CHARGER NATION: SEMI-FINALS
CHARGER NATION,
Today we travel down to Savannah
for the semi finals of the state playoffs.
I am very proud of our boys for getting to this point. Last year we graduated 22 seniors and had one
of the greatest runs in GHSA history. Eleven
of those 22 were offered scholarships.
How would we replace those guys? Many
people didn’t know what this group was going to do. This group has met and exceeded my
expectations regardless of winning or losing tonight. They have worked their tails off and earned
the right to be in this game. I am
extremely excited for them!
Savannah
Christian is a good football team. They
have very good skill players. Numbers
that jump out on film are #2, #1, #6, and #8.
Those are the guys who get the ball the majority of the time. Their quarterback is small but he is very
good. The more film you watch of him the
better he throws the ball. He gives them
the element that has made them a semifinal team: The ability to throw the
ball. Their right guard and defensive
tackle has committed to NC State (#54). On
offense, they are explosive. On defense, they are feisty and swarm the
ball.
Many of you
don’t know that before ELCA it was Savannah Christian. All the private schools were chasing Savannah
eight years ago. I remember they went to
the dome in 2009, 2010 and 2011. They
won it in 2011. They have always been
good. There is a rich tradition of
football excellence at their school. The
coach that built the program was Coach Donald Chumley. He retired before the 2017 season after 13
years coaching at Savannah. His record
there was 116-32-1. He is an intense
coach and his teams always got after it.
There is no doubt the culture he created in his time at Savannah still
stands.
The new coach has come in and
resurrected what was already there. For
your UGA fans, Demetris Robertson who you so coveted to come play at UGA and
now is finally there, he played at Savannah Christian. He is just one of a many distinguished
football alumni from Savannah Christian.
The new head coach has come from Benedictine who won the AA state
championship twice I think. Being in the
semifinals is not new to him and winning is what he does. So if you have been a private school football
fan for a while, Savannah Christian and ELCA in the semi-finals is how it
should be. It should be a great game
tonight.
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
As I reviewed Tuesday’s practice
with the offense Wednesday morning I found myself getting on to the boys about
their poor execution: “This is who you naturally are. This is your technique naturally. If you aren’t intentional about what you are
doing, you are lazy and sloppy. This is
slop. This is who you naturally
are. And the only way you can fix it is
to take every single rep with great focus and discipline. You must command your body to do right and if
you do it right over and over and over just maybe you can transform who you are
naturally. Just maybe if you demand that
you do it right every time, you will not naturally give sloppy effort. But to develop such perfect skill demands
focus and intensity.”
Yes, it was cold on Tuesday. Yes, the boys had already been out there for
two hours and fifteen minutes. Yes, it
had gotten dark and was even colder. Yes,
we have been practicing since the end of July.
So with all of those elements thrown in there, my offensive line
resorting back to the technique they had back in the spring: SLOP! I found myself telling each linemen that what
they saw on film is who they were by nature: SLOP. They couldn’t argue with me. They were seeing the same thing I was. No effort, no intentional focus on perfect
technique. They were going through the
motions. Obviously, the offensive
lineman they were by nature was sloppy.
But don’t get made mom and dad for
me calling your son sloppy. I was
convicted of my own sloppiness as a Christian.
If God was reviewing my life with me on film I’m sure he would say
sloppy many times: “You’re not thinking
about what you are doing. You’re just
living in your old sloppy self. Your
supposed to be progressing into a new Creation but all I see is the old
slop.”
My job as a
coach is to take a group of boys and demand excellence from them. Execution is critical to excellence on the
football field. Each player having
perfect technique is critical to perfect execution. But perfect technique is hard and it is
learned. It is a developed skill. It takes a lot of effort and repetition. It requires a player desperately wanting to
do it right. The right attitude leads to
the right effort. The right effort leads
to the correct execution. The attitude
and effort must be there everyday. If it
is not you get slop.
Ultimately
you are trying to develop a habit. You
want to get a young man to the point where he can’t do it wrong because he has
done it so many times that perfect technique is a habit. But the problem is it still takes
effort. You can know what to do and even
want to do it right. But if you cannot
command your body to give great effort it is still slop. So something was slop: either their technique
or their effort. Something was causing
the sloppiness. My question to them was
this: “Is that who you are? Well it is
because that is what I see. If you are
better than this than that means you are giving poor effort and this must be
fixed today!”
I addressed
the whole team before practice on Wednesday challenging them to perfect effort
and execution. The boys responded. They had their best practice of the year
Wednesday. The footwork and the
technique of all the boys was on point.
If you could go back and watch Wednesday film from August and compare it
to yesterday, you would say the boys are a new creation. The old slop had disappeared and I saw a new
creation.
And this is
the goal of those who are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. When God calls us to surrender our life to
him and accept him as Lord and Savior, He calls us to become a new creation. We are by nature slop. When I say slop I mean sinners, sons of
destruction, and children of wrath. By
nature we only seek our own way. We are
selfish. We are full of pride, lust and
greed. I was king of the slop. But, in Christ, we become a new
creation. He shows us how it should be. He shows us our sin and calls us to become a
new creation.
What I
thought was cool is the boys were saying that what they were seeing wasn’t good
enough. I asked one player: “Do you see that? Is that who you are? Is that the football player you are?” And the young man was embarrassed and he
said: “No.” And of course I said: “Well,
it is. That is what I see. That is what you see. That is who you are.” I am doing all of this to challenge them and
motivate them. My goal is to get a
different product at Wednesday practice.
So me telling them that what I see on film is who you are is a challenge
to them to not let me see that on Wednesday’s practice film.
Rather it is
about their character or their performance on the football field, this is a
constant war and battle I go through with the boys. “You say you want to be a leader but your
actions scream to me you don’t want to be a leader. You say you want to be a great football
player but your effort and your technique scream to me you don’t want to be a
good football player. If you continue
down this course in life you will not be successful.”
It is no
different for me in Christ. Just like my
objective is to create a polished leader and football player, God’s objective
is to create a pure image bearer in those who are his people. Just as I will be hard on the boys, expose
their poor effort and attitudes, and challenge them constantly, so God will do
the same to me. But the goal is never to
destroy and condemn. The goal is to
transform and help a young man become more than he ever imagined. This is God’s goal. He doesn’t want us to be enslaved to our
sinful selves. He wants a new
creation: One that will shine bright for
his glory here on this earth. And for
those who are in Christ Jesus, He will do whatever he must to get us
there!
“And let us not grow weary of doing
good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
I had to
deal with some attitude issues this week.
I had to deal with some effort and technique issues this week. It gets exhausting but I will never give
up. I will be relentless after them each
and everyday. You now why? Because God does not give up on me when He
should. I give him slop sometimes and He
convicts me. I sin and rebel sometimes
and God restores me after an attitude check (conviction of sin and then asking
for forgiveness of sins.) God does not
give up on me. He keeps me, leads me and
guides me. Me being a new creation is
God’s doing and is by his grace. He is
patient towards me. He does not give up
on me. Far be it from me to give up on
these boys!
NOW—Let’s go play some football!!!!
Beat Savannah Christian!
“The horse is made
ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:31
Wholly for Christ!
