as you get older, maybe you improve and you get better at the sport.”

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