SENIOR SENDOFF IN SANDUSKY

Ryan Wikel, head football coach at Sandusky St Mary's Central Catholic High School, had his first ever Senior Sendoff event last week.

He had 10 players, 9 coaches and 1 chaplain Father Jason in attendance.

They gathered at the South Shore Inn, played a game of kickball - players against coaches that went 9 innings plus a 2 out sudden death overtime where the coaches prevailed 7-6. They enjoyed some food and then they went inside for a chat.

Coach gave each of the 10 players a mentoring group, just like the coaches ... so this year all the football players will have a coach and a graduated Senior who will be helping them. Coach Wikel said, “I feel like it is important to keep the graduating seniors connected to our program.  Since this is year one of our virtue program, I wanted this group to be a part of it.”

He told them that he'd like each of them to text their mentoring group at least 5 or 6 times throughout the upcoming year to encourage the young men to be virtuous. For example on homecoming and prom nights ... send a text to your group to make good decisions, don't do anything you might regret. “I have a sheet of important dates that revolves around the school calendar.  Midterm dates and end of quarter are important for grades. School functions such as dances and opening night of football are other important dates.”

The great thing about this is that maybe because the new college Freshman is texting the high school players to make good decisions, that will help them stay on the straight and narrow as well because they are telling others to do it ...
He also gave them a sheet with all of the names and contact information of all the coaches and assured them that they are forever a part of the football family.

To close it out he gave each player a book that he signed - "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".  “It is a good read and a small token for the graduating seniors.  They may not read it right away, but maybe they pick it up 10 years from now and it makes an impact.”

Since the event he has received numerous texts from his assistant coaches letting him know how much fun it was to simply play a game with the guys. Admittedly some of the guys were sore for a few days because some "new muscles were freshly discovered" but that it was worth it.

A new tradition has been started ... a lifelong memory created!

There's still time to get in this event if you have not done so already. You won't regret it. It is called Senior Sendoff and the objective is to gather your graduating Seniors one last time ... Here is a recent example.

A REALLY BITTER MOMENT. HOPEFULLY A WAKEUP CALL

I had a pretty tough phone conversation with an athlete who I got to know rather well during this past year. 

I got to know him well during a fall sport. His coaches did an amazing job mentoring and installing the virtue program and it was both fun and inspiring watching them grow and excel throughout the year.

 

This young man is an excellent student and also a Spring sport athlete.

 

His team made it to the State Championships in this spring sport and the night before the event the team wound up being disqualified because of four teammates who decided to smoke something illegal.

 

To say he was crushed is an understatement. He broke personal records, team records and also helped his team win many games including their conference championship.

 

Why? Why would these teammates do this? Why so close to what they had worked so hard for - for 4 years?

 

These young men were Seniors.

 

One is the presumed Valedictorian ... Valedictorian, College scholarship, State Championship game ... possibly all down the tubes for a quick smoke ...

 

All four kids one could easily qualify as "not needing mentoring" because they are good students, dedicated and driven, from good families ...

 

What came to mind is that there are so many coaches who will not buy into a virtue and mentoring program ... "We do that already."

 

But what can categorically be stated is that whether or not you do it, our young people need 100 times more of it.

 

Lets encourage one another on our staffs that we really NEED to give more to our young people. Let's make the sacrifice.

A NAVY SEAL'S WISE ADVICE TO GRADUATES

I would recommend forwarding this to all of your coaches and athletes. We all need to hear this type of encouragement more often.

...

A Navy SEAL's Wise Advice to Graduates

By William J. Bennett, CNN Contributor

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens was commencement speaker at Tufts

• William Bennett says Greitens' message was unusual and important

• He says Greitens stressed service to others rather than self-seeking pursuits

• Bennett: The message was to sacrifice, to serve one's country and to live magnanimously

Editor's note: William J. Bennett, a CNN contributor, is the author of "The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood." He was U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H.W. Bush.

(CNN) -- Each spring, I monitor the list of commencement speakers at our nation's leading colleges and universities. Who is chosen, and who is not, tells us a lot about academia's perception of the most important voices in America.

Two of this year's most popular speakers were CNN's Fareed Zakaria, who spoke at both Harvard University and Duke University, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who spoke at both Tulane University and the University of Washington. Perhaps one of the most original choices, and the one who certainly stood out from the rest, was U.S. Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, who addressed the 2012 graduating class of Tufts University Sunday.

It's not often that elite universities honor military service members with commencement addresses. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower once spoke to a graduating class at an Ivy League university and remarked, "Your business is to put me out of business." So I applaud Tufts University for inviting Greitens.

He is not a household name, but he should be. The 38-year-old Rhodes scholar and humanitarian worker turned U.S. Navy SEAL served multiple tours overseas fighting terrorist cells and received several military awards. Today, he is the CEO of the Mission Continues, a nonprofit foundation he created to help wounded and disabled veterans find ways to serve their communities at home.

