Born to be a Warrior

Warrior - "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics."

When it comes to sports many different terms are used to define a wide variety of topics from on field events to the stories that we all conjure up away from the game itself. Some of those terms include Earned, Respect, Motivation, Determination and Perseverance but the word that I find best used to describe Amite Head Football Coach Alden Foster is Warrior!

“This is all I have ever wanted to do! When we were little we all used to dream about playing for Amite and now I get to coach Amite. This is a special opportunity for me and I am grateful for this chance,” said Foster.

Once he graduated from Southern University in May of 1997 Alden “Poochie” Foster has worked hard to earn the right to be a head coach and he started at the bottom, the very bottom as a matter of fact.

Foster’s first gig was a job as Head Coach of the Class 2A St. Helena Central Hawks in Greensburg, Louisiana. St. Helena was a longtime dormant program that served as a Homecoming opponent to more teams than perhaps any school in the state at one point in time but all that changed when “Big Poochie” arrived in Greensburg.

In his first game as head coach of the Hawks Foster and his team were crushed by Independence 55-0. “It’s hard to get your kids to focus when they look up at the scoreboard and see those numbers but we turned that into motivation and the program got on its feet.”

And it did indeed as just one year later the Hawks earned a spot in the Class 2A Playoffs while serving notice in the process that Alden Foster was an up and coming coach that was not to be taken lightly.

Foster began to earn the respect of others in his profession but still there was much work yet to do. “I always want my players to work hard and for them to know that they can overcome many obstacles if the stay on course and play as a team,” Foster said.

Foster did the unthinkable in 2004 when he led the once lowly Hawks of Greensburg to the “Big Easy” in the Class 2A Finals. The Hawks were soundly defeated but for a school that everyone used to beat down and an unknown coach to make it to the big game was an incredible achievement that could not be overlooked.

And after a few more seasons with the Hawks and a one-year stint as Head Coach at Istrouma Foster has his dream job of coaching the team he once grew up wanting to play for in his beloved Amite Warriors.

Foster played under Gary Hendry and till this day has used some of what he learned from Hendry in his own teachings. “We were a family,” Foster said. "Many of us did not have father figures in our lives but we had family and we had each other and that’s what I want these players to understand is that they have each other and if they play together they can accomplish anything they want to.”

Foster stays on top of his Warriors with weekly grade checks and wants to make sure that if a player has the ability to play football at the next level they can move on and be able to excel on the field and in the classroom as well.

“A lot of good players came though here and had a chance to move on but many did not have the grades to do so. I don’t want that to be the case for any of these players,” Foster said. Foster played four years at Southern University and even finished his career with an 11-1 mark as a senior as he helped lead the Jaguars to the SWAC Title and the Black College National Championship.

Foster has a good group of players back this season and the Warriors are highly thought of going into the season as state title contenders along with Lutcher, Redemptorist, Notre Dame, Parkview Baptist, Capitol and rival Independence but he says that his team is going to take things one game at a time.

“We won’t overlook anyone and we can’t afford to. We have a good group of guys out here and they know they can’t win anything without working hard.” Amite opens the season on the road at Franklinton on Friday September 5th.

So from his days as dreaming of playing for the Mighty Warriors, to an All-State Senior season in 1989 Foster has kept things in perspective and now that he has the job he has always dreamt of having, he is ready to hopefully lead his team to its fifth state title in school history.

So while I can use a thousand words to describe all sorts of things in sports all true Amite Warriors know what Purple Cracker and The Hill mean and they also know that on Friday’s during football season the ritual begins with a three o’clock Pre-Game Meal which consist of Baked Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Canned Peaches and Sweet Tea, then a nap in the weight room, tape up, kickoff and then win.

Those things have always been a part of Amite Warrior Football and they have always been a part of Alden Foster because he played for the Warriors, now coaches the Warriors and simply put was born to be a Warrior - An Amite Warrior.