2007.11.21

Last night was my son's youth football banquet. I was running from point 'A' to point 'B' most of the night. I didn't get much of a chance to chat with folks. I did get to speak briefly with one of high school football players.

Some background: Our high school football team is bad. Our high school football team is dreadfully bad. In the past three years, the high school's record is 3-37. There have been several games with a 70+-point margin of defeat.

The high school has changed head coaches nearly every year. Every coach comes in with a new system, coaches, and philosophy. The team went through 5 head coaches in 5 years.

Our most recent head coach, Adam, was hired after the 2005 season. In 2005, the average score was 56-3. In 2005, the Rams went 0-10. In 2006, Adam was hired and unveiled his group of coaches and scheme. Adam led the Rams to a 1-9 record in 2006. In 2007, Adam led the Rams to a 2-8 record. The point differential has dropped from 56-3 in 2005 to 28-7 in 2007. In two years time, point production has more than doubled while the number of points allowed has been cut in half.

Adam has the team on the right path. The Rams were only a couple of plays away from being 4-6. But, there are no miracle cures. The transformation from cellar dweller to playoff contender is not going to happen overnight.

Now, back to my original point - I spoke with one of the high school players. He asked if Adam was going to be brought back as head coach in 2008. Here is how the conversation unfolded:

Me: "Yes, from everything I have heard, Adam will still be head coach in 2008."
Him: "Well, that makes my decision a lot easier. I am done with football."
Me: "You want someone else as coach?"
Him: "Yes."
Me: "Who?"
Him: "I don't know... Anyone."
Me: "Tell me, how would that help?"
Him: "I just... I would rather play for Coach Snyder (cross town rival)"
Me: "Really? What was their record this past season?"
Him: "Umm..."
Me: "Didn't you beat them by 2 touchdowns? Were they 0-10 or did they end up 1-9?"
Him: "Uhhh..."

The football team is bad because to be absolutely blunt - the community is unsupportive. The kids do not want to work hard. The parents do not want thier babies to get yelled at or pushed too hard.

On average, maybe a dozen kids show up for off-season weight lifting. The parents make excuses for why the kids are too busy to workout. If a specific kid fails to earn a varsity letter, the parents try to have the coach fired.

A lot of the parents are looking for a coach that will appear out of nowhere with pudding pops in tow and say, "Listen... lifting weights is over-rated. Just show up in mid-August, we will run some plays and go 10-0 on our way to a state championship and every kid will play at least 5 plays per quarter."

As long as dozen dedicated kids are showing up in the weight room, the team is going to be only marginally successful - at best. When the entire team lifts together, then, there is a chance to do something special.

In small communities where the hometown team goes to the playoffs every year there is a unifying theme...

The player shows up to conditioning because he wants to get better. If the player failed to show up for conditioning;

His teammates would call and tell him to get to the weight room.

His parents would tell him to get his butt over to the weight room.

His neighbors would ask the parents, "I heard your son wasn't at weight lifting. Is he sick?"

He would walk into the local Subway and the shopkeeper would say, "How is off-season conditioning going? How is the team looking?"

On the whole, the 'team' is not showing up for conditioning. The parents 'explain' to coaches why little Johnny can't show up. The shopkeepers try to mind their own business. Success requires a total buy-in and total support from everyone.

Failure is not an accident. Failure occurs due to a lack of preparation. Likewise, success is not an accident. Success is predicated on proper preparation.

The attitude of the community will not change overnight. The attitude may never change. I don't know.