To the graduates of Tufts, Greitens issued a unique challenge, one rarely heard at commencements today: to sacrifice, to serve one's country and to live magnanimously. He called students to think above and beyond their own dreams, their own desires, and to be strong. Aristotle called this megalopsychia, greatness of soul, and considered it one of the greatest moral virtues.

" 'What kind of service can I provide? What kind of positive difference can I make in the lives of others?' If you work every day to live an answer to that question, then you will be stronger," Greitens declared.

After dodging bullets, withstanding IED explosions and going days without sleep, Greitens realized the strength he needed to excel as a SEAL was found outside his own physical abilities. In his weakest moments, Greitens was able to find his greatest strength in service.

"The more I thought about myself, the weaker I became. The more I recognized that I was serving a purpose larger than myself, the stronger I became," he told the students at Tufts. He served his country and defended the weak against the rapacity of the wicked.

Fifty years ago, Greitens' remarks would have been the norm. But through the years, the focus of education, particularly higher education, has shifted from selflessness to self-obsession. Many commencement speakers today tell students to "Dream big" and "Do what you love." It may be feel-good career advice, but it's incomplete life advice. Philosopher Martin Buber wrote, "All education 'worthy' of the name is education of character." Greitens gave the Tufts student an eloquent firsthand example.

Greitens said it this way: "The best definition I have ever heard of a vocation is that it's the place where your great joy meets the world's great need. ... We need all of you to find your vocation. To develop your joys, your passions, and to match them to the world's great needs."

Not all men are meant to be Navy SEALs, or even serve in the military, but all men can serve. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recognized, "The life of man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams but in active charity and in willing service."

We ask our students, what do you want to do when you grow up? Instead, we should ask them, whom or Whom, and what ideals do you want to serve when you grow up? That is a worthy thing to consider at graduation. Good for Greitens; good for Tufts.

COACHING, MENTORING AND IDENTITY

One of the most powerful elements of being a coach is that the young person is choosing to be with you, choosing to learn from you.

In many instances, especially with boys and young men, they identify themselves with the sport they play. They see themselves as a football player, as a baseball player.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has good and bad in it.

 

We should identify with who we ARE not what we DO. 

 

The bad side of this can be seen by the many professional athletes who no longer see a purpose to their lives once they retire because they have identified themselves TOO MUCH with what they did. They never truly found out who they were.

 

The good side of it - from the the point of view of a coach-mentor is that you have a tremendous platform to impact the young people you coach, because they identify with you very easily and very quickly.

 

Many coaches I have spoken with though, feel unworthy or incapable of being this mentor because they feel like they do not have their life in order.

 

In short, "I'm not perfect so I can't be good mentor."

 

Well the exact opposite is true. We might think that "only the perfect" are good mentors but how many of your athletes are lining up to talk with "the so called perfect"? Not many, if any.

 

As a coaching staff, as a coaching community, let's remind and encourage one another to take this seriously and make a greater effort to really breathe purpose, direction and strength into the lives of our young people.

 

Let's help them focus on who they are and who they can become, not just on what they do.

 

The better job WE do with this - the better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers ... families we will have in the future.

 

We will be STRONGER!

TRADITIONS THAT STRENGTHEN FAMILY

Building traditions within teams and schools is an integral part of what we try to do at SportsLeader. It is all a part of creating/strengthening a culture of virtue that inspires everyone to be a better person.

I was honored to be a part of two of those traditions over the past few weeks at Newport Central Catholic high school with Coach Denny Barnes and his softball team.

 

The traditions: Father-Daughter Jersey Night and Letter to Mom.

 

This is a very special group of families. The young ladies, their Dads and their Moms were all very inspiring. The level of of love, sincerity and genuine care by the Dads as they told their daughters how proud of them they were and that they loved them ... it was moving.

 

As the Dads would speak I would look at the girls faces ... the look in their eyes was priceless. You could tell that they really appreciated hearing those things from their Dad.

 

At the Letter to Mom Ceremony, each of the girls wrote a letter to their Mom and then read it to her in public. Coach would call up a Mother-Daughter duo, the Mom got to sit while the daughter read the letter. I was amazed at how much effort, detail and heart the girls put into this. The Moms were of course very grateful.

 

Before the ceremony with the Moms, I spoke with the girls and asked them what they thought about all these events and such. In short, they loved these so much that they want another one called Letter to Dad.

 

I can't encourage you enough to make these traditions a part of your team ...

 

Here below is a testimony from one of the Dads.

 

...

 

Mr. Noll,

I would wish to thank you organizing such a wonderful event last night.  The father/daughter night for the girls softball team was simply the most amazing experience, other than the birth of my daughters, that I have ever had the privilege to be part of.  The outpouring of emotion from each and every father was the most incredible expression of love I have ever had the chance to witness.  From a personal standpoint, the opportunity to express the love, pride and admiration that I have for my daughter to others in a public forum was an amazing feeling for both of us.  While I know that my daughter can see, feel and experience the love I have for her, to be able to share that with others was an amazing feeling.

