Denton ISD Our Impact In Your Community Magazine October 2016 | Page 16

The Coach

Determination, a touchdown and friendship have defined the
bond between the Atkinson and LaPlante families

Story by
Julie Zwahr
Photos by
Mario Zavala Jr.
and Don LaPlante

T

hey say that the relationship between a
high school coach and student-athlete is
a special, lifelong kinship built on trust, sweat
equity and inspiration.

senior quarterback Colton Atkinson and his
position coach, Lyndon LaPlante, have a bond
built on life-shaping lessons they’ve shared
for more than a decade.

The coach pushes the pupil to new heights of
performance in an effort to accomplish things
that the individual or his/her team might not
have even dreamed. The student-athlete
– internalizing “the voice” of the one that
motivates and challenges them, embraces the
coaching and becomes just like the mentor.

“Being up here everyday, and helping us
out by being my quarterback coach when
he doesn’t have to - he could be doing
100 other things - but he chooses to be up
here doing what he loves,” Colton said of
Coach LaPlante. “Honestly, he’s helping us to
become better men.”

Their relationship is built solely on common
experiences - hard fought battles on the field
of competition - that result in victories, both
moral and real, and defeats that develop
character to handle life’s everyday situations.

Coach LaPlante has served as a friend and
role model to Colton since he was a threeyear old attached to his dad’s hip on the
sidelines. But at that time Colton’s dad,
Bronco head football coach Kevin Atkinson,
didn’t know much about Lyndon LaPlante
other than being a confident eighth grader
with a passion for football.

For further proof of how these relationships
are supposed to develop and grow, look no
further than the sidelines at Denton High
School’s football games and practices. Bronco
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Their introduction came in the fall of 2001