John Bradford of the Bluffton-Hardeeville Barracudas 8U team has his squad operating like a well-oiled machine. Currently, the team is undefeated with a 7-0 record, and has allowed just a single touchdown and fewer than than 20 first downs all season.

Getting 6-, 7- and 8-year-old boys and girls - the team does have one girl on the 24-player roster - to operate together on the field is no small task. Kids of that age have very different ways of looking at the world than adults, and as such, it takes something special to make a connection.

Bluffton Today caught up with Bradford, 36, at a recent practice to see how he and his assistant coaches (Scott Miller, Shannon Moore, Chris Javery, Carl Loguidice, Curt Burchfield and Megan Vandervliet) make that connnection with their tiny football players.


Bluffton Today: Coach, can you give me a little bit of background about yourself?

John Bradford: I'm from Michigan originally and I moved down here about 3 1/2 years ago. I've coached baseball, basketball and football for the last 10 years with all my kids. I started coaching my (eldest) daughter Haley in third grade in basketball. (Middle child) Lizzie does gymnastics, and unfortunately I'm not a gymnast (laughs), and with Nate I've been coaching him in football, baseball and basketball.


BT: What's your day job, John?

Bradford: I am a store manager for Tires Plus in Savannah. I'm very fortunate with my job; my bosses know what I do and know that I coach, and they're very willing for me to be able to do what I do.


BT: Why did you decide to get involved with coaching?

Bradford: In my life I had a coach who really meant a lot to me and got me to where I was at with sports. There are so many kids out there and you have to give back in life. There's kids out there that don't have things. You want to be there for the kids, and it's great.


BT: Can you tell me about your history with the Barracudas?

Bradford: I was a defensive coach last year for the 8U team, and I was asked by Terry (Laseter, co-founder and president of the Barracudas) to come back this year and be the head coach. I gladly accepted. We didn't know about the Barracudas when we first moved here, but a guy in the neighborhood introduced us, now I'm here this year and I'm loving every minute of it.


BT: When you're coaching young children such as the Barracudas 8U team, how do you approach that? Whether it's philosophy and schemes, the intensity level or discipline?

Bradford: First off is trying to find the kids who want to be here. Some of the kids, you know, you run into who were made to do it because their parents did it. There are other kids who want to try something. That's the first thing. I try to introduce myself, tell them I'm going to treat them all like young men, and start with the philosophy of being very sportsmanlike on the field. From there, teaching the discipline. I hold my kids to a higher standard, and personally, I hold my son to a higher standard than all the other kids. 


BT: With an age difference of nearly 30 years, and wildly different perspectives on life and football, how do you connect with the kids and be effective?

Bradford: It's like teachers in school; you have to find a way to get through to them. I only have an hour to an hour and a half with them, and I've got 24 kids on the team, so I don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with them. That comes in with the assistants, try to spend a little one-on-one time where I can step away and do some more of the hands-on coaching, and that helps. But the philosophy is just treating everyone with respect, and we start with that.


BT: What are some of the more difficult aspects of coaching 6-, 7- and 8-year-old kids?

Bradford: Attention span (laughs). The most difficult aspect of (it) is their attention. Once you find a way to be able to grab that, and hold on to that, it makes everything so much better. You have to make it fun. At 8 years old or 6 years old you've got to make it fun for them. If that means making funny faces or funny noises, just talking to them on the same level. I have a son the same age, so I know all the movies and all the Spidermans and the Batmans and stuff. As long as they're having fun, they don't pay attention to time. The kids who are playing and are engaged are the ones who are like "Oh, it's time to go?" I get on their level, and we don't talk down to them. I'm 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, I'm very intimidating to grown men, even. Get on their level, eye-to-eye with them and talk softly. We're not yelling, we're not screaming, we're not disappointing them, we're trying to make them understand what they missed. Once you find that they can have fun, do voices, talk to them, fart jokes. Kids love fart jokes.


BT: Speaking of hands-on coaching, I actually observed something during practice. A kid on the defensive line got burned and he kind of started to complain about it, and you got down on his level, talked to him and lined up right behind him and showed him how to beat his opponent.

Bradford: And that's where the coaching really comes in. When you're playing against your own team they know what your schemes are, and kids tend to cheat. The fact is, in a game, he's not going to have that. So teaching him that next level of football so that he can see that they've been beat twice now, he's getting hurt, going up against a kid twice his size. How do you beat a big kid? Well, you have to be faster than them. That's where the hands-on coaching comes in. To tell them to do that is different from showing them how to do that.


BT: Let's talk about the season a little bit. Just one touchdown allowed, just 16 first downs allowed on defense, and you mentioned you were disappointed in that one touchdown?

Bradford: It's a disappointment in the fact that it was one kid who wasn't disciplined, and he knew it. He knew immediately, and he looked at me. Is it disappointing? Yes. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to allow zero touchdowns in, and we've allowed one. It happens. We didn't allow the extra point, and allowed maybe one or two more first downs in the game. As long as the kids are having fun, that's all that matters.


BT: When your son Nate moves up to 10U next year, will you be following him?

Bradford: Yes. I'm likely going to follow him. To what degree hasn't been decided. But at some point in time, I will step back and let others coach him. I wasn't in the NFL, I didn't play college ball. I love the sport, I know how it plays, and I also know there's a point in time when I have to step back and let others coach him. There's a time when kids needs to be coached by someone other than their parents. They need to be able to learn and give that respect from others that you've asked of them. Will I continue coaching? Probably. It's too fun not to teach and coach these kids.


BT: Finally, John, you were chosen by your team to get slimed this past summer after a fundraising event?

Bradford: We had a fundraiser at camp this summer with collecting coins, and the 8U won and guess who they elected to get slimed? Me. I took the sliming, it was fun. It was all for charity. It's very rewarding to be able to look back and know that I helped. If you don't love this, it's not for you. You have to love it.


BT: Thank you, John. Best of luck the rest of the season. 

Bradford: Thank you.