I also had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Judd and he expressed that this was a program that was going to be implemented throughout the school for all programs.  If there is ANYWAY I can be of assistance to promote this program please feel free to call on me.  I would be more than honored to explain to others the impact this had on myself and my daughter.

Again, thank you so very much for this program and thank you very much for giving my daughter the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful school as Newport Central Catholic.

EAGLE STRONG

I was blessed to be with an inspiring coaching staff last night at Madison Southern High School in Berea, KY. They are integrating the SportsLeader virtue program into all of their sports. Head football coach Jon Clark has been with us for over a year now and the impact that he and his staff have made on their athletes moved the Principal to want this school-wide.

Jon is an outstanding coach with a heart of gold. He is inspiring to say the very least.

 

When I arrived he was doing everything he could to get the new weight room finished, cleaned, platforms in place. You could see the fire in his eyes to help teach his boys to value new equipment and that this was all part of the process of creating an environment of virtue, of strength, of positive change.

 

At one point a group of players popped in to take a peek and it was rewarding to watch Coach Clark interact with these young men. You could tell that these young men loved their coach.

 

Coach shared an excellent story with me. Last year when he began adapting a virtue theme of the week, many of the players did not know what the words meant ... words like virtue, bold, determined ... they just weren't a part of their vocabulary.

 

Recently he called a team meeting and he asked his players to brainstorm and come up with the top 5 virtues that a Madison Southern High School football player should have. He watched and listened in amazement as his players argued about which virtues were the most important ... 

 

At the end of the evening as we were wrapping up Coach said something else that spoke volumes about what this is all about ... virtue and mentoring has above all made me a better person, made me a better coach. 

 

Virtue and mentoring CAN and WILL change our society. Keep plugging!

 

Maybe your kids did not "seem to listen" today ... maybe they don't "seem to be getting it".

 

Be Strong - they are. They will surprise you.

 

ONE DAY TOO LATE

I heard a song recently that really inspired me. It is a bit on the heavy side but the lyrics are powerful. 

Combined with NFL Linebacker Junior Seau's passing ... the words ring even more urgent.

 

As coaches we have amazing opportunities every day around the young people we coach to make a lasting impact.

 

Let's make the most of it.

Song "One Day Too Late" by "Skillet" from album "Awake"

Lyrics:

Tick tock hear the clock countdown
Wish the minute hand could be rewound
So much to do and so much I need to say
Will tomorrow be too late

Feel the moment slip into the past
Like sand through an hourglass
In the madness I guess I just forget
To do all the things I said

Time passes by
Never thought I'd wind up
One step behind
Now I've made my mind up

Today I'm gonna try a little harder
Gonna make every minute last longer
Gonna learn to forgive and forget
'Cause we don't have long, gonna make the most of it

Today I'm gonna love my enemies
Reach out to somebody who needs me
Make a change, make the world a better place
'Cause tomorrow could be one day too late
One day too late
One day too late

Tick tock hear my life pass by
I can't erase and I can't rewind
Of all the things I regret the most I do...
Wish I'd spent more time with you

Here's my chance for a new beginning
I saved the best for a better ending
And in the end I'll make it up to you, you'll see
You'll get the very best of me

Your time is running out
You're never gonna get it back
Make the most of every moment
Stop saving the best for last

PLANNING FOR VIRTUE CAMP

A great way to unite your team over the summer is a Virtue Camp - an opportunity to get away, say for 24 hours, and focus on your team goals, team chemistry, and the real purpose of sports.

Ice-breaker games, swimming, physical challenges, dodgeball, bonfire, fishing, movie clips ... just some of the things we do at Camp River Ridge with teams in the mid-west who want to take their team to the next level.

If you live too far away, we can help you organize one closer to home.

If you are interested, just send us a note.

But - definitely look at your calendars and plan for one.

MAKING IT EASIER: COACH TESTIMONY

When I first became a head football coach I soon realized that coaching football fundamentals and schemes was a small part of coaching.  The other part was the need to teach life lessons, values, and counsel these young men in times of crises. I came up with many ways to accomplish this and many were very successful but very hard to continue. I searched lessons on the internet, bought books, had daily quotes, had special speakers but never had a set curriculum to follow. It seemed I was always behind and I was out of ideas, but I knew this was a very important part of coaching a team. At one point I even contemplated changing schools so I could start over with all the things I had done.

Then I heard about SportsLeader and attended one of their clinics. While at the clinic I bought a book with stories teaching virtues, but instead of jumping on board using the whole program, I just used the stories as a resource to teach lessons for the next two years. I really didn’t understand how the program was supposed to work and since I had done it myself for so long I was afraid of trying something new. When I ran out of ideas, again, I finally jumped on board to the total SportsgLeader Program.

I had Lou come and teach the program to my staff and I and the rest is history. The program has made this part of coaching so much easier. The program is easy to follow and the curriculum is very detailed. Everything I had done in the past was all laid out for me in a very easy format for me and my coaches to follow.

