By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium

Sharief Rodriguez, head coach of the CD Panthers 6U team, has been coaching little league football for eight years. He says the opportunity to lead the team came unexpectedly, but he’s incredibly grateful for where it has taken him.

“It started with my son, who was really big into football. His cousins played for CD, so he wanted to play as well, and as soon as he was old enough, I signed him up,” said Rodriguez. “And then probably about a month into practice, the head coach asked me if I wanted to coach, and I have been doing it ever since then.”

Coaching the youngest division in youth football, Rodriguez takes a positive, patient approach to teaching the game. At the 6U level, where players are as young as four, he emphasizes encouragement over criti

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