Philip Rivers: “I grew up in North Alabama. My dad was a high school football coach, so I grew up around his practices. Growing up as a kid, I played baseball and basketball as soon as I could. I have a ton of great memories from little league baseball and basketball. I even have a bunch of great memories from just playing two-hand touch football in our yard. As I got to age 6 and 7, anything that had to do with a ball I was into, trying to get a game going. I didn’t actually play organized football until I was in the 7th grade, but I played baseball and basketball as soon as I was old enough.”

YFM: Did your parents play a role in terms of pushing you towards competing in sports?

PR: They didn’t necessarily push me, but I was obviously around it. My dad being a coach, I was around football at an early age. I just loved it. For Christmas or birthdays, I didn’t want a toy car—I wanted a ball of some sort. I remember one Christmas asking for a bench and some water bottles that I could put outside next to our basketball court, just to have it set up. When we would play wiffle ball, I’d be out there spray painting a batters box. I was always really into sports, but my parents definitely had a huge role in pushing me to be successful at it. My dad was a coach and my mom gets left out sometimes when this comes up, but she had just as big of a role.”

YFM: We heard that your competitive streak comes from your mother?

PR: (Laughs). Oh, yeah. Some of that definitely comes from her. She grew up as one of nine children, so it was a competitive house. I definitely get that from both of them. I hate to lose. There is no game at the family gatherings that are just for fun.

YFM: Is that what drew you to sports, the competition?

PR: Definitely. When we played in the backyard or whatever, I always hated to lose. Touching on one thing here in San Diego, during my first two years here, I didn’t play and served as the backup quarterback and that was the hardest thing for me. I couldn’t get out that competitive drive. You try to find it in practice, but it’s not the same. Something was missing. That competitive spirit is still a huge part of me today. Growing up as a kid, I may have been too competitive at times. But in the end it is one of the characteristics that have allowed me to be successful.

YFM: Did your father discourage you from playing pee-wee football?

PR: He didn’t discourage me; he just didn’t feel like I would gain any advantage from it. Being around my dad’s practices and watching the quarterbacks was good for me. Me and all the other coaches’ sons, we had so many Saturday afternoon games in the backyard. I was getting plenty of football.

YFM: Was it still difficult not getting to play a sport you loved?

PR: Not really. I knew from an early age I wouldn’t be playing. And sometimes you can be too young to play a sport—could get hurt. I don’t have a strong feeling for it or against; this is just how it worked out for me. I always knew that 7th grade was going to be my first year of football, so I had something to look forward to. And its funny, I always had the ability but it took some time. In 7th and 8th grade, I wasn’t a very good player. It took some time.

YFM: How did you learn how to throw a football? Did you have a QB coach growing up?

PR: It’s funny. Over time, my throwing motion is no longer as awkward as it once was, but as you know it’s a little different. [Editor’s note: Within NFL circles, Rivers throwing motion is considered to be a non-traditional somewhat sidearm release, when compared to most of the quarterbacks in the league] My motion is probably a little more traditional than it was four or five years ago. Being around my dad’s practices at ages four and five, I was constantly picking up regulation size footballs and trying to throw them to the managers and what not. Looking back, we think that may have caused my motion, because I wasn’t strong enough to do it. That’s just me and my dad’s theory—we don’t know if that’s actually the case. My dad played quarterback while in high school and knew a lot of football so he was my main quarterback coach. I went to some camps in high school too. I was a fan of quarterbacks. I have always been very detailed. Like when I would play wiffle ball growing up, I had to have the bases just right, perfect. That’s kind of how I watched quarterbacks. Favre, Montana, Young, Aikman, Marino. I was into watching those guys more than the football games.

YFM: Did you ever have any negative experiences while growing up playing sports? Injuries or setbacks?

PR: I was really fortunate to evade injuries until I hurt my index finger during college. I never really had any negative experiences in sports. All of those memories are positive.

YFM: As far as your father coaching you in high school, were you able to maintain a healthy father-son relationship?

PR: Yes we were. I know you hear different stories regarding personal experiences with that. We couldn’t wait for the opportunity. I remember being five years old and telling my dad that I couldn’t wait to play for him and he would tell me that he couldn’t wait to get a chance to coach me. We always had that positive outlook towards it. He pushed me hard and always knew that when practice wasn’t going good and there wasn’t really anyone to get on, he could push me harder to spark us, because he knew I could handle it. It was fun. I always called him dad on the field. I never called him coach. You want to treat all your players the same, but I wasn’t going to call him coach. That was really neat and my teammates were cool about it. He was always fair to everyone. It’s amazing how long it’s been. I feel like I waited forever for it to happen and now I look back and it’s been years.

YFM: One of the reasons we wanted to speak with you was because of your unique childhood experiences. Do you think that most kids can have the positive experience when competing in organized sports?

PR: I think they can. Unfortunately, I think it’s harder to do so in bigger cities because you have so many leagues, so many teams. When I played little league baseball, there were 6-8 teams in our town, so everyone knew everybody and we had the same coaches every year. I think that adds to the sense of community and competitiveness. The kid who would be pitching against us at night, I would get to see during school. In bigger cities you can be playing a team and not know one person on it. I think to a certain extent, we have tried to speed things up for kids. There are specialty camps and stuff like that now. I think that is good in some aspects, but at the same time, let the kids play. Just play. You’ve got time. My brother is going to be a 10th grader this year and he’s a quarterback too. He wants to be so good right now, but he has so much time. A lot of times its hurry, hurry, hurry, but sometimes you just need to let your body mature and grow into some things. Another thing to consider is that kids have so many options now, whether its video games and other things. Very rarely do I drive through a neighborhood and see a front yard football game or someone just throwing the ball around. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist—I’m not seeing it as often as I used to.

YFM: You think that type of spontaneity is important?

PR: Yes I do. It is during some of those moments that certain characteristics are built that you don’t ever realize. You could be playing in the yard at your buddy’s house and a game can end with someone crying or getting mad. Other times you go inside and laugh about it. Its just clean fun and you grow to appreciate it. You got a ball and five of your buddies. It’s that simple.

YFM: Your children are still very young. You have three daughters and a son. Do you hope that they will play organized sports one day?

PR: It will be interesting to see. It’s too early to tell how I will be with my son. I tease my wife Tiffany all the time by saying, ‘Oh, he’s going to play football.’ But at the same time I wouldn’t be upset if he didn’t play. However, it’s what I do, so it will be right there and available to him. A lot of times that is how it works. My girls like to swim and are into tennis and gymnastics, so we’ll see.