One of the things that I was a little concerned about was that some people think that teaching simple human virtues is somehow crossing a line at a public school. It has never been a problem because SportsLeader has found a way to teach these much needed virtues by presenting it in a way that anyone can accept: goal setting, quotes, movie clips ... it has been a very unifying force within our program

In fact, we have an assistant coach who proclaims to be an atheist and he ended up doing the best job incorporating the program and teaching these important virtues. It was amazing to see him inspiring and teaching our players and how well they responded to him.

SportsLeader has helped change my program in a positive way and has done it with minimal effort.  I wish I would have had this program ten years ago it would have saved me a lot of time, money and effort. We are looking forward to seeing what new and exciting stories SL has come up with in the new Season 2 version.

Kent Wright
Head Football Coach
Lebanon High School

SPORTSLEADER ANNUAL APPEAL

Dear SportsLeader Supporter,


We are now working with well over 100 schools across the United States and Canada and momentum is growing. We have touched over 5,000 lives with mentoring, father-son and father-daughter jersey nights, virtue camps and dozens of other traditions that have imprinted memories that will last a lifetime.

WE NEED STAFF

Because of SportsLeader's rapid growth, we are looking to bring on one and possibly two new full time members to effectively manage the positive acceptance with coaches and athletes at every level. In our short history of eight years, we have survived almost entirely on limited donations. However, we have reached the point that an annual fundraising request has become critical to our ability to accomplish the "mission" of helping coaches raise the maturity level of their athletes. The NEED for virtue has never been more apparent.

We must rely on your help. If you have ever benefitted from SportsLeader, we ask you to consider participating in our first SportsLeader fund drive.

Please consider a contribution of $30, $50, $100, $1,000 or more. Your financial support will directly aid coaches in their quest to help young people become the type of mature citizens - athletes we can all be proud of.

CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE

SportsLeader, Inc. is a 501 (c)  (3) not for profit and all donations are fully tax deductible.  If you prefer writing a check, please  make payable to SportsLeader, Inc. and mail to:

SportsLeader, Inc.
1974 - A Douglass Blvd.
Louisville, KY 40205

We are grateful for your support.

Best regards,

Lou Judd

The Impact a Letter Can Make

One of the traditions that we encourage coaches to make a part their program is a "season-ending letter" to each one of the players in their mentor group.

I just recently had a personal experience of how amazing a simple letter can be, both for the writer and the receiver.

 

23 years ago when I was a Junior in High School I had a math teacher by the name of Robert Sagedy. He was, without a doubt, THE best math teacher and one of the the best overall teachers I ever had.

 

As many of you know, I am not the "sharpest tool in the shed" and in math, even less. 

 

At the end of the school year Mr Sagedy was kind enough to write me a very nice one page letter. Mr Sagedy is the type of man who truly loves his students and he poured everything he had into them in an astounding way.

 

Well a few days ago my Dad found that letter at his home and he mailed it to me. It is hard to describe what one feels reading something like that 23 years later.

 

Today as I was driving, out of the blue, I remembered that one day in class I was not getting what Mr Sagedy was trying to teach us, not much of a surprise there. But what was a surprise was that Mr Sagedy tried 9 different ways to explain the concept. He never got upset, never got flustered or impatient.

 

Finally on the 9th try I got it and from that moment forward I did so much better in that class. A little background - I hated math and did not do well in it. So helping a student understand, excel and "slightly" enjoy the subject is pretty miraculous.

 

I decided to make an effort to see if I could make contact with this great man. Here is the beauty of the internet. 

 

I found a Robert A. Sagedy with the same zip code as my old high school. I called and the answering machine picked up - it was Rita Sagedy. I had no idea what I was doing so I left the message saying that I was looking for an old teacher, apologizing if I had the wrong number.

 

Rita called back 4 minutes later. She explained that her husband is 73 and has alzheimer's and probably will not remember you but please give it a try and be patient. She put us on speaker.

 

He instantly remembered who I was and we had a wonderful conversation to the complete amazement of his wife. She said he has trouble remembering what he had for breakfast much less ... 

 

I explained that I had 5 children and he quipped, "Well at least you learned how to multiply." Classic Mr Sagedy.

 

At the end of the call, he got very emotional and said, "This is what I live for. To know that I did some good in someone's life. You have no idea what this means to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You've made my year. Please mail me a letter with a family photo. I appreciate this so much."

 

You can't put a price tag on an experience like this.

 

So please - write a letter to your players. You never know - that letter might help you, the writer, 23 years later more that you will ever know right now.

 

And of you feel the need to reach out to a former teacher or coach to thank them. Please do. You may make their year!

Virtue = Strength, Lou

Ohio State Wrestling Coach Discusses Heartache of Losing Son

PRIMARY TAB

Coach Tom Ryan is a special man at the collegiate level. The pressure to win, the pressure to get your priorities out of whack is unrelenting ... but as you can read from the story below, he has his perspective very clear.

