Chaminade Football a Father-Son Act

“From the day I was born, football was in our heads,” Chaminade DB John McDaid says when asked about his father, John Sr.

While some teenagers would think that a single question is the equivilent to being grilled by the Feds about your day, what must the Ferman-bound senior think when your dad has not only been coaching you since you were 7 years old, but is one of the offensive coordinators for the Flyers too?

“Any PAL game he was my coach, it’s kinda like, familiar, something special and at this level I don’t really see him that much,” he said following a 35-7 win over Xaverian on October 14, the Flyers’ last home game during the 2012 regular season.

The familiarity extends to the roster as well as McDaid – who began play at the age of 7 with the Garden City Thunder – also had a teammate in QB Timothy Muller and played against FB Daniel Fowler of Wantagh.

“We’ve been all over the place,” McDaid said. “He’s been coaching a bunch of us. It’s great because you know how each other play and you just bond together. It comes out on the field and what we’ve been doing it ‘s really showing through.”

There’s always been that certain coach-player tandems in sports whose relationship with a player was the perfect match: Torre-Jeter, Jackson-Jordan, Shula-Marino, Landry-Staubach, the list goes on.

Not that the father-son duo is one of overbearing or not susceptible to playing favorites since his son happens to be on the field.

“Sometimes on the sidelines he’ll give me a little pat and he’ll get me going,” McDaid said of interacting with his father on the sidelines – or the lack thereof. “I think it’s better off. I don’t want to be calling him ‘Dad’.”

Still he concedes that “it’s special” that he has been able to have his father with him, though their focuses are on different lines.

“Always, like in film, we’re always separated,” McDaid says.

Currently, McDaid is averaging 8.3 tackles per game and has 58 tackles – 41 of them solos – over the course of the 2012 season.

McDaid and his father got a few photos together, knowing the latter would not be following to the college level; fully aware there will only be at most three games left between them.

“It’s very special,” the younger one said.

Like anything between a father and son.