CHARGER NATION: PLAYOFF GAME #1
CHARGER NATION,
Tonight our
playoff journey begins. Last week we got
a bye and got to rest comfortably while a whole bunch of other teams had to
fight it out to advance to round 2. Now
it is our turn to play. We had a
remarkable regular season going 9-1 and winning our 9th region
championship in a row. But tonight, just
like every other team in the state, we are fighting for survival. There is
nothing more exciting for fans than playoffs.
For coaches, our anxiety level gets jolted one hundred percent. And for the boys, I have yet to figure out
what exactly goes on in a teenage boys mind!
“The horse is made
ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” Proverbs
21:31
Every year
I start to understand this verse more and more. This week I have had to really find rest in
this verse. At ELCA, we are extremely
diligent to prepare our boys to play in games on Friday night. We spend a lot of time on the practice field
and watching film. I am a firm believer
that you learn by doing. The more you do
something the better you understand it.
We want the boys to get so many reps it becomes muscle memory. We want to eliminate the processing part of
football and just create reactions. The
only way to do this is to take hundreds of repetitions at practice and then
watch film consistently. You get the
physical reps and then you get the mental processing. By Friday it should all just be
instantaneous. Yes, the mind is actually
processing information, but it has done it some many times it looks like they
are just reacting.
This week
it did not cease to rain and we had to practice indoor on a small field at Mike
Cameron’s facility. I am forever
grateful that Mike let’s us use his facility.
He is an awesome guy. We got a
lot done in his facility but we had to cut practice time by an hour and fifteen
minutes each day. We had to cut things
out such as special teams practice and anything that requires space. We could not work on our passing game and we
couldn’t work on defending the passing game in the space necessary. As a coach, there is a sense of panic deep
down because this isn’t our process.
This isn’t the way we win.
Everyone just assumes we are going to win on Friday’s but they have no
clue the work and preparation that goes into it.
This
weekend I was getting in panic mode. I
started prepping for the game Saturday.
I should not have done this because once I start watching film I become
a wretch to everyone around me until the game plan is done. That doesn’t happen until Thursday after
practice. Either way, I’m fretting
Saturday and then on Sunday trying to come up with a game plan. Then I look at the weather forecast and it is
horrendous. So I am almost paralyzed in
my brain functioning.
Uriah
always wants to play football. On Sunday
night I have 0 energy and I tell him no.
Well he doesn’t really hear no.
So he is begging me to do something with him. I say I’ll play a game with him. He gets out a deck of cards and wants to play
war. I am satisfied with that because
all I have to do is lay a card and not think much. Uriah doesn’t like to lose so he cheats or
makes up some silly rule so he can win.
He lays a card and I lay a card that is higher than his. Instantly he makes up an excuse about I
didn’t shuffle the cards correctly. I
couldn’t keep track of what rule or excuse he was making up. However, I did tell him this: “You gotta play
with the cards your dealt.”
That
comment hit me like a ton of bricks. I
was fretting about the rain and not being able to practice how we like to
practice and I repeated to myself: “You gotta play with the cards your
dealt.”
The next
morning I woke up and read my Bible and prayed and thought about the
Sovereignty of God. Ultimately the rain
and not being able to practice outside is in God’s hands. It is my job to take the situation and the
circumstances I have been given and make the most out of them. I decided that morning we will work our tails
off at Mike’s and do the best we can with the opportunity we have been given. We will demand excellence from the boys as we
watch film after practice and before school.
As coaches, we will work diligently to have our best game plan of the
year. We will do everything in our power
to make the best out of our situation and be thankful for the opportunities we
have.
I also took
rest and comfort in the fact we have worked our tails off all year. Our boys are well trained and even though we
didn’t get the exact practices we would have preferred this week, our boys are
well trained and are prepared from previous weeks of practice.
And then
finally we were able to go up to Lakewood Stadium last night and practice
outside and work on our passing game, special teams, and review defensive
alignment against space. And then it was
like thirty degrees. It is hard to keep
a teenage boys focused in ideal situations.
When you throw in anything that is out of the ordinary they lose their
minds. Seriously, when a helicopter
flies over the practice field you have to give them like 5 minutes to just look
at it. It’s insane. Yesterday, at one point I have Johnathan
Youngblood practicing with his shirt off while the man next to him has his hoodie
on so tight he can’t see…..It’s freezing…. I think, “Johnathan’s mom is going
to kill me.” I let it go and we get to
work….it is what it is.
Then
everyone wants to debate over where are going to go play tonight. Just like in politics where we see 50% agree
and 50% disagree, so it is any decision made.
I don’t think we realize it but we disagree just to disagree. It’s in our sin nature. Either way, you get 80 people in a room and
you will get 80 opinions. Listening to
people gripe and complain is paralyzing as well. My message to the boys: “Here is where we are
going. Get your minds around it! Have a thankful heart to be able to play on a
good field. Have a great attitude. Let’s go play ELCA Football!”
So in all
of the chaos this week, I locked in on the things that matter and I took great
comfort in Proverbs 21:31. It is my job
to take the hand that I am dealt and to do my absolute best with it. It is my job to have a great attitude and be
thankful for the opportunities I have.
These are commands from the Lord.
Then we must trust and rest in the “victory belongs to the Lord.”
This does
not mean that God is going to give you victory if you do everything right. It means God is in control of
everything. You can do everything right
and you might not get the results you want.
God may have other plans. He may
allow adversity to show you something that will make you more successful in the
future. He might just allow you to fail
because you need a good humbling experience.
We do not know God’s ways and plans, but we do know He is Sovereign and
in control of all things. He has commanded
us to work and do our best but he has also made it clear He is in control. I find great rest in this Truth!
The
question we must ask ourselves is do we trust God. I know we say we do but do we really trust
him? Do we believe in the Sovereign God
of the universe? The God who spoke life into existence? The God who created the world so big not even
the most powerful telescope can see the ends of the universe? This God who saw our hopeless state headed
towards death and hell and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for
our sins that we may have eternal life in Heaven? If we do believe in this all-powerful God who
loved us so much he died for us, surely we can rest in the fact that my times
are in his hands. Yes, I will work
diligently to my best. And Yes, I will
trust Christ in all of my situations and circumstances knowing my times are in
his hands.
WIN Playoff Game #1!!!!!!!
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
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