This past week I sat down and thought about the upcoming season and with opening night just under six weeks away from today I thought what are the stories you want to hear. There is always the typical predictions, or players to watch, but this offseason is like no other.
This is the senior season for Cade McNamara and with that being said, I knew I had to sit down with him and his family to get the story that has not been told yet.
You may ask how you get an untold story on the player that has been one of the biggest recruiting processes in Northern Nevada history, well you go where no one has ever gone yet… to his home.
The family behind the story starts with Gary and Nicole McNamara the parents of Cade (Sr. QB), Kyle (Jr. WR), & Jake (Fr. QB) who are all destined to play for Damonte Ranch Football.
Cade approaches multiple state quarterback records that are anticipated to be broken this year, yet, numbers and stats are not his or his family’s main concern?
Cade’s father, Gary McNamara knows a thing or two about statistics as he himself is a former baseball coach for the University of Nevada. Gary states that he and his family “don’t care” about chasing records and care more about “wins” in terms of Cade’s upcoming season.
“Wins effect this whole family and that’s what our focus is first and foremost, family!”
Gary McNamara’s main focus is family and loves the cohesion of his boys.
“I love that my kids do everything together they practice together, they work out together, they play together, and even around 7pm they wrestle and fight breaking stuff together!”
The matriarch of the family, Nicole is a former athlete herself, having played basketball in college. Nicole understands the amount of pressure and sacrifice her children take on.
“My boys didn’t go to prom last year because they had a skills camp the following day and knew they needed their rest… they don’t go to parties and don’t do some of the typical high school things not because I tell them they can’t but because they want to be the best they can be at their craft and in our house that is football!”
In the game of football, teams are tempted to fight, tempted by jealousy, and tempted to ultimately crumble.
The McNamara’s cohesion is unlike any others and after a trying three years they look to only continue to grow stronger in the final season of Cade’s senior season. While the McNamara’s are a family that is unbreakable they are the type of family you either wish would just go away, or the family you wish you were a part of.
In the upcoming season, I intend to write stories weekly reflecting my conversations, events, and interactions with the McNamara’s as Northern Nevada gets an in depth look on the family behind the football.