The name on the FRONT

When Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to their first Super Bowl with him at the helm they elected to do something different.  They decided to be announced as a team, as 'The New England Patriots', and forgo the individual entrances that are tradition.  They were underdogs, and won convincingly.

Recently, the Aptos JV and Varsity played Clovis East, at their venue.  During the JV game some parents realized none of the Aptos players names were being announced, so they took a roster to the press box.  The announcer told them it was their policy not to give individual credit to the opposing team.   Whether that was, or was not, school policy is irrelevant.  The reaction of the parents is what matters.

They displayed shock that their sons would be so blatantly "disrespected".  They displayed anger Friendliness and Hospitality the Aptos Sports Coalitions subscribe to.   And Clovis East kicked the crap out of both teams.

that their sons would not get the individual recognition they "deserved".  They were dismayed that Clovis East didn't adhere to the same principles of

Not one of the parents expressing concern had a son who didn't start.  Not one of the parents whose child sat on the bench got involved.
No one is entitled to respect, or recognition.  Both are earned.  They carry the most weight when paid to the team.  When we walk into an opponent's stadium we do it with the objective of leaving one name left on their minds: The Aptos Mariners.  

One of the primary reasons games are scheduled against teams in the Central Valley is the adversity the boys are guaranteed to walk into.   Those games are scheduled so the boys will learn how to bond, as a Team, against the hostility shown to any opponent, and they learn that by leaning on each other.  The Clovis East announcer didn't say "We won't announce the names of YOUR sons". He said "It's policy not to announce the names of ANY opponent".  That's not personal, even if the Aptos parents see it that way.   It's a tactic to give home field advantage.  And it worked.

Our boys will need to learn to surmount that adversity if they want to compete for titles larger than League.  They never will if Mommy and Daddy fight the battles for them.  They never will if Mommy and Daddy tell their sons they deserve respect before they've earned it.  You earn it by entering that environment a 'nobody', and exiting  victorious.  Watching Mommy and Daddy write emails to the Athletic Director doesn't accomplish that.  If you disagree, ask your son to write the letter himself:

Dear Clovis East A.D.

I think it's rude, and disrespectful,

that you didn't say my name every time I made a 

good play.  I really feel I deserve individual recognition for the things I do, even if my team lost.  You should change

your policy so the boys who play well on the opposing

teams are respected, and so our Moms and Dads can hear our names called, because it really means a lot to them.  More than it does to us."

If our sons want respect in those places they'll need to earn it through the effort they give as a team.  They'll need to decide they want it one way, and one way only, and that one way does NOT involve the intervention of Mommy, or  Daddy.  I know this because I asked the boys how they feel about the emails, and Facebook posts, that are being written around this 'issue'.  To them, it isn't one.

We tell our freshman running backs that if they get into the endzone untouched, they can't take any credit.  If they get in untouched it's because ten other guys (whose names will NEVER be announced) did their jobs, and executed their blocks.  We teach them to respect the team concept, because this is a team game.  If you want to fight 'disrespect', and 'injustice' ask that the boys who make the BLOCKS for those whose names ARE announced, be announced along with them.

This game is about the name on the FRONT of your jersey, not the one on the back.

We are the Aptos Mariners.

Speech from "Miracle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nR3reKPE5Y

"Name on the Front"

*The NFL mandates that visiting team members are NOT to be announced on gameday.

Retrospect

A parable:

A farmer and son lived together on a vast plain.  Their sustenance came from the land, and it took both men to perform the necessary tasks of preparing and harvesting crops.  One day a stranger appears, and offers the farmer a horse.  The horse will allow he and his son to work more efficiently.  "This horse is the best thing to ever happen to me", he proclaims.

Months pass, and the horse has become a vital part of the farms production.  One day the son is riding the horse, and falls off.  His leg is broken, and he will be unavailable to work for many months.  "This horse is the worst thing to ever happen to me," the farmer proclaims.

