HOMECOMING: Like father, like son

By Tarin McMorrow,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

The influence of a coach and that of a parent both have the capacity to affect someone’s life . But when your coach is your parent, the bond can be unbreakable.

This is true for former Davis High all-star, pro football player and current DHS coach Jason Fisk and his sophomore son, varsity football player and sophomore Tucker Fisk.

“My philosophy on coaching is just teaching so I try to provide them with as much as I can so I can help them become better,” Jason said.

Jason admits to the pride he feels watching his players develop, especially his son. “He’s better than I ever was in so many ways,” Jason said.

Fisk has coached his son in many different sports through the years and explains how to differentiate when to be his dad and when to be his coach.

“I always try to treat him like a player when and where I’m in that relationship and he’s my son when we’re at home,” Jason said.

Tucker enjoys being coached by his dad but he admits that receiving criticism and direction from his dad versus another coach can be hard at times.

“It definitely keeps me in check, because I don’t want to make him mad by not trying but also when he tells me to do something in front of everyone, it’s a little bit of ‘come on, dad,’” Tucker said.

Jason has the unique opportunity not only to be coaching his son, but to be coaching his son at the same high school that he attended and played for.

“It’s pretty cool; it brings back a lot of memories from when I was doing what he’s doing and it’s pretty special to come full circle like that,” Jason said.  “We share a lot of the same interests, and on the football field I get to share with him what I know and watch him make it his own.”

Tucker agrees with his dad on the subject and doesn’t take their situation for granted. “It’s cool to be playing for the same team that my dad did in high school,” Tucker said.

Jason has many great memories of representing his school by participating in the homecoming game. “Everyone got really into it; pretty passionately . . . it was more of a big deal for the whole school,” Jason said.

The unity of the football team grows stronger during the homecoming season, and so does that of the school.

“I’m just looking forward to the atmosphere and all the people that are hopefully going to be there,” Tucker said. “Just to finally play in a homecoming game, something that I’ve gone to for the past, five, six years, it’s cool to finally be a part of it.”

School pride is something that coach and player both believe in. Because of this, training for the big game is intense but very exciting.

“It makes everyone on the team work a little bit harder. Everybody wants to win the homecoming game because everyone goes; you want to make your school proud I guess,” Tucker said.

Although Jason played football throughout his high school years with pride, it did not take his focus away from the rest of his life.

“I was involved in a lot of other stuff. Academics were a pretty strong focus of mine–I was looking for an opportunity to go into medical school; that was an ambition of mine at the time,” Jason said.

Jason never expected his love of the game to take him as far as it did. “I never knew, I never thought I would, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to play [professionally] . . .  [I] put one foot in front of the other and made it there,” Jason said.

Tucker can relate to his father in that he is not yet sure where he wants to go with football. Thoughts of pursuing it in college or even as a career are still undecided for him.

“Seeing my dad on Monday mornings after a football game would discourage me a little bit from that, but I guess if the opportunity came I would,” Tucker said.

Jason will support whatever decision his son makes, whether it be football, Tucker’s other love (swimming), or something entirely different.

“I want him to follow his own footsteps and I’m sure that he will; he always choose his own path, and he’s got a lot of opportunities in his life,” Jason said.