 

By Paul Daugherty: Ohio State wrestling coach discusses heartache of losing son

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120415/COL03/304150076/Doc-Wrestling-coach-inspired-by-his-late-son

Tom Ryan said, "Ache is my favorite word when it comes to learning something." Nothing comes free, he suggested. Not wisdom, not truth, not success. Not even sadness. Sadness costs.

Ryan is a wrestling coach, one of the best. In six years at Ohio State, Ryan has led the Buckeyes to two second-place finishes nationally. This past season, they beat Ryan’s alma mater and perennial title contender Iowa, in a dual meet. He was at Elder High on Sunday, working a clinic for kids attending the Premier Technique Wrestling Camp.

When it was over, Ryan offered a short talk. There was nothing exceptional about his urgings. Work hard, sacrifice for your craft, strive to be your best. The room was politely quiet. Then he talked about sadness, and everything changed.

Teague died Feb. 16, 2004. He was 5 when his heart stopped suddenly as he ran around the house, this glad presence, playing hide-and-seek with his mom.

Teague was Tom’s son. Or, rather, is Tom’s son. Death doesn’t change that. "I have four children," is how Tom began his talk. Three are alive.

How Tom has ached and what he has learned could fill a star with tears and a library with books. Five-year-olds aren’t supposed to die. They are the definition of life. There aren’t enough Whys in the world to frame adequately that aching question. Some answers, we’re not meant to know.

The ache has spawned learning for Tom Ryan, even as no one should have to learn anything that way.

"I know that the unexpected can happen in an instant," Tom says now. "I know there’s a heaven. I know to live every second."

Teague Ryan was on his back on a coffee table. His dad administered CPR. Tom Ryan tried it for 14 minutes – he remembers now, still, exactly 14 minutes – then he picked up his son and ran out into the street. Nine-one-one had been called. Tom didn’t know what else to do. So he took Teague over his shoulder and down the street, hoping to buy a few seconds.

His wife was in the house, screaming for the paramedics to hurry.

Forty-five minutes later, 5-year-old Teague Ryan was pronounced dead. Six months earlier, he’d had a throat infection. No one knew it had spread to his heart muscle and weakened it severely. Teague had a physical exam just three weeks earlier. "They checked his heart," Tom said. "Perfectly fine. No warning whatsoever."

Teague had spent all of the previous two days by his dad’s side. Tom coached wrestling at Hofstra at the time. Tom said, "It turned out Teague was a time bomb. It could have happened any time."

You can bury a 5-year-old, but that’s purely physical. Everything else remains.

"What kind of kid was he?” I asked Tom.

"Like every dad would say: Best kid in the world," said Tom. "He was magnetic. He would tell girls they were adorable. Had a personality bigger than life."

Teague wore his sister’s one-piece bathing suit to the pool, because he thought it looked like a wrestler’s singlet. He had a pair of woolen mittens he liked so much, he wrestled in them. Wrestling is a clannish sport: Sons wrestle because fathers wrestled. Fathers learn in the rec rooms of their childhood homes. Tom looked at his youngest son and saw a kid who’d go as far as his desire would take him.

"He was full of life. He was an original. Flavorful," Tom called Teague.

Now, eight years later, Teague is the inspiration Tom would give anything not to have.

Tom has delivered his message of ache and learning hundreds of times. It has helped him heal. He has a platform for impacting the lives of the young. He feels blessed. He really does.

"When I realized that heaven is real and Teague was in heaven and that’s where I’m going to go, that’s when I was OK talking about it," is how Tom explained it. "We all have pain in life. I don’t know too many people who don’t have something that brings them to their knees. But I know there’s something after."

They named Teague after an Oklahoma State wrestler Tom knew, Teague Moore. Plus, they just liked the name. Tom believed Teague meant "warrior" in Irish and/or Gaelic. Actually, Teague means "poet or philosopher." Maybe Teague Ryan would have been those, too.

Maybe he is already, inside his dad. "Nobody caused me to hunger for the truth of life more than this kid has," Tom said. He offered a picture he’d taken when Teague was 5, not long before he died. Teague wore a singlet, arms extended and curled, striking a victory pose.

"That was Teague," Tom said.

TOP 5 THINGS ATHLETES DO NOT WANT IN A COACH

As a follow-up to our list of things high school athletes DO WANT in a coach ... Here are the top 5 they DO NOT WANT in a coach.

 

 

1. Mean, disrespectful, yells with no purpose. Discouraging and negative, belittles players.

 

2. Lazy, not dedicated. They are only there for practices and games and they don't care about anything else.

 

3. Favoritism - Starts players not based on skill or earned hard work.

 

4. Not understanding or willing to listen. Unable to encourage after a loss or disappointments.

 

5. Arrogant and sarcastic. Makes players feel even worse after they know they made a mistake. 

 

 

Analyzing all 5 there is one virtue that stands out immediately that will get rid of most of these bad qualities pretty quick: CHARITY.

 

We define charity very simply as the strength to do good for others.

PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER: COACH TESTIMONY

Lou,

I wanted to thank you for introducing our wrestling team to the virtue formation program.

