LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — The countdown to high school football is on — just 22 days until the regular season opener! The Lehigh Lightning are gearing up for their fall debut under a new head coach. Former South Fort Myers standout Antwan Dixon is taking the reins in his first head coaching position.
“God’s playing his part for me,” said Dixon. “I was just blessed to get put back in a position to lead these kids.”
At 26 years old, Dixon is the youngest head coach in all of Southwest Florida and the team says that it really helps with connecting better with the players.
“When he tells you something you can kind of see where he’s coming from,” said Lehigh junior Sean Battle. “He can relate to you more because he’s been right there a couple of years ago.”
“I wrestle with them, I laugh with them, make jokes with them, I can relate to him music-wise, stuff like that,” laughed Dixon. “Most of my coaches are young. We can relate to them and bring that energy just like them. And it’s right now for them being 15,18 years old, it’s really about matching their energy. If I can find coaches that continue to bring the energy and just compete with them energy-wise, then we’ll be good.”
Throughout his playing career in high school and at Kent State University, Dixon struggled with aplastic anemia, a rare but serious blood disorder where his bone marrow doesn’t produce enough blood cells. He received blood transfusions from his father, Anthony.
“I tell people all the time I still deal with it to this day,” said Dixon. “I still go to doctor’s appointments, but I’m the healthiest I’ve been in 11 years, so I’m just I’m really blessed to be in this position and be here and able to bring out the energy that I need to because when I was going through the sickness, I really didn’t have much energy. I didn’t want to do stuff. I didn’t want to go out of the house. I didn’t want to be around people. And now, I just kind of feel back to myself to where I want to do stuff. I want to go and do extra work with the kids. I want to go and have fun with the kids outside of football. But when I was sick I didn’t really have the energy and now I’m just trying to use every piece of energy I’ve got.”
Seeing the struggles he overcame has helped push this year’s squad to strive even more for greatness on and off the field.
“He’s been really inspiring,” said Battle. “Seeing his story and where he’s come from and everything, how he persevered, it makes you want to do better and when he tells you something it makes you really want to do it for him.”
“He’s been a role model,” said Lehigh junior Jeremiah Rugama. “What happened to him in high school, how he got sick and all that he’s been showing us inspires us. Just keep working and work to go to college.”
In the newest era of his football career, Dixon is ready to shift the spotlight towards his players and show what they can bring each Friday night.
“Instead of just worrying about my individual success or individual rewards, I just want to make sure that they get the recognition they get, and they play as hard as they actually can,” said Dixon.
The Lightning strike on August 25 in their regular season opener when they host Naples.