A month or so later, the War Minister appears at the farmers door, and says war has broken out, and all young men are required to fight.  He asks the farmer if he has any sons, and the farmer takes him to his boy.  The Minister sees the broken leg and says he is no good to him, then leaves.  "That horse is the best thing that ever happened to me," the farmer proclaims.

Don't judge the events in your life as good or bad.  You don't know which it is until your life has played out.  What appeared to be good, may have negative repercussions.  What you deem bad may open a door to something you need.  Simply accept what comes, and respond.

The Position You Play:

You may not be in the position you want to be in.  Don't worry.  

• Alex Joh, the varsity quarterback and last years Junior of the Year was a starting guard his freshman year. 
• 
  
• I played with a guy my freshman year who quit when he was told he'd play tackle, and not quarterback, like he wanted.  He was 6'4" and 220 lbs.  He returned, and agreed, three days later.  Four years later he was on a full-ride scholarship to Santa Clara University as an offensive tackle.
• The young man who was brought up to varsity as a sophomore last year to play fullback quit this year.  Three new boys took his place.
• People get hurt, so be patient, and be ready.
• The SCCAL MVP in 2011 was the Aptos quarterback.  He received two offers to walk on at D1 schools as a safety.  He declined both, and is now out of football.  He was convinced he was a QB even though no school recruited him as such.  He was a Safety.  His disagreement ended his career.
• Tom Brady was a 6th round draft pick who backed up Drew Bledsoe.  Bledsoe got hurt, and Brady led the Patriots to the first of 3 Super Bowls.  Bledsoe was later traded.
• 
  

The important thing is to play, to be on the field.  If you're given an opportunity, take it, and let the rest work itself out.  TRUST the insights of those teaching you. If you're a football player your objective is to be on the field no matter what position gets you there.

Two-thirds

We don't play kids two ways.  If you start on offense, you won't start on defense, and vice-versa.  We want as many kids as is possible, gaining experience. And we want fresh legs.  We play to win.  If a game is close, our third and fourth string players probably won't play.  That's an issue, since we have 65 kids on our roster.

Two-thirds of our squad will stand on the sidelines when we have close games.  That means two-thirds of the parents who came to watch their sons, won't see them.  That means two-thirds of our workforce will remain unrewarded.  The sweat they sweated, the pain they endured, and the fear they fought through will go unrecognized.  Sometimes that's just how it goes.

But not always.  Sometimes it's up to you.  
  

Recently, we challenged our starters.  We told them we, as coaches, will no longer apologize to those players who don't see playing time during regulation.  Instead, they will.  We challenged them to set the bar higher.  Make it your goal to give everyone the same opportunity you have.  Let's give everyone the opportunity to  perform for their parents, and friends.  Let's give everyone the same opportunity to represent the Aptos High Freshman Football Team.  Apply your God given talent toward providing an opportunity for someone else who otherwise would never have it.  Use your talent to enable someone else.

For some of our players no amount of hard work, or determination, will bridge the gap between their ability, and others.  Not in this arena.  Not in the context of this forum.  The effort they exert, however, often exceeds the effort of those above them. As does their courage.  The more gifted athletes will experience mismatches in their favor.  Some less gifted athletes never will.  For the less gifted, every time they take the field (whether in practice or a game) they'll be the underdog.  

If you're one of the "gifted" ask yourself:  "Would I keep showing up if I knew I'd be physically dominated daily, get fewer reps than everyone else, and rarely get to play in games?"  Then ask yourself what it takes to say 'yes'.  That's what's standing on the sideline waiting for you to take charge of the game.  If you respect the conviction in your team mates, play like it, and get them on the field. 

Short Memory

I was waiting in line at a coffee shop when a man approached and asked if I was a football coach.  I said yes, and he said he thought he'd seen me on the sideline.  His son is on the team.  He thanked me for my time, and said his son was enjoying himself.  He said it was his son's first experience with 'organized sports' because he'd spent his childhood practicing alternative, individual endeavors like skateboarding, and surfing.  Now, in early adolescence, he wants to know where he stands.                            

