1,000 Jars of Peanut Butter

Drew Page of Paris High School Football recently did SportsLeader very proud. He and some friends of his decided that they wanted to help the people in Haiti. Their solution: Peanut Butter.

Drew took it upon himself to approach local businesses in his hometown of Paris Kentucky and ask them if he could put up a poster and some crates to collect peanut butter for the victims of the earthquake. 7 businesses said go for it. He then went home with his brother and enlisted his help to make posters and gather some stuff to get the job done. After 4 hours they brought the materials to the businesses and less than one month later ... they collected 1,000 jars of peanut butter.

Drew said, "Every night I would pray that the Lord would make this work. He answered my prayers."

Together with his friends from other towns they collected a total of 10,000 jars ... all being delivered to the Red Cross for them to ship to Haiti.

Coaches - sometimes it is easy to get discouraged ... thinking that "my kids just don't get it ..." Well as you can see - Drew got it!

God bless, Lou

HS Football Player Testimony at Chicago Bears SportsLeader Event

Coach Tom Nelson of Nazareth Academy in Chicago introduces Mike Williams to give his testimony to a group of coaches on how SportsLeader has helped him. Mike was a Senior Linebacker this past season, 2009, and is looking forward to playing college football.

Caring For Your Players Not Using Them

Coach Chris Willertz shares that he cares about his players whether or not they wrestle well - that his purpose is to help them become great men. He is not there to use them.

Coaches Speak at Conquest

Dave Wirth and Todd Naumann, football coaches at Covington Catholic High School spoke to a local Conquest club about virtue, obedience and prayer.

Sophomore Defensive End Testimony

Coaches,

The below testimony lifted my spirits more than I can tell. Striving to transform the culture of sports is tough at times but this is the reason why we sacrifice, why we coach, why we work with young men.

I invite you to ask yourself: How many young men on my team could/would write the same?

Another coach finished an email to a friend of mine with this quote. It speaks volumes.

"If better is possible, good is not enough." - Anonymous

God bless, Lou


Lou,
I wanted to forward the letter from Nick Koehn who was impacted by SportsLeader this past season. I am including a photo of our SportsLeader commitment last August where Nick is located in top row second from right. Feel free to spread his testimony.
Doc

Life Changing Commitment
Before my sophomore football season at Nazareth, I was an unguided and unpleasant teenage boy. I was more then often argumentative with my parents. I was sometimes rude to people and judged them on the music they listened to, the way they dressed, or the people they called their friends.

I had little interest in helping people less fortunate then me. I had been continuously chipping away at the relationships that I had formed with my sister because of a few grudges that I held against her from the holiday season almost an entire year before. When a teammate of mine told me that a little humility could go a long way for me during my freshman year I remember telling him with hate in my voice, "kiss my (blank)."

Above all, I hadn't been to church in probably 3 to 4 years. I acted as though God didn't exist. I was angry at almost everyone all the time for no reason.

With the introduction of the SportsLeader program at Nazareth, and the assistance of a coaching staff devoted to the development of young boys to men of love and integrity, I have truly changed my life.

Before the season I filled out a goal sheet and challenged myself to become a better person as a part of the SportsLeader program. I wrote down that I wanted to set up a charitable event at my school with my teammates to raise money for wounded soldiers coming back form Iraq and Afghanistan. Though the process hit multiple speed bumps, I eventually got it done with the help of my coaches and teammates. By the end of the fund raiser my team had collected nearly 800 dollars to go directly to the wounded warrior project.

Aside from fulfilling my goal of raising money for our country's veterans, I met my goal of rebuilding the relationship with my sister which I had single-handedly destroyed. Not only have my sister and I rebuilt our relationship, but I am going to go spend a weekend with her in Washington D.C. in two weeks, just the two of us.

I am extremely proud of the person that I have become since the time before my sophomore football season. Though I have meet or exceeded many of the goals that I crafted for myself through the SportsLeader program, the accomplishment I am most proud of is my spiritual growth. Before I attended Nazareth I had never gone to church unless my grandmother dragged me. After this football season I found myself not only talking to God more often everyday, but I go to church almost every Sunday by myself.

My next goal after the football season was to make a heartfelt and humble confession. Just two weeks ago I faced my fear and gathered the courage to tell God that I am truly sorry for the sins that I have been committing regularly for over six years. Now I find myself in relationship with my Lord that I never thought I could achieve but I could only dream of.

In the last eight months I have been reborn in many ways. My parents continuously tell me about how proud they are of the man I am becoming. I am friendly and respect everyone that I meet now even if they don't respect me. I have set up a foundation to help the men and women that defend our country. I have participated in a soup kitchen and I have signed up for three more dates in the next month. I have rebuilt a loving relationship with my sister that will continue for the rest of our lives. I don't have a single enemy on my football team or in my community.

Each and every goal that I have set for myself and achieved is a direct representation of what the SportsLeader program has done for me. It has taught me to be a man of charity, humility, determination, courage, integrity, and love. Without the coaching staff that has helped me form my path to becoming a man I wouldn't be where I am at today.

Without the SportsLeader program I would probably be the same lying, cheating, argumentative, deceiving, cocky, uncaring, rude, selfish, egotistical, grudge holding, unpleasant, unguided, football player telling my teammate to, "kiss my (blank)," that I was before my sophomore football season. I owe my success entirely to this program, my coaches, my parents, my teammates, and God.
Sincerely,
Nick Koehn

SportsLeader and Moeller Wrestling

Coaches,

Another awesome event. Archbishop Moeller High School's wrestling team hosted a Father - Senior Son singlet night, with an interesting twist.

The event was a complete surprise for the 8 Seniors. They also had no idea that their head coach, Jeff Gaier, had a new personalized wrestling singlet for each of them - that was designed by one of the Seniors - but they had thought that it was all forgotten ...

They had their normal practice Friday night from 3-5. After practice each coach is invited to give some remarks. One coach mentioned how proud he was of Jake Corrill, a Senior wrestler. That the previous night after the wrestling dual meet, he was picking up trash and cleaning the gym ... it was an away meet. An interesting point to note is that Jake, and his teammate Pierce Harger, were featured on the cover of ESPN's Rise magazine ... humility and service.

Coach Gaier told the Seniors to not go howe, to be in the locker room at 6. The Dads all arrived to the school and went to a classroom to avoid being seen. We chatted with the Dads a bit about affirming their sons ...

At 6 we walked into the locker room. Coach said some words and invited all the Dads to come in ... the guys were pretty intrigued by this point ... The coaches affirmed the players and then each one of the Dads told their sons how proud they were of them, that they loved them ... and pulled the surprise singlet out. I've never seen wrestlers so excited to see a singlet before (smile).

God bless, Lou


(From Assistant Coach and Moeller House System Director)
Lou, i was very pleased with Friday night. Personally, it was a highlight of my season. I think it really helped 1 struggling wrestler of ours as well.
Ed