Coach Mom
Wes McAdam lives and breathes Lakeside football.
The same might be said of his mother, Mary.
The younger McAdam is a senior outside linebacker for the Eagles, but the past four years don’t fully recognize his contribution to the program. He’s been a fixture at Lakeside’s football field since the day the Nine Mile Falls school opened in 1991. It was Mary, in fact, who toted him out to the field and exposed Wes to the culture of high school football.
“I’ve coached the kickers and punters since we opened the high school,” said Mary McAdam, a volunteer coach who also runs the scoreboard during home games. “He was out there in diapers. It’s kind of funny because the first holder I had … walked up and said, ‘Hi, little fella.’ Wes then rolls up his fist and hits him in the (groin) as hard as he can. The guy just dropped.
“After that, I’d take him on the field and he’d go make forts out of bags. When guys did conditioning, he’d be out there doing bear crawls with them. People would say, ‘Wow, your kid likes to do that?’ “
A single mom, Mary McAdam said she was a football fan before Wes was born in 1989. Her love of athletics doesn’t end there, however. She also coaches Lakeside’s girls golf team. Eagles football coach Brian Dunn praised her contribution to the school’s athletic department in general and the football team specifically.
“Since I’ve been here, she’s volunteered to work with the kickers,” Dunn said. “She’s really good with that. She knows her stuff and a lot more about it than I do. … She’s just a real neat lady and has been a real fan and supporter of the program. She’s kind of the epitome of Lakeside here. They’re both fixtures in the community. Everyone just adores Mary for all that she does.”
Wes McAdam’s competitive nature extends away from football, too. He placed second at 152 pounds in the State 1A wrestling tournament last year and has his eyes set on a state title this winter. Playing strongside linebacker is one of the most physically demanding positions on the football field, and he’s added 20 pounds of bulk to help withstand the grind of games and practices in pads.
McAdam’s linebacker responsibilities include taking on tight ends, covering passes downfield and coming up to stop the run. In the Eagles’ 3-3-5 defense, Dunn said, “He’s got to be the best athlete on the field and be our smartest football player.”
McAdam, who served as a ballboy for the Eagles when he was younger, said he’s smaller than most of the opposing players he bumps heads against. Not that he sees it as a disadvantage.
“What I’m doing as a wrestler is what I’m doing on the football field – trying to wear down the guy I’m up against,” McAdam said. “I know in my mind that I’m going to break this guy’s spirit. That’s my goal. I’m going to keep working at that until I’ve evened the playing field. He may be 50 pounds heavier, but he’s dead tired, and I’m still going.
“In wrestling, I learned that, too. … If I can wear on a guy until the point he’s not looking forward to coming up to the line against me again, that’s where I can take leaps forward and beat that guy. That’s what I learned from wrestling and will take to other things in life.”
Mary McAdam said there is a middle ground to be found as a mom and a coach on her son’s football team. Mary and Wes both said they’ve found a symbiotic balance within that uncommon dynamic.
“There’s a time and place for both,” Mary said. “When he’s on the football field, he’s a linebacker and sometimes a running back. He has to take his lumps with the rest of the kids and the rest of the team. … During games, I’m on the score clock, so I’m not down there. When we come home and talk about what he did right, what he did wrong and what should be done. That’s between him and me as parent and son.
“I coach the kickers and let (the other coaches) do what they should do with him. I don’t say he needs to run the ball or anything. … As far as influencing what he does and what they do with him, I stay out of that. It’s better that way.”
“When we’re on the field, it’s mostly just business,” Wes said. “She’s running the clock and stuff (at games), and when I’m going out on the field I look up and wave because it’s my mom. If I’ve got a question, I can ask her because she’s a coach. At home I ask her, ‘How did I do?’ It’s always a mom thing: ‘You played great,’ and ‘You played really well.’
“But on the field if I do something wrong, she says, ‘Wes, that’s not gonna work, and you’ve gotta fix that.’ She lets me know when I step out of line. I’ve been late once to practice, and it won’t happen again. She was the person grabbing my ear.”
Dunn said he wants to give back to the McAdams after everything they’ve given of themselves for the benefit of others at Lakeside.
“Wes would really like to play at the next level, and we’re gonna find him some place to play,” Dunn said. “He doesn’t have the size for the Pac-10 or something like that, but he is someone small colleges will love. He does everything right. He’s gone from being my ballboy to our best player. He’s just a neat kid to work with.”