Yesterday I was blessed to spend the day at Paris High School. In the morning we had a training with most of the athletic staff: AD, HS and MS football coaches, golf, track, basketball and baseball ... What an inspiring group of men. These kids are so blessed to have these men working with them.
Head coach, JJ Everage, has been striving to bring SportsLeader to the entire school because he does not want the fruit from football season to "wear off" when they go on to other sports. He wants their lives to be truly "transformed."
In the afternoon we had a team camp for the football players. The players responded better than ever expected. The team has suffered a bit from apathy and a lack of commitment at times but we believe yesterday was a turning point. The kids were enthusiastic and tough. They want to be a "new" team.
Toward the end of the day, Coach Everage shared a story with all of us. He has 4 beautiful daughters - 2 are 3 yr old twins now. They were born 3 months pre-mature and that brought a considerable amount of suffering and sacrifice to their lives. I have rarely been in a room where you could physically feel the attitude of a room change as when Coach emotionally described what he went through as a man, a husband and a father ... and how much he wanted them to be great men and great fathers in the future.
After Paris, we traveled to Lexington to be with an awesome youth football team. They are 5th-7th graders. Assistant Coach Mike Black gave the Humility talk to the young men after practice. The young men had the "assignment" the night before, as part of the virtue of Charity, to do something for their families without being asked. "I made dinner - egg sandwiches", "I took out the trash", "I picked up my room made my bed", "I fed the dog", "I took in the groceries", "I fed the rabbits", "I played with my younger brother" ...
Virtue in action - not just talking about it - doing it!
God bless, Lou
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