CHARGER NATION: GAME #14

CHARGER NATION,

            The time is finally here.  State Championship 2017 Day has arrived.  Everyone is excited and everyone is ready to go.  I think all of our boys and our coaches were ready Tuesday after practice.  The boys have worked hard all year to get to this point.  I don’t ever pray for a win, but I am praying that we go out and play to the best of our ability and play like we have played all year.  I am excited to watch our boys play!

            At the beginning of the year we were telling the boys to “EARN IT.”  When we started off the year everyone was assuming ELCA would make a run for the state championship again.  I did not want our boys to think something was just going to happen for them.  Every single day they would have to practice and work their tails off and earn the right to play in the state championship game.  No one was just going to give them victories.  If we wanted to go back to the state championship we were going to have to earn it each day.   I am proud of them—They have earned the right to pay today.

            I want to thank the coaching staff for their hard work and diligence in demanding excellence from our boys at practice each day.  Since July 29^th we have been practicing everyday during the week and these coaches have not missed a beat.  I want to thank the parents for buying into the program and the process of how we do things.  Our football players show up at 6am on Monday’s and many are not done until 8pm Monday night.  Not one starter on this football team has missed one practice the entire year.   No one has missed for being sick, for vacation, or for any other reason.  It’s amazing what kids will do and what they can achieve when there are high unwavering expectations supported by all the parties involved!  This would not be possible without parents buying in to the process of how we win at ELCA.  I am very grateful to our parents and coaches in their commitment to the team. 

            The key to winning today is ELCA playing FASTER.  FASTER is the DNA of our football team.  As I was game planning all week I would make notes to myself like “keep it simple” or “we must play physical”---FASTER.  Today if we will play with these 6 letters in mind when we talk of FASTER I feel good about our chances: 

F-Fanatical Effort:  Every player giving everything they have every play.

A-Attack:  Attacking is aggressive and fearless. 

S-Simple:  Simple game plan=play fast!

T-Tough:  We want to play physical for four quarters.

E-Execute: Everyone do their job and assignment perfectly.

R-Relentless: A determination uncommon each play.

            This is how we train and this is who we are.  We must go out and be these things today!

           

           The 23 ELCA Seniors that will play today have had a remarkable four years.  This group started out as a group of 33 freshman and 23 remain as seniors.  It has been a very a talented group of young men.  We have won many football games together and had a lot of great times.  However, I do not want them to look back on ELCA Football and only remember the success they had on the football field.  What is most important to me is that they remember that ELCA Football was vital in their life because this is where they were challenged everyday to be men for Jesus Christ. 

            I believe you can win in this world and lose in all that matters in life.  In fact, sometimes or all of the time, the pursuit of winning and success in the world cause catastrophic failure in all that truly matters such as our character and our families.  Everything we have taught these boys through the game of football has really been to help them become Godly men who will lead their families and in their communities when they grow up.  We took Godly principles and incorporated them into the expectations of our football team so that we may lay a firm foundation in the hearts of these young men so that God can use them when they are older to lead.  Our goal was never winning a football game.  Our goal was creating young men who will know Christ, surrender all to Christ, and then lead for Jesus Christ. 

            As I watch these seniors play their last game tonight I will be seeing the final chapter of their high school career being written and then a new book beginning.  The new book is a sequel to the book that will be finished today.  My hope and my prayer is that in the sequel we will see the fruit of our labor in these young men and they become leaders for Jesus Christ.  This is the only victory that matters.  This is why we coach.  This is what ELCA Football is all about!

           

BEAT Athens Academy!

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”

Proverbs 21:31

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess

CHARGER NATION: GAME #13

CHARGER NATION,

            Tonight we are playing game #13.  I guess it isn’t just any game because it is the semifinals of the playoffs.  But it truly is just as important as any other game we have played this year.  Each game builds upon itself and the previous 12 have gotten us to this point.  This is the biggest and most important game because it is the one we have right now!  I am proud of the boys for getting to this point.  Now it is time to go “shine as lights.” 

            Prince Avenue is who we play tonight.  They have a team full of very good high school football players.  The most notable of their players are #73 (going to GT), #54 (going to West Point), #3 (the qb), and #8 (their most dynamic football player).  Each player they have is a good football player.  As with every game we are going into this game expecting a dog fight.  We are prepared.  We are ready!

            When we break it down as a team it is always “Win the Day.”  That is our war cry for each day.  When we begin practice on Monday in preparation for Friday night we do not say “Win Friday.”  Nope—each day at practice is critical and the preparation during the week is more important than the game Friday.  Winning Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will lead to giving us a chance to win on Friday. 

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom YOU SHINE AS LIGHTS in the world.”  Philippians 12:14-15

            What drives me as a football coach is to help each player become all they can be.  I love off-season workouts and development because we are working diligently to help each young man become everything they can be.  They goal for each player is they become the very best they can be.  We don’t sit around in January talking about winning a state championship the next December.  We just go to work and we talk about being your very best every single day.  If you put a whole bunch of days together where you have “won the day” then you have a group of young men that are ready to perform at their best come the time for football season. 

            Our goal is that each young man will be ready to “shine as lights” when it is time for them to perform for an audience.  If we invest all of our time effort and energy in each individual demanding they daily become the very best they can become for the entire year, the end result will be a group of individuals that are ready to become a fantastic team.  The result will be a group of individuals that will shine as lights come Friday night.

            Your son shining as a light for Jesus Christ is why we do what we do.  To help your son become everything God created him to be is why we coach football.  We do not coach him to be good at football so that we can win a championship.  We coach your son so that he may become a Champion for Jesus Christ.  And I truly believe this: When you put building Champions before winning a championship you have a better chance of getting to an actual championship.  At ELCA, it is about the individual—about the person and leading them and guiding them and demanding them to be everything God made them to be.

            However, we face many challenges as we seek to become everything God created us to be.  First off, our sinful flesh rages war against all that is right and good.  In the verse above you see the challenge is to be a shining light in the midst of a “crooked and twisted” generation.  If you wonder how crooked and twisted this generation is just turn on the news and see what our top leaders are doing to women.  Turn on the radio and listen to the trash music that our generation has become enslaved to.  But for those who are children of God, we are to be lights in this dark world.  We are to look and act different than this twisted and crooked generation. 

            As a coach for Jesus Christ, I am not interested in helping you raise your son to look like the world—a crooked and twisted generation.  I don’t want to coach kids who want to be in the middle of the culture but I want to coach kids who will grow to transform the culture.  I have been put here to help you raise your son to be a LIGHT in the midst of this crooked and twisted generation.  It breaks my heart when I see the boys so engrossed and enthralled with the culture.  I want our young men to stand up and shine as LIGHTS in this dark and evil world.  I want them to stand as Champions.  Then, and only then, will change begin to happen in this world. 

            I hope we win tonight and we have diligently worked to win this game.  But, the most important battle God uses us to win is in the fight for your son to surrender all the Jesus Christ and become a LIGHT in this world.  For each young man on this team, for me and for you, when we understand who Jesus Christ is, why he came and surrender all to him—then, and only then, will we have put ourselves on the course to become a Champion.  Just like the opposing team tonight is going to do everything in their power to prevent us to become worldly champions, we face the same adversity as we seek to become Champions for Jesus Christ.  There is an opponent and they are at war to destroy us.  May we band together and fight to become all we can become by the power of Jesus Christ that work in us.  May we Win the Day for Jesus Christ.  In this and through this we will stand as LIGHTS in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation! We shall become CHAMPIONS!

BEAT Prince Avenue!

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”

Proverbs 21:31

Wholly for Christ!

Coach Gess