CHARGER NATION: GAME #9

Game #9 is here.   Tonight, our varsity and JV travel up to North Atlanta to play Mt. Vernon.  Mt. Vernon is a team in our region that has gotten better each and every year.  They are 6-2 and have some great athletes at the skill position.  We have prepared diligently for them and our boys are ready!

Last night or JV had an impressive win verse Heritage High School.  We scheduled a game late verse them this week and played them last night.  Our boys fought through adversity and pulled out the win.  That puts them at 5-1 for the year with the only loss coming to Buford.  We have one more big game for them against Stockbridge.  I appreciate our parents being supportive.  I believe playing games and competition is critical to improvement.   If your son is not seeing much playing time please be encouraged, about 75% of the boys starting on our JV team this year did not play much as 9^th graders last year.  

After the JV game last night I was trying to encourage some of the players who did not get to play.  I told them to keep working and to not give up, to not quit.  I then said, “I would feel sorry for you but I don’t because I spent two years in college on the scout team with no hope of seeing the field come game time. “  The truth of the matter is I do feel sorry for the boys that don’t play.  But I also don’t.  It is part of the process.  The worse thing in my life was sitting on that scout team for two years and with no hope of playing.  Probably one of the best learning experiences I had in my life was playing scout team for two years and then being able to start the next year. 

So what did I learn?  Don’t Quit.  Don’t give up.  I tell the boys sometimes: “the darkest part of the night is right before sunrise.”  So many people stop too soon.  So many people give up to soon.  There wasn’t one day during my sophomore year when I was on the scout team that I didn’t think about quitting.  I really have no idea why I continued to play when it seemed like there was 0 hope I would ever see the field.  Something inside of me did not let me quit.  My third year (I was red shirted so my sophomore year or eligibility) football started off bad again.  I was way down on the depth chart and I figured I’d never play.  Then an injury happened and the coach moved the starting center to tackle and I got my opportunity.  From there I started the rest of that year and the next two years. 

I tell this story not to boast of anything.  I got to play because I didn’t quit.  I persevered.  In our ELCA Win the Day philosophy we have 5 key character traits:  Commitment, Consistency, Intensity, Execution, and Perseverance.  To be successful in this life all character traits are of great value.  However, if you lack one of them then you will not become all that God created you to be.  But the one that separates highly successful people from unsuccessful people is the ability to persevere. 

Academically students perform poorly not because they don’t have a desire to do well.  I think most students want to do well.  But it is the ability to day in and day out take academics seriously.  It’s not that the students don’t have the ability to be committed, to be consistent, to focus in class (intensity), and then execute when they need to.  But it is the ability to do this day in and day out that they lack.  They lack the ability to handle failure or success and move forward.  All of this is perseverance.  Perseverance is the ability to day in and day out carry out the first four Win the Day character traits: Commitment, Consistency, Intensity, and Execution.  Perseverance is doing those day in and day out in spite of failure or success. 

“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

The great lessons of perseverance that the Lord has shown me in my life mean so much more to me as a Christian.  For me as a Christian, the five character traits in our Win the Day philosophy have very little to do with football and everything to do with living our lives daily for Jesus Christ.  But what I love about this game is it teaches those character traits to young boys who are learning to be men. 

Many times in my life when I am exhausted and tired I hear God whispering “Press On.”  I understand: Win the Day. Don’t give up.  Don’t grow weary.  For whatever it is that I may be battling spiritually in that season of my life, the Lord promises that if I do not give up, “in due season I will reap.”  Whatever it is that you may be facing today.  Whatever challenges you might be having that are causing you to want to give up and quit.  Take it before the Lord and hand it over to him.  He will strengthen you.  He will lead you and guide you.  He will be your strength through perseverance.  He will help you endure to the end.  And the promise is that in due season you will reap.  He doesn’t tell us what the reaping is.  But he says don’t quit and in due time we will reap.  The Lord will be your strength.  Trust in him!

Beat Mt. Vernon!

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