The St. Xavier wrestlers, parents, coaches and community really appreciate the unique benefits of the Sports Leader Virtue Program. This season you could see the positive impact, on the mat and off. We always look at athletics as an extension of the classroom. Wrestling provides opportunities to assist young men in their formation as sons, leaders and some day, fathers and husbands.

The Sports Leaders format has allowed us to incorporate virtue into most aspects of our practices, matches and the time we spend interacting with each other as a team.

You could see the impact each day; wrestlers volunteering within the program to help in any way they could, giving of themselves for others. Guys wanted to do well not for just for themselves, but for the team.

You could also notice little things that demonstrated their friendships growing within the team. We used to ask for volunteers to clean the mats after each practice. Now guys come up to the coaches and ask if they can take care of that.
Another thing we noticed were guys stopping in the classrooms during their free periods, just to sit in and visit their teammates and coaches. They definitely feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

The team has grown in their relationships with each other and their brothers, sisters and parents. The “Singlet Night,” the “Mom Letters” and “Movie Nights” are just a few of the many ways of fomenting the positive relationships we strive for.  We look forward to next season and the continued relationship with Sports Leader.

Sincerely,
Coach Tim “Mac” McDonald
Head Wrestling Coach St. Xavier HS
Cincinnati, Ohio

FAITH, LOVE AND FOOTBALL: PLAYER TESTIMONY

Here is a tremendous testimony written by a former player ... this is a number of years after his experience. You can see how much of an impact his coaches made.

Well, well worth the read.

 

LIKE SportsLeader on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SportsLeader/223927884292066

 

 

FAITH, LOVE, AND FOOTBALL
By: Casey Bolsega 

As some of you may know, I attended Roncalli High School and played football for the Rebels. This article was also featured in the 2011 Indiana Football Digest, but I wanted to share it with all of you as well. This is about my time at Roncalli and what Rebel Football means to me. I hope you enjoy, it truly is from my heart.

"I would like to thank Paul Condry for giving me the opportunity to talk about a person who has had one of the most positive impacts in my life. I had the pleasure to play under Bruce Scifres for three varsity seasons. It’s difficult to put into words the life lessons I learned through playing Roncalli Rebel Football, with Scifres being the cornerstone of it all.

During my time at Roncalli I was a member of three Class 4A State Championship teams. I never lost a playoff game. The victory my senior year made Roncalli the first school in the state of Indiana to win eight state championships. Although success was obvious on the field, our success was driven by faith.

Bruce Scifres has taught me more about the game of life than any person besides my mother. He leads by example. He would never ask anything of his team that he did not fully believe would benefit them, not only on the football field, but throughout their lives.

I am taking this opportunity to talk about how football shaped my faith and the impact Scifres has had on my life.

FAITH AND FOOTBALL

Faith, family, and football is a phrase that is used quite often, but one that is rarely lived out on the gridiron as well as life. Integrating faith into football is a unique concept to many people.

Roncalli Football strengthened my faith. Praying after every practice, before every play, during plays, and even when I was watching my team from the sideline, became an integral part of football. Something as simple as “Lord help me execute,” became words that were whispered thousands of times on hollowed ground on Friday nights.

Scifres is known as being a strategist when it comes to football, but few people know about his prayer strategy and how it leads to success. Never once did I pray to win a game. Never once did I ask God to help us beat a team. Instead, I asked God to help me execute my assignment. I prayed for a safe contest. I prayed for the strength to overcome any adversity I would face.

Scifres always told us that by using our God giving talents on the football field and laying everything on the line in a way we glorified God. Scifres would never take credit; instead he would give all the credit to God. That might be a hard concept to grasp, but not if you have a firm grasp on your own faith and what your ministry is on this earth.

There are faith-driven moments that give me chills to this day that were part of our “pre-game warm-up.” During our pre-game stretches, Chris “Cubby” Belch, our defensive coordinator, would walk around to every player with a crucifix in his hand, and allow them to touch it, reminding us of the pain endured by Jesus Christ for us. It reminded us that no obstacle, pain, or adversity we would face would be greater than Jesus Christ dying so that we may have everlasting life.

Before we left the locker room and headed out to the battlefield, Scifres would lead the team in “building the fortress.” Every player would come together, put their helmet up in the air, and build the fortress. Scifres would speak and 90+ brothers would echo him. “Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside, Christ over me, Christ under my feet, let all around me be Christ.” Building the fortress before every game was a constant reminder that in order for us to achieve our goals, Christ must encompass our every action on the field.

There are many things that contributed to Roncalli’s success over the past 25 years. We’ve had teams that are very talented. We’ve had teams that are very hard working. But every team at Roncalli is taught how to play faith-driven football. That is where the success comes from. Scifres used to always say, “I’m a firm believer that when God mixes with ordinary people, extraordinary things can happen.” To me, faith and football is an interdependent relationship. Luckily, we had faith on our side, and used our God given gifts to make history.

