{"id":9742,"date":"2019-10-05T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=9742"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:28:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:28:38","slug":"valdez-continues-football-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/valdez-continues-football-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Valdez continues football tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Marcus Valdez represents more than just his team when he steps on the football field for the Madera Coyotes.<\/p>

The junior is representing three generations of football players, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father.<\/p>

\u201cThey always push me a lot, they\u2019re always there to guide me,\u201d Marcus said about his father and grandfather. \u201cThey are some of my best coaches I\u2019ve had. My grandpa is always trying to make me better, just telling me little things I need to work on. My dad is the same way.\u201d<\/p>

Football brings the Valdez family together, as they can often be seen studying film or watching games on TV.<\/p>

\u201cMy cousins, uncles, my grandpa and my dad, we always talk about football,\u201d Marcus said. \u201cWe always get together and watch games on Sundays.\u201d<\/p>

Marcus said it\u2019s a big deal to follow in the footsteps of his family because his grandfather and father also played for the Coyotes, as he does now.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m just continuing the tradition and it\u2019s a big honor to me,\u201d Marcus said. \u201cIt\u2019s just crazy to me that we kept it going.\u201d<\/p>

Marcus\u2019 grandfather, George, played for the Coyotes in the late 1960s. After teaching the game to his two sons, George is now enjoying his grandson\u2019s progress at Madera High.<\/p>

\u201cIt makes me feel good to know that he is continuing the tradition,\u201d George said. \u201cI\u2019m proud.\u201d<\/p>

George said football taught him how to overcome adversity and it continued to do the same for the generations that followed.<\/p>

\u201cMarcus got hurt and had to sit out a couple of weeks. It bothered him, but it\u2019s something that happens,\u201d George said. \u201cI had the same thing. I got hurt when I was a senior. Matthew, Marcus\u2019 dad, got hurt also. It\u2019s part of life.\u201d<\/p>

George has attended all of his sons\u2019 and Marcus\u2019 games so far, including Pop Warner and college.<\/p>

\u201cI never missed a game,\u201d George said. \u201cWhen my son went to Reedley for college, I went to his games. I have been to Los Angeles to see him play a game. We go all over.\u201d<\/p>

For Marcus, his football journey began in the second grade.<\/p>

\u201cMy dad threw me out there and said go hit people,\u201d Marcus said.<\/p>

Although he played guard in elementary school, Marcus started playing running back and linebacker in seventh grade.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s when I really started to get the hang of things, really understand football,\u201d Marcus said.<\/p>

Learning the game from his father, Marcus acquired the ability to always give maximum effort on the field.<\/p>

\u201cMy dad always said \u2018I\u2019m not going to be mad at you if you\u2019re giving a 100 percent and you mess up,\u2019\u201d Marcus said. \u201cWork hard in everything you do or you\u2019ll fall behind. You can\u2019t slow down, just gotta give your full effort into everything.\u201d<\/p>

Through the years, Marcus has heard some unforgettable football stories from his family. One of those stories is about the time his father lost his cool.<\/p>

\u201cMy dad was telling me he was mad at the other team and they were getting into it and my dad I guess took his helmet off and just head-butted the guy and didn\u2019t care and he was just all riled up,\u201d Marcus said.<\/p>

Although he hasn\u2019t yet decided where he will go after high school, Marcus said he is determined to play football at the next level and to stay focused on school.<\/p>

\u201cEven if it\u2019s at junior college, I just want to go play somewhere,\u201d Marcus said. \u201cI\u2019m not quite sure what I want to be, but I definitely just want to keep up with my grades.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marcus Valdez represents more than just his team when he steps on the football field for the Madera Coyotes. The junior is representing three generations of football players, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father. \u201cThey always push me a lot, they\u2019re always there to guide me,\u201d Marcus said about his father and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":39388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[32,50],"class_list":["post-9742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-culture","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}