MoSports.com - Roderique named to USA Football coaching staff

November 4, 2009

Missouri Sportswriters & Sportscasters

John Roderique, head coach of Webb City (Mo.) High School, has been named to the 2010 USA Football Junior National Team coaching staff, USA Football announced today.

USA Football, the sport's national governing body on youth and amateur levels, will hold the first "Team USA vs. The World" game on Jan. 30, 2010 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The game will match USA Football's 2010 Junior National Team - 45 of the country's top high school seniors - against a "World" team composed of the best players aged 19 and under from outside the United States, spanning four continents.

Roderique will coach Team USA's linebackers. In his 13th season at Webb City, Roderique owns a career record of 145-17 (.895) and five state championships. Webb City finished the regular season 10-0 and is ranked No. 1 in Missouri's Class 4. Since 2004, Roderique has led the Cardinals to a 71-3 (.959) record, including 25 consecutive victories.

The head coach of USA Football's team is Chris Merritt, head coach of Miami Christopher Columbus High School. Merritt was the 2009 USA Football Junior National Team's defensive backs coach that earned a gold medal in Canton, Ohio, this past July in the eight-nation International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Junior World Championship. The tournament was the first junior world championship in football history, drawing more than 40,000 fans to Canton's Fawcett Stadium during the course of four game days.

Jan Jenmert, head coach of Sweden's junior national football team, will lead the 45-man "World" roster. Jenmert's 12-man coaching staff spans six IFAF member nations on four continents.

USA Football's "Team USA vs. The World" game is designated as an official Pro Bowl Week event by the NFL. The Jan. 30 contest will kick off at 1 p.m. ET in Ft. Lauderdale's historic Lockhart Stadium. The game will immediately follow AFC and NFC All-Star practices. The NFL's AFC-NFC Pro Bowl will be played in South Florida on Sunday, Jan. 31.

USA Football's roster will be hand-selected through research and film study and will be announced before Jan. 1. In addition to being among the country's top players, these young men will represent football's inherent values of teamwork and leadership befitting a national team.

Roderique joins eight coaches from top high school programs around the country to represent the United States.

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