The kid we're talking about is a physical specimen.  He's bigger than most of the other boys, and his musculature is solid, and formed.  His lack of experience, however, has put him behind those accustomed to competing against more diverse opponents than the Self.  Skating taught him how to achieve a goal through preparation, and commitment.  It didn't teach him how to confront an opponent with unknown skills, and objectives.

The father identified a caution in his son he hadn't seen before.  The coaching staff had noted it too, so I told him to be patient.  Most of the other boys have 'football IQ' from playing in flag leagues, or pick-up games.  They know the anatomy of a developing play, and how to react to it.  They anticipate angles, and adjust to the fluctuations in speed.  The new boy doesn't.          

The new boy is still trying to play the game the way it's diagramed, or explained.  He sees it as a literal equation that has a logical response.  Those simply provide understanding of the game.  They explain the objectives of the offense and defense.

When you know them, you stop thinking about them.  When you stop thinking, you start playing.

Each play in football is a burst of orchestrated actions that provide a catalyst for improvised, fluid reaction.  The speed of a developing play removes the thought process, and replaces it with a need to react.  To be successful, your  reaction must be a combination of split-second decisions, and informed, accurate anticipation, of how the field will change.

Each boy learning to play the game needs to see the games facets:

• He needs to understand the role his position plays in the overall scheme of the offense or defense.  Each of the 11 players on the field has a specific job on each play.  If one fails to be executed the whole thing collapses.
• He needs to understand the specific skill set his position requires.  Footwork, blocking, pursuing, etc. are different for each position.  You can't transfer what you do at linebacker to what you do at safety.
• He needs to understand that the Team goal is met when each Individual responsibility is fulfilled.
• He needs to understand that caution and self-criticism cannot enter his mind, or the team concept.  Mistakes are part of the game.  When you make one, make it with full force.  If you block the wrong guy, put him on his back. If you run the wrong route find an open space.  If you miss a tackle, miss like an errant cannonball.  And when it's over, forget it.  Move on to the next play.  One play, good or bad, isn't enough to determine your pedigree as a player.
• And he needs to understand his lack of experience doesn't matter any more, or less, than the five-years of pop-warner his team mate has.  If you're willing to collide with your opponent, and get up when you're knocked down, your equal.

Try this everyday at practice:

1. Think about the effort you expect of yourself, and give it.                            
           
2. Decide the depth of your focus, and bring it.
3. Don't settle for less than your best on every play you run.
4. Challenge yourself to ignore fears and doubts that are obstacles.
5. Reflect on how you did, and prepare for tomorrow.

If you can learn to practice with the same intensity, and purpose, you bring to a game, it will become your status quo.  

"The secret to life is getting knocked down seven times, and getting up eight."

The legs feed the wolf, gentlemen.

There is no course of study required to coach freshman football.  You don't need experience.  You don't need a winning record.  You don't need a game plan or a certificate, or even a job.  You simply need to know how to pronounce the word 'yes' so you can say it, if you're asked.   You need more credentials to adopt a stray dog at the SPCA.

I'm not saying that to demean the position.  I'm saying it to remind myself of the standards I set for myself when I said yes.  I'm saying it because the line between helping, and harming, is razor thin.  If you work with kids, or raise them, you walk it everyday.

I also know that the path we intend isn't always the path that gets us where we need to go.  I learned that from a guy who owned a bookstore for kids, years ago.  We were visiting with my sons preschool, and one of the children asked the man if it was "always his dream to own a bookstore".  I never forgot that.  I never forgot it because a child had the insight to ask it.  I never forgot it because the man had the courage to answer.

"No", he said. "I wanted to become an actor, so I moved to Hollywood.  I never made it as an actor".
"Did that make you sad?" the child asked.
"At first", he said, "but then something happened that led to a bookstore, and then that led to this.  If I'd never gone to Hollywood this might not have happened. Sometimes what you think you want is just a path to what you really want. The trick is trusting it when it appears.  This was my real dream.  Becoming an actor was what I had to let go of to discover it".

