Derynck head coach of nine-man SD team

Minneota native also head wrestling coach at Chester

Nine-man football games are generally higher scoring because of the extra space on the field with four less players involved in a play.
Ben Derynck played 11-man football for Minneota, before graduating in 2004. He is in his first year as head coach at Chester, SD, a nine-man team that opened the season with a 34-17 victory over Garretson, SD.
"Overall, I love coaching nine-man football," he said. "It is fast, fun and you get to be creative offensively."
After graduating from Minneota, Derynck attended South Dakota State University in Brookings and Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, majoring in physical and health education.
Derynck was hired right out of college to be a Physical Education instructor for pre-school through 10th grade at Chester, as well as a Health Education teacher for freshmen and sophomores.
He started out as a junior high football coach there for three years, and then was the varsity assistant coach for the past six seasons before being named the head coach this year.
Derynck, who wrestled and played golf in high school, is also the head wrestling coach at Chester, a position he has held for the past four seasons after previously being an assistant wrestling coach there for nine seasons.
During Derynck's senior season of football at Minneota, the Vikings reached the section finals before losing to Mountain Lake, 14-6.
He had taken a lot away from his head coach Chad Johnston, as well as his other coaches in all his sports.
"J (Johnston's nickname) was the reason I got into both teaching and coaching," Derynck told. "My favorite classes in high school were Health and PE, and I always loved sports. When I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, during college, I knew that teaching and coaching were going to be part of the equation.”
"In both the classroom and practice field, J was able to get his point across being the strong silent type. He also made us aware that he was not afraid to join us by showing and participating in the practices and classroom activities."
Derynck recalls a time that there were only 21 Viking players at practice on a cold, rainy and windy day.
"Out came J with pads on," Derynck noted. "This was the most fun I remember having. I strive to be even a fraction as good of a leader/play-caller and teacher as Coach J was. Coaches Myrvik, Engler, Skillings, Sussner and Hagen were also great people to learn from. They never put up with excuses and held everyone accountable for themselves. I loved all of my high school coaches and am in the education/coaching field because of them."
Derynck said adjusting to the space and speed of nine-man football is the biggest difference from 11-man. The majority of nine-man football teams in South Dakota is played on a regulation 11-man field as opposed to Minnesota nine-man teams playing on an 80-yard field.
"That's what makes South Dakota nine-man difficult. If some teams have a fast kid, it's tough to contain on that larger field," Derynck explained. "Adjusting offense also means defenses have to adjust and make educated guesses on what the opposition will do," he said. "Sometimes you guess wrong and have to make quick decisions on the fly."
Chester lost a large portion of its team to graduation last season.
"We have a good mix with some former starters and brand-new faces," Derynck said. "Our mindset for the season is to be better than before (btb4) each day. If that results in a win on Friday night, we celebrate. If that results in a loss, we come back the following week ready to improve."
Derynck and his wife of 12 years, Andrea, have three daughters, Illa, 7; Emery, 4, and Piper, 5 months.

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