The Boys of Fall

With Labor Day now in our rear view, it is the unofficial end of the summer and start of fall. With the beginning of fall comes the color change of the leaves, the days get shorter, the weather starts to get cooler, but best of all, comes the game of football. Every weekend for the next few months you will find every level of football being played. From Pro, Semi-Pro, college, high school, Pop Warner, flag, two-hand touch and for my video game junkies, a ton of Madden football. Ahhh...it's such a great time of year. I LOVE IT! 

I have been involved with football at all of these levels at some point for the past 30 years of my life. There are not many sports where you need everyone to do their job well as a team through the entirety of the game to be victorious in the end. The family unit that football creates is what I love most. You shed blood, sweat and tears together with the guys around you just to be able to play a few games a year. Everyone gets to see each other at some of the most vulnerable times in their life. I always looked at my team as my second family.

But, for me, this year will be extremely different. After coaching high school football for 13 years (man, time flies), I will be stepping away from the coaching booth. I know this may come as a shock to some of you. It was a decision that was very difficult to make. I look back at some of the coaches that I have coached with, and when I asked them what do they miss the most about it, their answer 100% of the time is the kids. I also had a coach tell me, "Good luck walking away. It will be very challenging because there will always be that one kid you want to stay and continue to help because you see his potential as a player and a person." And, it has been that way for me for the past 13 years, there is always that kid that keeps you coming back year after year after year. As if we have that secret power to unlock that kid's potential and no one else has the ability to do it. I like to believe that I have helped change many a kid's life through my coaching and taught them many lessons about life and being a great teammate. But, coaching these kids for the past 13 years has taught me many things about kids, life and people. Here are some of the things I have learned:

1. Always have a strategy and a back up plan. 
After every game we play we spend time the following day getting ready for our next opponent. We do that by watching a ton of film, reviewing the last game we played, assessing our kids versus the opponent's kids, looking at the coaches' tendencies, we even look all the way up to the playing conditions; how the weather is going to be that day, what type of field do they have, what is the lighting like, what type of atmosphere does the school create, what are their locker rooms like, what is the walk from the locker room to the field like, how much time will our warm up take? You get the picture. I could go on and on as to the things we look at to make sure our staff and team are fully prepared for the battle that will ensue. How does this compare to life? In everything we want to do, there is a strategy involved in getting things accomplished. For example, in my life now, scheduling the gym to be able to operate at its best. It takes a lot of sitting down and planning behind the scenes to make sure you get the best of all of us on a daily basis. 

2. Be able to adjust on the fly.
No matter how thought out your plan is, there is always some contingency that will come up to try to throw you off your plan. There have been many times where the bus has been late taking us to an away game, or a team completely changes their scheme to something we have not planned for, or your star player gets sick and cannot play, or your headsets go out and you cannot relay any information to the rest of the staff on the field. How does this compare to life? You must be able to react fast and go with a decision. Not everything is going to go as planned.

3. You must have multiple personalities.
Having to be able to get 100 kids focused and motivated on one common goal can be very challenging. Every kid is different and it is up to us as coaches to find that key to unlock the box that holds all the secrets to getting a kid going. Some kids thrive off of struggle, some kids thrive off of positive reinforcement, and some thrive off of a simple hand on the shoulder. You must continue to find that thing that gets the kids going. Is today the day that I am "angry yell at practice Kerry," or "joke around and let's have fun Kerry," or "serious let's get the job done Kerry?" How does this apply to life? You must be able to change your mindset depending on the situation you're in and your audience.

4. Everyone learns differently.
This is one that I think is lost on many youth programs. The notion that every kid can and will do what's on the paper. Some kids you can tell them what you want, some you have to show them physically what you want and others just having them see it happen in front of them and they get it. How does that apply to life? In order to get your message across to people, you must use every different aspect of communication. One of those will make the light go off in their mind and will really get your message to stick.

5. You can't accomplish everything yourself.
There are 100 kids on the team, 10 coaches, an athletic director, teachers, the grounds crew, parents and other students. They all play a role in us achieving our goal of winning a championship. I have seen it on a daily basis, but I see it even more so when we decide to travel to play a team out of state. Never mind not having home field advantage, imagine home state advantage. When we travel, we have more support than I have ever seen by a high school team. There is always a large sea of green and white in the stands and around the hotel to show support from home. How does this apply to life? I know in order to achieve greatness in life, you must be able to call on others to help you along the way.

I am very thankful that I have been able to play and coach this great game for so long. By playing and coaching I have received many tools for life to help me on my journey. We will see what happens by the end of this season. I may get that itch...stay tuned!