Football is so much more than just wins and losses @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @sfitz_840whas, @840WHAS

Life lessons abound for those who play it

Football is a game which teaches many lessons. These lessons are quintessential for a young man’s development and often sets up its former players for life successes after football. One can’t play football forever. Every player plays a final play, in a final game, to never again experience the magic once they have finally taken off the armament. At the end of the day, what you learn from the experience matters the most.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball

I have a book coming out. It should hit shelves around Christmas of this year. It is about high school football.

Its title is Football 101: Boo-Boo’s a Quarterback. It is being formatted and edited as we speak.

What I didn’t know on the topic, my co-author, Coach Sam Harp (7-KHSAA football titles; 75% winning percentage over 33-years, 326-wins, 80% playoff winning percentage), was certainly able to provide. He was an invaluable source for our venture.

There is a story in the book, in the final chapter, about a coach addressing his team prior to its getting on the bus to play its second game after its opener being an abysmal failure. The team had surrendered 300-plus yards rushing and what was reportedly said to them (in the book’s final chapter) is as accurate as anyone’s failing memory might allow.

The gist was the following: We, as coaches, hope football teaches players much more than which team may be ahead at the end of any one game, any one season, any one career. Football teaches its players about teamwork, perseverance, mental toughness, resilience, hard work and its benefits, setting goals, being proactive, and perhaps most of all, having fun while accomplishing all of the above.

You learn that football, while physical, demanding, and challenging, comes with its own share of benefits and life lessons. Players learn to bounce back from injuries, setbacks, and losses.

You learn how to win with dignity and class. You learn how to lose the same way.

The effort, win or lose, ennobled each of us when it was our turn under the lights. We were made the better men for having experienced it.

Now, as our own suns set, it is only the glory we remember. For those are the glories to which we clutch fervently, and the memories of those glories which comfort us, like a blanket, against the cold of our own golden years and the certainty of our own mortality.

We experienced heart ache, just like you. We didn’t choose to grasp on to those. We simply let the bad experiences slip into the waters of our pasts. We let them sink into a watery grave; and so should you.

As coaches, as fathers, as men; we hope players learn that neither “[y]ou, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” However, in the end “…it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take… That’s how winning is done!” Rocky Balboa, 2006, Columbia Pictures. Emphasis supplied.

That brings me to the point of today’s article. A friend of mine called me, just this morning. He was a little disheartened.

He told me his son was even more so and it was regarding his team’s poor play and resulting losses. He didn’t ask for an article; but, he did ask for advice.

You give advice your way. I give advice my way. I am a professional writer. What did you expect?

I decided more than his son might benefit from this message. So, here it is…

This kid has had a wonderful career. He has been statistically and anatomically at the very top of his class of prospects for pretty much his entire football playing life.

His teams were very good in high school. His college team has struggled. This happens more than you realize.

Now judging his university based solely on the success, or lack, of its football program would be error. His university, where he is a member of its varsity football team, is also among the more highly regarded institutions of higher learning in the world. That’s right, not the country but the world. I didn’t studder.

A degree from this institution has been awarded to leaders in government, to US Presidents, to billionaires, to famous actors, to “First Ladies,” to Nobel Prize Laureates. If the goal of getting a college scholarship is to admit an athlete (or student) to opportunities which might be closed to him otherwise (and that is precisely the goal); then, mission accomplished!

This kid has won the lottery. I don’t care if the team has lost every game in which he has played (and that isn’t the case); no graduate from a school the ilk of this one is ever a loser. Never, ever…

To this kid I would simply say the following: This is the part of the article where we enforce the lesson on the value of hard work, the value of dedication and commitment, even to a team which is struggling. This is to reinforce the lesson about learning to fail and being resilient enough to endure the setback and still move forward.

This is to reinforce the lesson about learning to remain calm under pressure and to focus through the chaos. This is where you learn “…it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

On your feet, young man. The bell’s ringing. Time for another round. Here endeth the lesson.

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

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