CHARGER NATION: Game #8
ELCA Middle School Football: 7-0 and League Champions
Charger Nation,
I want to congratulate our JV Football team and our middle school football team
for finishing the season last night undefeated. Coach Douglas and his
staff led our middle school to a 7-0 record with a 26-0 victory over Landmark
last night. Coach Jerry Barber and Dale Albrecht led our JV team to a 7-0
record with a 44-14 victory over Flowery Branch last night. When I think
of their success, I think back to all the hard work Coach Douglas put in with
his team this summer in the weight room and in speed work. It is the same
for the JV players as they all were held to a very high standard this summer
leading up to the season.
Two key tenets this football program has are DEMAND EXCELLENCE and TAKE
OWNERSHIP. I appreciate all of our coaches and our parents buying in!
Every year I have some kids that have just graduated and gone off to college
text me and thank me for the lessons we taught them through football.
They are starting to see that life isn’t so easy without mom and dad catching
them at their every misstep. Finally, they are truly forced to take
ownership of their lives in a small way. Every year I say the same
thing: It wasn’t about football! We use the game of football to
help these young boys become better men. I think one of the first
things a young boy must learn if he is going to be successful is the value of
hard work. First he must be willing to work and then he must come with a
great attitude and desire to get better. This attitude is the foundation
of excellence. As coaches we will DEMAND the players approach each
day with the pursuit of EXCELLENCE. (**Fighting this battle is a war!
Not wavering on high standards is a war. But, coaches and parents, we
must WIN! If we let our kids be lazy we have failed them for life!)
If one is willing to work hard and
give everything they have, then they are going to have some measure of success
in life. Our middle school team didn’t just go undefeated just
because. Sure, we have some good players that help them go
undefeated. But they worked their tails off this summer. Many of
the young men were consistent to be there at workouts everyday that they were
in town. Yes, I realize the tailback, Josh Rogers, is very good.
But he never missed a workout this summer. He never loafed. He
always had a great attitude. His dad obviously demands his son work
hard. It’s an expectation at home. He had a core group of 12-15
guys that showed up with him everyday with parents who have the same
mindset. Guess what—if they all will continue to work hard when they get
a job one day they will be good employees! It’s not just about winning
football games. It’s about showing young boys how to be successful.
DEMAND EXCELLENCE! Show them how to be successful. Lead them in the
process! Coach Douglas, Coach Barber, Coach Albrecht—they all did a
fabulous job showing your sons excellence and demanding from your sons
excellence. You allowed it—thankyou.
Last night after our JV game I challenged the boys to examine where they are
right now as a football player and get to work. Some of the boys on JV
think they should be starting on varsity. Some of the boys on JV are
upset they don’t play more on JV. I told them that we don’t play players
just because. We play the best players at each position and we strive to
win. When these young men get bosses one day there boss is going to
strive to win. He is going to keep the best employees. This is a
valuable lesson for young men to learn. They have to transition from the
youth sports culture of everyone gets a snap to the adult world of you must
produce or you are getting replaced. We are preparing them for handling
the pressure of having to perform when they are 25 and I don’t apologize for
it. I know we are helping them become men.
I told them last night to TAKE OWNERSHIP. If you don’t like that you’re
not starting or getting a lot of playing time on JV then get to work in the
weight room and become a better athlete and football player. Take
practice more seriously. If you think you should be starting on varsity
then prove it everyday at practice. Do not sit around and do what losers
do and that is blame the coaches for why you aren’t playing; blame the teacher
for why you have a poor grade. Or even worse, flat out quit. That
is a loser mentality. We teach TAKE OWNERSHIP: “This is where I am and I
don’t like it. I am getting my tail to work!” Our varsity football
team is full of kids who have worked themselves into a starting position.
Many of them started out as average players or even below average and have
worked themselves into being good football players. They have taken ownership
of their developmental process. At some point in their life they had this
thought process: “This is where I am at and I don’t like it. I am
going to get to work and see what I can become.”
Parents, it is an honor and blessing that you allow us to coach your
children. We really do love them and what to see them become all that
they can be. Our goal is that they are great men 10-15 years from
now. I really don’t care much about state championship rings and region championship
t-shirts. What I take great pride in is seeing these young boys grow and
become great men. And everyday we will preach to them Jesus Christ.
All of us, we can become the most successful people in the world and we can
grow and be leaders in our community, but if we do not have Christ we have
nothing. We can learn to fully embrace excellence and ownership and find
great success in this world, but if we don’t have Christ all of it will be
meaningless as we lay on our deathbed. As I look at my little boy, I beg
God that Uriah will know how to work hard and have a great attitude. I
don’t want a whiner, excuse maker, and lazy boy in my house! But I know
this: If he does not have Christ it all is meaningless. For Uriah, my #1
appeal to God is that Uriah know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and
surrender all to Him. That he would become a servant of Jesus Christ and
live life in and through Christ. I pray this exact same prayer for your
son every Friday.
Chargers, I really want to win
tonight, but in the end it is meaningless. Chasing success is like
chasing after the wind. It is the values we teach through the game of
football that will last a lifetime. It is the relationships that
are forged though the game of football that will last a lifetime. It is
the love we have for one another that will be what matters 10 years from
now. And may we never ever forget this: Christ for your son is of
upmost importance for this lifetime and for the one to come!
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the
victory belongs to the Lord.”
Wholly for Christ,
Coach Gess
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