We started a ceremony here a few years ago to start our pre-season. The purpose of the ceremony was to help us focus on the things that are most important:
1- Football is fun. We have grown up watching our heroes play the game and emulating them in the backyard. That is what got us here in the first place.
2-The relationships we build and have in a football team/program are special and make the game/ the season itself much more meaningful.
3-We are always being watched by the little ones in our community. It is important that we set a good example for them.
The origin of this ceremony goes back to a night when I was 4 years old. My dad was beginning his first season as the head coach at Boyle County HS in Danville, KY. I went with him to pass out gear to his first team. Those guys might as well have been the Green Bay Packers. At least, that is what they seemed like to me. When we were done passing out the gear, my dad found an old worn out football in the equipment room and let me have it. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I could go home and pretend to be the same guys he was coaching and the players I watched on TV.
In 2014, I will begin my 23rd season as a head coach. I love the players, our coaches and all of the great/fun things that go with HS football. But, as a head coach, if you are not careful, the “other stuff” can really take a toll and begin to detract from what got you in the game to begin with. For me, I have had to work to keep the focus on the good things and not let the negative stuff take away from the experience.
So, a few years ago, we started our ceremony. We bring in a young man in our community, maybe a few, that are around 4 years old. In front of the team, in our locker room, we present the young man an old beat up football. We tell that young man to go have FUN and enjoy playing football! As a team, we talk about the 3 things above. We do this ceremony before we do anything else.
I think it has been a big positive in our community and for our team. I KNOW it has helped me to hold on to what got me in the game and coaching in the first place. I don’t ever want to lose sight of the great things that go with football that I have enjoyed since that night when I was four years old.
As football coaches begin the 2014 season, I want to encourage you to focus on why you got into coaching and why you love the game of football. Enjoy being with those kids and other coaches. Enjoy the smell of the grass, the heat, humidity, mud, dust, the brand new footballs and the old ones that your kicker is using. The list goes on and on.
If you have any thoughts on this, or have had a similar experience fighting to hold on to what got you into football and coaching, I would enjoy hearing from you. Send me an email at david.buchanan@mason.kyschools.us.
Enjoy coaching and be good to those kids!
Colossians 3:23