Football

So this has been on my heart for several days and it simply needs to be shared…

I feel privileged to have my son in such an amazing football program. I have tried to verbalize this to friends and family, but I don’t think I am doing it justice. These coaches are men of character and honor, men of faith, men who are more concerned with the values they are instilling in our boys than they are in the numbers on the board when the clock runs out. I have been honored to witness these coaches do what they say, setting an example, being the kind of role models our boys, our young men, need so badly. I have watched these boys win and loose with integrity and good sportsmanship, with qualities that will serve them well in life. I have watched these boys surround each other and build each other up, leaning not just teamwork, but honor and comradery too. When one succeeds, the whole team succeeds. When one fails, the whole team shakes it off and tries again.

And that is really it…trying again, not giving in to the failure or the fear of failure or the spectators yelling at them. They know who they are, they are champions! They are champions because they show up, because they give their all, because when the time on the clock runs out, they have left everything they had on the field.  Failure is a part of life, but somewhere along the way we decided it was bad, it was shameful, it was something to avoid. I would argue that teaching our young men (and women) how to fail with honor, to see it as information in their pursuit of success, we could change out homes, our communities, our country. We have a nation filled with people who see themselves as victims. Why bother trying when everything is working against me? Why bother when I am being put down and persecuted? Why? Because you and I are only victims if we allow ourselves to be…even the worst of situations can be material to grow through IF you know how to. These boys are learning how.

Inventor Albert Einstein was one of the most brilliant minds we have ever known, yet he was deemed slow as a child. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, after failing to do so 1000 times, one thousand times! One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Michael Jordan, claims to have missed more than 9000 shots, lost 300 games and missed the game-winning shot 26 times. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both failed at college and business before building their respective billions. Olympian Michael Phelps was diagnosed with ADHD and told by a teacher he would not succeed at anything, he found solace in the water and is now the most decorate Olympian of all time.

What if these men had quit? What if they had taken to heart the criticism? What if they had grown weary of failing? What greatness, what successes, have we not witnessed because someone gave up, because the weight of failure became too much?  

In 1910, President Roosevelt gave a speech in Paris titled “Citizenship in a Republic” about human rights and the role of citizens, among other things. But there is one passage that has been quoted (and titled) independently, “The man in the arena.” I would like to quote it here, in case you are unfamiliar:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

The credit belongs to these coaches who spend themselves in a worthy cause, in our sons, teaching them both victory and defeat. Teaching them to stand, and after falling to stand again. The credit belongs to these young men who are not only learning this themselves, but helping to teach the younger ones. The credit belongs to each one of these players every time they take the field and play with honor and leave everything on the field. If they can learn these principles…what can stop them from success in life? This program is about more than just football…so much more!

(As a side note for those who love God things...we have always believed our property was saved for us. It went on the market and had a sale pending almost immediately, when that sale fell through, we were allowed to put in our offer before it officially became available. We have always believed that God walked us through remodeling the corn crib and grew us through some pretty big failures on this property. What we took for granted was the school district...the other side of the street is one school district, two miles south is another, but we are in Union (Dysart/La Porte City). If our property were simply on the other side of the street, I may never have pursued their football program and found this amazing opportunity for our boys. Fifteen years ago, God knew!)