Save the Dates!

Josh Oswalt is a human sponge. The Cumberland Valley head football coach listens to different audios and reads different texts, employing everyday life concepts into his gridiron curriculum. There was a time over the summer when Oswalt tuned into National Public Radio. Shisa Kanko, a method of pointing and calling and occupational safety common on the Japanese railways, was being discussed. A light bulb radiated in the skipper’s head. “I heard it, and I did some research,” Oswalt said, “and then I was like, ‘This would be pretty cool.’ And then I thought, this is something we can adopt defensively. So then we put it on our T-shirts. Our practice T-shirts are issued shirts for the season. We have it on the back. It’s like, ‘OK, don’t forget to point and call.’”
 

Every Friday night with the lights bright, the crowd raucous and the intensity cranked up, the Eagles are calm and collected on defense. As the opposing offense gets set, CV is tuning up its chain of communication. From the trenches to the linebackers and to the secondary, the Eagles are barking out commands and tendencies while forming a second layer of protection by diagnosing audibles and motions. “During the summer, we didn’t communicate a lot,” senior defensive back Ryan Hunter said. “And then we always have film after conditioning. We got in there, watched film, and then (coach) showed us a video. It was something in Japan on the Japanese trains. The conductors, they point, and they just basically over communicate. (It showed us) that we need to improve on that and start talking more.”
 

Shisa Kanko was instituted on the Japanese railways in the early 1900s. Steam locomotives were in use, and with loud noises expiring from the machines, conductors found it easier to communicate with signals. The method started with calling out signals before pointing was added a few decades later. The gestures range from concerns, speed, stops and other railway habits. In a 1994 study by the Railway Technical Research Institute, shisa kanko was shown to reduce mistakes by almost 85%. “It’s almost obnoxious … but it’s also really neat,” Oswalt said. “Our guys have really adopted it well. It’s been another level of reassurance.”
 

The reassurance evolves as plays are called out and the pointing is put into practice. The Eagles don’t have a conductor like figure on the defense, as all players have the liberty to expose the competition’s patterns. The method came with its initial growing pains. But as each game passes, communication grows stronger and trust deepens. The train starts to roll down the track.
 

“Last week (against State College) was one of the first weeks where we had no blown coverages for 30-yard touchdowns or anything like that,” senior linebacker Brady Hockenberry said. “So really, pointing and communicating with each other’s really helped us.”
 

The proof has been in the pudding. While the Eagles conceded 42 points to Manheim Township in a season opener and 30 to the Little Lions last week, they sandwiched a pair of shutouts between the setbacks. CV blanked Carlisle 35-0 in Week 2 and limited the Thundering Herd to less than 100 yards of total offense. In Week 3, the Eagles soared past Altoona 13-0 while permitting 132 yards. “I just think it’s that confidence factor,” Oswalt said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, you don’t have to be perfect. But if you’re calling this out, I know what you’re seeing. I’m seeing it too. I’m affirming what’s going on, and you’re on the same page.’”
 

While the method is yet to reach full maturation, each contest allows the Eagles to sprinkle in other defensive wrinkles. For example, the secondary may identify a wide receiver motion for a jet sweep or a swing pass. The linebacking unit can reveal extra blocking schemes, uncovering a zone run or a pitch. The defensive linemen can distinguish shifts in the trenches, opening holes for pressure and backfield blowups. “I feel like it’s made us more of one unit versus 11 individual players all playing,” Hockenberry said. “It’s like one single player moving together, because we all know what to do and where to be.”
 

Throughout the process of pinpointing plays, the Eagles have received acknowledgements like winks and head nods from the opposition. While distracting, CV doesn’t let its communication break. “It’s reassurance in each other and yourself,” Hunter said. “And every single play, you tell yourself, tell each other, tell everybody. If you’re a DB, you tell a lineman. If you’re a lineman, you tell linebackers. It just brings us all together.”
 

Shisa Kanko has also eliminated the possibility of second guessing. “Sometimes you get out there, and you’re not saying a word,” Oswalt said. “There could be some indecision or confusion. You might see it differently than I do, but if I call it out, you go, ‘Oh, you’re right, you’re right. I do see that.’ We do it so much, it doesn’t start an argument pre-snap. It doesn’t start, ‘No, you’re wrong, you’re wrong.’ We’re not out there doing that. We’re just locked in on what we need to do, and I think that’s really helped us just go play football.”
 

Like with any of Oswalt’s teachings, he hopes his Eagles can apply the Shisa Kanko concept to their everyday lives. Just as they are between the pylons, it’ll allow them to tackle anything full-steam ahead.
 

“The big thing is just that we’re growing them within the game,” Oswalt said, “and we like to apply everything we do out there to life. Albeit you might not be pointing and talking — that’s disrespectful in our culture to point — but you’re communicating, and now we are forcing that piece that you’re not super good at as a teenager. Your parents probably tell you that every day, and you’re communicating, and that’s important. And then these guys have become more of leaders out in the field, because now they have a role beyond their role, and you can see the ones that are taking charge.”