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Former players honour Circelli

Former players honour Circelli

By MORRIS DALLA COSTA -- London Free Press

Mike Circelli would prefer to be preparing his Catholic Central Crusaders to win the London high school football championship tomorrow.

Instead, he's preparing for next year.

He is in the running for one honour, though -- one that came about because his former players thought so much of him they took the time to nominate him.

Circelli is one of 10 finalists for the 2006 Hitachi NFL/CFL youth coach of the year award. In its eighth year, the award is designed to recognize community or high-school level coaches across Canada who share a passion for football and dedicate themselves to the development of young players on and off the field.

Circelli is the head coach at CCH.

His Crusaders missed the high school football final for the first time in 20 years this season.

The Lucas Vikings will play Aquinas Flames in the championship game.

Circelli is the guy who built the program and developed dozens of quality players.

Two of them decided Circelli's contribution to football needed recognition.

"Mark Howard and I got together and we thought it would be a great opportunity to tell people what a great, great guy Mike Circelli is," said Randy McAuley, who with Howard now plays for the Western Mustangs.

"Not only that but with them not making the final for the first time in 20 years, it's given me a great opportunity to talk to him over the last week. It only strengthened my resolve that he deserved this. He's shown great character."

CCH's failure to make the final caused great distress in the CCH community.

"He's helped the players through this," McAuley said. "They felt the burden on their shoulders of losing. They felt they let everyone down and that they'd failed. Mr. Circelli was the first one to say that it wasn't their fault, that they didn't let anyone down. He's a great character guy."

Circelli found out about the nomination yesterday morning.

"I'm thrilled," he said, although he admits it would have been better if his team had still been playing. "Any time someone says something nice about you, it's appreciated."

Circelli said the past week has been a difficult one for him and the school.

"When you work as hard as these kids do, when you are banging heads for 10-12 weeks, and you don't win, it's tough. You feel you let a lot of people down. You feel badly for the kids that won't be wearing football pads anymore."

The respect Circelli has earned from his players is obvious.

"When I think of dedication, hard work, and love for the game and his players, the name that personifies these qualities is Mike Circelli," wrote McAuley in his nomination resume. ". . . but when I finally entered the program I realized it was much, more than just a chance to win! Catholic Central does not win because they have the best players, or all of the young "recruits", rather it is because the coaches of this team are dedicated to making hard working honourable men out of their players. Spear heading this initiative is Mike Circelli.

". . . he genuinely cared for his student-athletes and was dedicated to giving them the best possible educational and athletic experience. Mike Circelli is truly an ambassador of the game, and a steward of sportsmanship."

Circelli says developing football players is only a small piece of what has been a successful formula.

"It's not all about football, we're trying to make the best possible citizen here," he said. "That's what the goal of education should be."

In the eight-year history of this award, no London coach has won it. Greg Thurston, an assistant coach from Saunders Secondary School was named runner-up in 2000.

The winner is selected by a panel of judges and will receive $5,000 in new equipment and Hitachi prizes. Runners-up will get $2,000 in new equipment.