Today we’d like to introduce you to Kendall Mooney.
Kendall, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been around Football pretty much my whole life. Being from the south, it’s something that we really value and look forward too. I played football at both Shiloh High School and Grayson High School (Love both of those schools dearly). After I was done playing, I joined the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. After my time in the military, I knew I wanted to pursue coaching. I was fortunate enough to start coaching women’s football with the San Diego Surge, and that set me up to be able to meet other people and get into the high school game as well.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s still pretty early in my career and nothing has been smooth by any means. I think the biggest struggle WAS when I was first starting out, it was just me and my newborn son Kendrick. Since we didn’t have a sitter or anything, I would have to pack my son up every day to come with me to practice starting at when he was about five months. Breaking away to feed him and change him just became part of my regular practice schedule. Luckily between players, coaches, and ESPECIALLY the parents, he was well taken care of. He loves going out there now, and anytime I go to an event now without him I always hear about it. I’ve also been taking a full course load for the past few semesters to finish my degree, so learning how to balance all of that has been interesting, but I wouldn’t change anything.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
So currently, I work with the San Diego Rebellion Women’s football team as their WR coach. I also work with the special teams unit. We will be competing in the WNFC in the leagues second year. I also assist in running a developmental 7v7 team the ‘Daygo Dawgs.’ We provide an outlet for high school kids to train and get better in their craft on the field while competing with top competition in passing tournaments.
On top of that, we also assist our players in SAT/ACT Prep, conduct grade checks, and participate in community service. Our goal is to help our guys become as college-ready as possible through the game of football. I also work with Elite Raw Talent, based in Atlanta, Georgia. We are a free NCAA approved recruiting service that provides recruiting guidance and assistance. We host an annual Sophomore showcase and a Senior All American Bowl, as well as a Middle School Showcase (hoping to bring one to San Diego soon). In addition to all of that, we are hoping to conduct our first camp series this year as well.
I think what I am the most proud of is how many young men my team and I get to assist on a day to day basis.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The most redeeming quality I believe that has been essential to my success up to this point is being able to take a step back and not live vicariously through my guys. I try to remain humble enough to emphasize the mistakes I made at their age and being able to acknowledge those have made me a relatable and honest coach. My success comes from not only valuing the sport but valuing the student-athlete as a whole, committing myself to the student first and then the sport. I try the best I can to be as available as possible for all of my guys no matter what it is.
I also have to mention how amazing the people around me are. Tate, Jayson, Jesse, and Christopher Smith (TopDawg to us) make things so incredibly easy. Also, of course, the student-athletes! It is really their success and without them, I would not be able to be in a position to be recognized! (Ev, Gilp, Christian, Marko, the rest of the DAWGS and the MB Boys thank you all!)
Contact Info:
- Website: daygodawgs.com
- Email: coachmoons15@gmail.com
- Instagram: @coachmooney
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoachMooney15
Image Credit:
ThePhotographerNefertiti
Keller (Mission Bay High School Student)
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