Those Who Stay Will Be Champions
High School football is not for everyone, as it requires a tremendous amount of physical and mental toughness, commitment to the team, and self-sacrifice. Only those who have played the game truly understand.
Over the years I have interacted with many athletes who try to quit. I do my best to try to convince them to see the bigger picture that the reason high school sports exist in the first place is to instill life lessons (i.e., overcoming adversity) that will translate into other areas of their lives and into adulthood. I am not the first coach nor will I be the last to say, “If you quit now, you’ll be a quitter the rest of your life.” Unfortunately, I have not been able to successfully persuade all of these athletes to stick to their word, honor their commitment, and finish what they started.
This message, however, is not meant for those individuals, but rather for the inspiring souls who run toward and don’t back away from challenges, those who continue to fight through adversity and get back up one more time than they are knocked down. This message is especially dedicated to the 20 young men who finished what they started and completed the 2021 Spring Football Season at Green Bay East High School.
Back in the Summer of 2020, 62 young men showed up for weight training and conditioning, expressing a desire to play football. Unfortunately, some of these young people woke up the next morning, felt sore, and thought that avoiding getting into shape and/or sleeping in would be a better way to spend their summer. Another handful of young men would do great at a salad bar, as they were great about picking and choosing what days they wanted to show up for practice, lacking the daily discipline needed to achieve any sort of positive results associated with training and eventually lost interest and also quit.
As each day passed, the the COVID cloud grew bigger, darker, and continued to hang over the season ahead. With no certainties that any games would be played, we lost more players. Not a single heath related concern regarding the safety of playing football during COVID was reported to me, so I will state for the record that, “Only those who truly love the game and their teammates continued with the process of daily practices without having any guarantees”. Our fall season was eventually postponed, and by the time the first day of spring practice arrived, we had only 19 players. We gained a few players and lost a few more during the season for various reasons, but by the time the final game arrived, we dressed just 18 boys.
Former Michigan head football coach, Bo Schembechler, was notorious for making his training camps so incredibly difficult that he expected many players to quit. He wanted to find out who he could trust when times were tough and the game was on the line. He famously developed the motto, “Those who stay will be champions.” He must have been on to something, as he finished his coaching career with a 234–65–8 record and his Michigan teams winning 13 Big Ten Conference Titles.
The results of the 2020 alternate fall season were not what we wanted, finishing 1–4. When you work so hard at something and don’t achieve your desired results, it can be a tough pill to swallow. As a coach, watching the opposition celebrate after the game while members of your team are in tears just rips the heart out of your chest. However, life doesn’t always reward us with instant gratification. We will not be hanging a banner in the gym or displaying any trophies, but because YOU STAYED, you will be champions. In the game of life when things get hard (and they will), you will stay because you have already started creating the habit that “you’re the kind of person who see’s things through”. Your future career will be tough, having kids will be hard, and at times marriage can be extremely difficult. But always remember, similar to high school football, those who stay will be champions.
Coach Nelson holds a doctorate in sport and performance psychology and currently serves as a high school football coach, trainer for the positive coaching alliance (PCA) and adjunct faculty member at Grand Canyon University. He has worked for multiple professional sport franchises, a Fortune 100 Company, a division 1 athletic departments and has won numerous awards for his LEADership abilities.
His mission is to positively influence the world through Love, Effort, Attitude and Discipline (#LEAD). To learn more about the LEAD philosophy follow him on Twitter Levi Nelson or reach out via email at rln10@zips.uakron.edu He’d love to learn about or help you in your journey!