THE LOVE OF A FOOTBALL COACH

The love of a football coach, some might think it is a bit unusual to talk about the love shared between coaches and players. For me, it has taught me to be the man that I am today. To give you a little better background about myself, I was raised in a single parent household. My mother played the roll of a father as well as being an exemplary mom. In the early years, lacking a positive male role model caused some struggles in my life, but I was introduced to a large group of positive male role models in the form of coaches when I entered Roncalli’s halls.

In a recent interview with Scifres, he talks about what he thinks it means to be a successful father. “The role of a father is by far the most important job I will ever have,” Scifres said. “I think anyone that is a father that is their most important job. Loving, taking care of our kids, teaching them right form wrong, and being a good role model for them. I think we need to strive each day to convince our kids that we love them. We try to carry that over into our football program too.”

Scifres practices what he preaches. Every year, he takes a new group of sophomores; fine tunes them to be impactful on the football field, but shows them the love and compassion to ensure that they know how much he loves them. I can’t recall all of the instances in which a coach told me they loved me, but what is engraved in my head is the love that was shown by my coaches.

It didn’t stop with Scifres. The whole coaching staff was simply mirror images of Scifres. Chris Strykowski, Chris “Cubby” Belch, Ray Shelburn, Bobby “Grif 1” Griffin, Jerre McManama, Eddie Keller, Brian Lauck, Mike Sahm, Trevor Wilson, and Tim Puntarelli all showed the love of a football coach.

I can recall Coach Puntarelli, who also is the Dean of Students at Roncalli, coming up to me before every game, give me a hug, look me in the eyes, and say “I love you.” I’m not sure if he did that with everyone, just a select few, just me, or players that he knew needed that male role model, but it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that his actions spoke louder than his words. I knew “Pun,” as we called him, did in fact love me.

Scifres was the leader of the pack, but the rest of the coaches knew the role they played, not only in the Xs and Os, but in our young lives was just as crucial.

Being involved with high school football has given me a new outlook on the positive influence this group of men had on my life. I have encountered Scifres and other coaches more in the past year than I have since I played for them. Each time I see them, it’s common practice for us to embrace with a hug. I often wonder what other people think when they see two grown men hugging, but then again I do not care. I am hugging the men who have become fathers for me. They were fathers when I didn’t have one. They were fathers when my head was down. They were fathers there to tell me what is right and what is wrong when sometimes I didn’t know for myself. Most importantly, they taught me how to be a father, something that will stay with me until I have the opportunity to be father myself and continue the legacy of being a great man, taught by Bruce Scifres and all my other coaches at Roncalli High School.

I will end with a moment that I will never forget. This past year I had one of the proudest moments in my professional career. I was with Scifres at the Coach of the Week banquet this past season, he looked me in the eyes, and said “Casey, I love you, and I’m so proud of the man you have become.” My response was a simple “thank you,” but Scifres knew that those two words spoke volumes about my appreciation for all he has done for me.

Thank you to Coach Scifres and all of my other coaches at Roncalli for helping me become a man. Luckily for me, they were able to teach me these valuable lessons through the game I love, football." 

TOP 5 THINGS ATHLETES WANT IN A COACH

I had the opportunity to speak with twelve athletes last week at Newport Central Catholic High School. The group consisted of 6 boys and 6 girls, all Seniors, who had played a variety of sports. I was impressed to see that their answers were all very similar. They answered the surveys individually and then we discussed their responses.

 

1. Just (Fair and honest) - Lets those who try their hardest and do their best play

 

2. A good communicator and motivator - be able to motivate each individual and the team as a group

 

3. Disciplinarian - can be fun but also lays down the law, strict but caring

 

4. Personable - Works to help all players not just some, is approachable. Helps off the field - encourages good grades, etc

 

5. Respectful - Has a cool head - doesn't explode at bad calls or when things do not go perfect. 

 

 

Do you and and your coaching staff live these 5 qualities - virtues?

 

We will share the 5 things they would NOT want in a coach later this week.

THE PRINCIPLE OF LITTLE VICTORIES

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege of spending the day listening to a man of wisdom. His name is Bill Myles. I went with Joe Lukens and Chris Willertz to discuss SportsLeader, mentoring and many other things. It was a memorable experience.

 

One phrase my Dad would say frequently was, "That coach forgets more about football before breakfast than others will learn their whole life." 

 

I felt like "the other" yesterday so I was happy to soak it in.

 

Coach Myles was a high school head football coach and an offensive line coach for the Universities of Nebraska and Ohio State. He coached Joe while he was at OSU.

 

We met him at his home and he gave us the tour. I was amazed how he would remember players names, numbers, stats, plays ... You could tell that every one of his players was important to him. He rarely spoke about championships, and there were many, but he spoke at length about his players as people.

 

At one point over lunch, he shared a really good nugget ... I paraphrase (and I won't do it justice)

 

"A mistake that many coaches make is that they forget the principle of little victories. For example ... I was watching an offensive line coach one day ... he had his players working the sled. A player goes through - You did not get low enough. Player goes back and does it again. You did not sustain ..."

