Student Athletes: Past, Present & Future

I received a call from a panicked coach around 5:45am on Saturday last fall. Our cross country team was ready to compete at a meet 2 hours away. The reason for the call… no bus. The bus barn made a scheduling mistake canceling the bus for the wrong day. The decision was an easy one. I threw on some athletic wear and slides and drove to school. With the permission of the parents, we loaded up the team in 3 vehicles and began the drive. The best part of this trip was making middle schoolers listen to what I listened to when I was in middle school (significantly edited). They were less than impressed. But we had many good laughs. Arriving at a very wet and soggy meet in the middle of no where, the kids quickly noticed they were the only non-white kids in the entire meet with the exception of one. I don’t know how much it mattered to them or if it got in their heads, but they sure ran like it didn’t. (Great side-note win: the small school/towns cheered our kids on the whole time.) The memory I’ll never forget: As each runner neared the final turn, I jogged over to meet them. Slides and all. In my slides, I ran the final leg side by side, stride for stride, kid by kid. We finished together.

How much do our kids need us to run side by side, stride for stride? Not in a meet or a game, but in life? I’m finding that “so much” doesn’t adequately answer that question. It takes my time, money, stress, love, dedication, heart, body, mind, and really… my whole self. One could argue that it’s going to leave me broken, bruised and exhausted. That’s a valid point. But these kids are figuratively even more so bloodied after all they battle just to be at a meet, game or match. They give their all to us. The deserve us to give even more in return.

I know the coaches appreciated me helping that day. I don’t know what kind of relationship that helped form between coaches and AD or what kind of trust was built. But I know that I helped coaches continue to build relationships with their kids. And that helps these kids to know… someone is running this race of life with them if or when they need it.

During a quick trip to Capitol Hill High School football offices, I noticed that several players were shaking the hands of the coaches before they left practices. At the time, I was there to just soak in football knowledge. I’m sitting here, however, months later thinking about those handshakes. Before every player leaves practice they come shake my hand, the hand of my assistant, my female managers and must look us in the eyes. It gives us an opportunity to say anything of extra importance or just have one more defining moment before they leave us for the night. Many had no idea how to shake a hand. Now, they’ve got a leg up on their first interview.

Handshakes are MUCH easier to teach than neckties. That first game day morning I had a locker room full of young men who have never sniffed a tie-wearing opportunity. After receiving messages from moms asking to teacher their boy to dress, my assistant came to school before going to work to help me tie ties. We started the year dressing up and have every game all year long. Every week I receive compliments about my team. Their neckties have turned to bow ties and I can see how they’ve really owned this. The principal gave us special permission to not wear our school uniforms which has helped my team stand out. They’re now looked at by everyone. They can’t dip into the shadows at school any longer. And they’re better students for it. I don’t know the long-term success of any of this, but the short term is that kids are joining my team mid-season because they want to be special. They want to stand up and stand out. Now, instead of them drawing negative attention to boost feeling, they’re dapper as all get out making everyone swoon.

The question was simple, and the response was not.

Join me as I take you on a journey through youth athletics in central Oklahoma. We’ll explore how we arrived where we are in youth sports and how we got here. We’ll also take a look of where we’re headed in youth sports and the impact that’s having on children today.

I look forward to sharing thing I’ve learned and learning from others. If there’s a topic you’d like to read about, send me a message!