________________________________________________________________________

We have a boy on our team this year who is one of the most gifted 

athletes we've seen.  We've questioned his mental toughness since he arrived.  He didn't dress for practice one day because he said his leg hurt.  A trainer looked at it, and said it was 'bruised'.  We rode him harder.  Because he missed practice, he was forced to miss the first half against Archbishop Mitty.  When he came in we were behind.  We handed him the ball and he ran 50 yards for a touchdown.  We found out later his leg was actually broken.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned through the game of football.  The most important ones inform us about who we are, and what we can  do.  The path that leads us to them isn't always the path we intended.  

 We pulled this boy aside, and apologized for pushing him so hard.  We apologized for doubting him.   He told us not to worry.  He told us he knows something he didn't know before, and he said it was okay how it happened.   No one can ever challenge his mental toughness again, ever.  He set his own bar.  He set it higher than we had.  Jack Wolf is tough as nails.

First Opponent

 As we broke practice the night before our first game, we told the boys to anticipate butterflies.  The next time they take the field another team will be waiting at the other end.  They won't know anything about them outside what they observe:  

 "Dude, that kid's fast."
"That kid's huge." "         

"That one's fast and huge".

Observations like that, made that way, can mess with your head.

There was one other thing all the boys knew for certain.  In fact, the knowledge of that thing was responsible for  the anxious butterflies they felt.  They knew that those boys,

the ones down there,  would provide the measurement required to obtain the distance between self-perception, and reality.   When they leave the field  they'll know something about themselves they'd only previously believed.  They'll either be

• reassured that their self-confidence is warranted,  or 
• humbled by their misjudgment.  

Both are good places to begin.   Both take courage to find out.  

Lesson: You can't assess an opponent's ability by looking at them, so don't try.  Instead,  turn your attention on yourself.  Ask yourself if you prepared hard.  If you did, you're ready.  Ask if your team mates can count on you.  Ask if you trust in them.  If they can and you do, you're not alone.  Ask if you'll give all you've got, and get up each time you're knocked down.  If you will, you'll respect yourself, win or lose.  This is about you, not them. 

Notes:

• One athlete stood out in practices, but disappeared when
  
  it mattered.  Lesson: This game will expose you quickly.  It shows you who you are, and waits for you to respond.  Opportunities for growth will be provided.
• There were a few athletes who learned their natural talent isn't enough.  They got knocked down by kids half their size, aware everyone saw.    They had to come back to the sideline, and learn to laugh about it.
• If you want respect and admiration, earn it.  Running faster than others because you have extra fast-twitch muscle fibers isn't something you did.  Being the first to have a prepubescent growth spurt isn't an accomplishment.  It's hormonal.  You need to find what's inside you.

Kryptonite

Every boy making the commitment to play high school football arrives with two things. 

The first is the combination of the physical body, and its skills. The second is self-perception. Self-perception, at 14, is largely influenced by past athletic achievements.  If their talents made them a Superstar they've begun to believe it. Likewise for those who ride pine.  

 Both will discover another 'skill' that has the same equalizing effect on talent that kryptonite has on Superman.  It's common name is heart.   Each boy determines the depth of his own. 

Football is, ultimately, a game.  If you play it

consciously it becomes a rite of passage.  It's impossible to line up a yard away from someone whose objective is the same as yours, and remain ignorant to the truth in the outcome.  When it's over, you know who you are. 

  Many past failures, and accomplishments, were compiled when you woke 10 minutes before a game, ate a Pop-Tart, and still homered twice.  Or struck out any time you touched a bat.  Both came easy, depending on who you were.  Not anymore.  Mother Nature doesn't have a Favorite Son.

 From now on each boy decides his own truth, and rewrites it with determination, commitment, and effort.  Each boy gets to set his own limits, and decide their reasonableness on his own. A Team forms when each boy recognizes the height of the limit is irrelevant. It's the level of effort toward it that matters.

There's no difference between a goal of setting an individual rushing record, or a goal of playing more than one quarter, when the growth obtained in each to reach it is the same.