https://youtu.be/bg2prFjp2Vo
LAFAYETTE (KATC) — Michael Heintz isn’t Teurlings Catholic’s best football player but he might be its grittiest. This is Heintz’s senior season but his first year on the varsity roster.
As a slot receiver, Heintz is used to taking the hits after the catch, but his coach Dane Charpentier is most impressed by what Heintz does when he doesn’t get the ball.
“One thing that we preach, football wise, is how do you play without the ball?” Charpentier said. “And I think Mike is the best example that…he plays the same way every play. And he plays hard.”
Heintz is a quiet leader who leads by example, not words.
“I try to encourage our guys at our skill positions to work hard and you know not slack off and get through it. Try to lead through hard work,” Heintz said.
Playing hard and sticking it out is just in Heintz’s nature as a player. But its reinforced every Wednesday morning by a program at Teurlings called Sports Leaders — a once a week pre-school meditative session where leadership skills are discussed through biblical passages.
“We go over virtue and we go over how we can play it out on the field and in life,” said Heintz.
Heintz hopes to go on to be a football coach someday. And couldn’t receive higher praise than from his current head coach.
“He’s the type of guy I think that most of the dads on campus hope that their daughter dates,” Charpentier said of Heintz. “So you know I’d like for my son to grow up and be a little like him one day.”