TACKLING FOOTBALL SEASON : VOLUNTEER HELPS CANYON HIGH PUMP UP DRILLS.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer

The Canyon High School football team is going through its spring drills. Players stretch and bend, do sit-ups and groan at the pain. Then they break into groups by position.

The afternoon sun is beating down, and Chuck Wade is perspiring as he watches from his wheelchair and instructs.

Wade, 57, doesn't want to be anywhere else. Working with kids in football is still a joy 29 years after he started coaching at Alemany.

Even after suffering partial paralysis in a 1993 automobile accident, Wade still teaches math and helps the football team from his wheelchair. He has no one helping him and pushes himself along. At the weight room, which has a small bump at the entry way, Wade patiently maneuvers over the bump. Nothing stops him in his goal to walk again.

Just don't call him coach because he's strictly a volunteer, having approached coach Larry Mohr and offering his services. Wade was the sophomore coach under Harry Welch for many years and also coached track.

``I was gonna retire after that last season, '93. I was gonna concentrate on track,'' Wade said. ``I wasn't ready to retire. I figured I still had a lot to contribute. I still like kids.

``It's always a lot of fun. I love working with kids. That's one of the reasons I'm out here,'' he said in between instructing the junior varsity receivers. ``I volunteered. I'm not going to do any coaching this season.''

But that doesn't mean he's not being a help. He's instructing the team in the ways of plyometrics, exercises that isolate particular muscles and use them exactly how they would be used in a game.

According to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Track and Field Coaching Manual, the objective of plyometrics (from the Greek plyo, meaning to increase or augment) is to produce greater power by training muscles to contract more quickly and forcefully. Track and field athletes have been using plyometrics for years, said Canyon track coach Dave DeLong. An athlete uses his or her own body for resistance instead of weights.

For football players, plyometric drills deal with leaping, hopping and jumping, especially for linemen. But everyone can benefit.

``This is a very important time of the year to get these kids in shape and give them strength and quickness,'' Mohr said. ``Chuck's got great knowledge in this area. He's a big help. He's been one of the guys who was around when good things were happening. He's part of the tradition.''

Wade downplays his role.

``Basically, I've helped coach set up the strength program. The biggest problem last year was they could play with a team in the first half (but tired in the second half).''

Plyometrics is just a small part of how Wade helps. On this day, he was instructing receivers on catching a football while running at the quarterback.

Every time a player stopped to catch the ball drew Wade's ire. He didn't yell like many coaches, but the anger was evident.

``Don't stop! Do it again! Vary your speed!'' he said. ``Don't stop! How difficult is that?''

``It's great he has this commitment to Cowboy football, to give up his time and help the team,'' said junior lineman Bob Mosier.

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Photo

Photo: Former junior varsity coach Chuck Wade, who suffered partial paralysis in a '93 auto crash, instructs players in plyometric training Monday.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News