 

"What that coach did was a huge mistake. You see he first wanted the player to get low. Well on the next try - he did get low. But he did not recognize "the little victory". He wants perfection all at once and that does not happen. Once he gets low, you praise him for that ... he then understands that portion of the skill and then you move on to sustain - or whatever."

 

"One little victory at a time, each one building on the other. You skip the little victories - not only will you not get the big ones, you wouldn't enjoy them as much either."

 

...

 

Let's ask ourselves as coaches - do we celebrate the little victories with our players?

RG3 PRO DAY SHIRT

Virtue Promotion!

We should all do more to get VIRTUE front and center on to our attire.

Let's teach VIRTUE with every method available.

FOOTBALL TEAMS SERVING OTHERS IN NEED

Two awesome examples of virtue in action - instigated by being part of a sports team, a brotherhood, a family that goes way beyond "just" the Friday night lights.

Thank you for your testimonies and your service.

...

Coach Jon Clark

Madison Southern High School, Berea KY

A group of 30 football players and 4 coaches went down to Laurel Co. in an effort to help clean up after these past tornados.  We spent the day in East Bernstadt cleaning up an area where a mobile home had been thrown across the road, through the trees, and down a large wooded hill.  Upon arriving, I think we all felt that there was absolutely no way we could get this area cleaned up as it was overwhelming how severe the distruction was (not to mention is was down a very large and steep wooded hillside).

These young men worked in a way that I am not only proud to have been a part of, but I am also still in awe of the accomplishment.  After 8 hours of tireless effort, the area was not only completely clean, but we had managed to pull the entire frame of the house back up the hill.  The boys even re-ran an entire barbed wire fence line to keep the horses safely away from any glass and materials that still ly in the dirt of the field.

Thanks guys for the hard work!

...

David Skarzynski

Wyandotte Roosevelt High School, Wyandotte MI

On Saturday I went to feed the homeless as a part of our Bear Olympics group. Although I went there for service points I realized it's not about the competition. It's about helping people who have no future, no education, no money, no home, nothing. I realized what they got to have on Saturday we take for granted. For me, and I hope for everyone else, that people will realize to come and join us. The next trip down into Detroit will be on the second Saturday of April. It is on April 10th and everyone is welcome to donate clothes, food, water, toys or just come out and help out and get to know people and their story of how they got to be where they are.

SHEDDING LIGHT ON COLLEGE ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS

The below statistics show two things very clearly:

A. There are so many kids playing sports - a true spring of hope and possibility to teach them virtue and life lessons.

B. Getting a college athletic scholarship is not so easy.

So only .6% of our nations high school baseball players may earn a college scholarship but ...

Close to half a million boys can be taught to become virtuous men who will lead their families and change the world making it a better place.

“We stress to parents and students everywhere that you should participate in athletics for the values and benefits that sports can give, not because you want a scholarship,” said Kevin Lennon, the NCAA’s vice president of membership services.

Of the 17 sports listed only 5 had a scholarship percentage of 1% or higher and none cracked 2%.

A study of numbers provided by the National High School Federation and the NCAA:

Baseball
National participants 478,029
Number of college scholarships 2,956.1
Pct. earning scholarships .6%

Boys basketball
National participants 552,935
Number of college scholarships 4,046.7
Pct. earning scholarships .7%

Girls basketball
National participants 449,450
Number of college scholarships 4,329
Pct. earning scholarships .9%

Boys cross country/track and field
National participants 548,821
Number of college scholarships 2,481.7
Pct. earning scholarships .5%

Girls cross country/track and field
National participants 447,520
Number of college scholarships 4,030
Pct. earning scholarships .9%

Football
National participants 1,108,286
Number of college scholarships 15,997.2
Pct. earning scholarships 1.4%

Boys Golf
National participants 159,958
Number of college scholarships 999.1
Pct. earning scholarships .6%

Girls Golf
National participants 69,243
Number of college scholarships 1,076.4
Pct. earning scholarships 1.6%

Boys Soccer
National  participants 383,561
Number of college scholarships 1,683
Pct. earning scholarships .4%

Girls Soccer
National participants 346,545
Number of college scholarships 3,591.9
Pct. earning scholarships 1%

Softball
National participants 371,293
Number of college scholarships 2,774.4
Pct. earning scholarships .7%

Boys swimming and diving
National participants 111,896
College scholarships 891
Pct. earning scholarships .8

Girls swimming and diving
National participants 147,197
Number of college scholarships 1,766.4
Pct. earning scholarships 1.2%

Boys tennis
National participants 156,285
Number of college scholarships 925.6
Pct. earning scholarships .6%

Girls tennis
National participants 172,455
Number of college  scholarships 1,848
Pct. earning scholarships 1.1%

Volleyball
National participants 397,968
Number of college scholarships 3,318
Pct. earning scholarships .8%

Boys wrestling
National participants 259,688
Number of college scholarships 696
Pct. earning scholarships .3%