Coach Joe Polce Chosen By the Ravens to Go to the Pro Bowl in Orlando Florida

by Grace Armogida

This past Sunday, Walkersville Football Head Coach Joe Polce was invited to have an up close and personal experience at the 2017 Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

Every year each team from the NFL chooses one high school football coach as the Coach of the Year. After the incredible season that the Lions had, the Baltimore Ravens selected Polce for this award. On top of the honor the award gave him, Polce was flown down with his wife this past Friday to have a once in a lifetime opportunity. “I feel really lucky that the Ravens picked me to do that,” Polce said, “I had a great time.”

There were many things that were planned for the coaches attending this event. Polce shared his experience, “We went down on Friday and then we heard a bunch of speakers including Roger Goodell, John Gruden, Merril Hoge and there were some former players like Jerome Bettis and Ray Lewis that spoke as well.” But that was just the beginning of an amazing weekend. “We got to go to a Pro Bowl practice and then to a special tailgate before the game,” Polce stated, “then we sat and watched the pregame from the sidelines.” After the pre game festivities, Polce got to sit back and watch the game from a suite. “It was a really great experience from start to finish.”

With all the superstar players that come to play at the Pro Bowl Polce was a bit starstruck, “I was trying not to act like a tourist because we were really close to all the players, so I was trying to act like I was suppose to be there.” But as the weekend went on Polce says “I did say hi to a lot of the players as I walked by but I didn’t get to officially meet any of them.”

When asked how the overall experience that he had, Polce said “It was great and they treated us like first class the whole time we were there and it was just a lot of fun. I was really fortunate to be able to go.”