CHARGER NATION: GAME #2

Charger Nation,

            Tonight we go up to North Atlanta and play Pace Academy. Over the past five years Pace has had a lot of very good players graduate from their program.  Three are at UGA right now.  When you see them tonight you will see more really talented players.  They won the AAA state championship in 2015.  They are a school that takes a lot of pride in being the best in everything they do.  We will need to bring our very best tonight.  I am looking forward to it!

            

“Do you see a man skillful in his work?  He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” Proverbs 22:23

This past week marked the fourth week we have been practicing.  This week I finally felt like we were in a spot where our boys were beginning to understand conceptually what we want out of them.  (I said starting too—we are not there yet.) When we run an offensive play, we ask eleven guys to do individual things that produce a unified result.  To be a great team each of those eleven boys need to know what they are doing and they need to know why they are doing it.  When they understand why they have a specific assignment they can then begin to understand the importance of mastering the technique we demand.  If they do not understand “why” they will not understand “how” in the way that will empower them to be great.  

            The cognitive understanding of why we are asking them to perform a specific task and how it fits into the overall structure of the play empowers them to value the technique at which that specific task must be done.   We are getting close to this understanding of why and how to do something.  As coaches we start off the year with: “do this.” Through film study the boys can watch themselves and the total structure of the play and begin to grasp the why and the how.  At practice I am saying, “Take this step and do this.”  When we watch film of practice and games they are seeing why they should take this step and what happens when they do or they don’t.  They also see how what they do fits into the overall structure of the play.  This knowledge should empower them with the desire to perfect their technique.  

            In perfecting his technique, developing his skill, is where an average player becomes a good player and a good player becomes a great player.  However, it is not easy.  To develop great technique, to perfect a skill, requires not just going to work each day, it requires effort, discipline, and focus the entire practice. And this is where you lose most high school kids.

            The challenge for me as a coach is to get everyone to understand the difference between showing up to practice to get through it and showing up to practice in the pursuit of excellence.  I’m sure you have the same challenge with your children in getting them to understand the difference between showing up to school and going to school in pursuit of excellence.  It is in the effort, discipline, and focus that will turn school into a pursuit of excellence.  We know this. We teach this.  The challenge is getting the boys to own it!  

            When we add effort, discipline, and focus to our going to work we will start to develop a skill.  We will find that we will become very good at what we do.  We might not become the best, but we will become our best as we develop skill.  In proverbs we read this about skill: A man skillful in his work will stand before Kings.

            I have been harping on this one all week to the boys. I see many of you showing up to practice at the end of practice.  This is probably when I’m yelling the most.  The last hour of practice is when the boys lose focus; they lose their will pursue excellence.  When they lose focus their effort and discipline is gone.  They move from the pursuit of excellence mode to get through practice mode.  We must demand they focus.  We must demand they give effort.  We must demand they be disciplined.  And in this a great skill will be developed.  

            For us at ELCA, football is just a tool to build men for Jesus Christ.  We do not teach them to be great for worldly glory.  I do not coach it for worldly glory.  The only reason I want to win is because I hate to lose.  But I don’t pursue winning for worldly glory.  I don’t even know if we pursue winning at ELCA.  The focus each day is becoming our best.  We do not know what that is but we are working hard everyday to be our best.  We want to master our technique and, therefore, skill.  We are not doing it in pursuit of winning or being the best.  We just want to be our best.  Our goal is to maximize the ability God has given us for his glory.  

I believe that if we can get your son to understand the energy, effort, and focus it takes to master his football skill, there will be no end to what great things he might accomplish in this life in his real job one day.  If you can learn to be focused, disciplined, and give great effort in full pads while the sun is beating down on you for three hours, there is no end to what you can accomplish one day.  I believe the effort, discipline, and focus we are demanding from him on the football field will carry over into his pursuit of excellence as a husband, father, and employee as he grows older.   In this, what your son becomes in the future, this is where we hope to see winning.  Winning on Friday nights is meaningless if these young men become losers in life.  

            “He will stand before kings.”  This isn’t telling us to do what we do so we can boast in our accomplishments and get worldly glory.  It is saying that if someone is skillful in his or her work, the world will take notice.  Chic Fil A is always a good example.  They mastered the chicken sandwich but more importantly they mastered the skill of customer service.  I don’t go there necessarily for the chicken sandwich (but it is good).  I go there because I know it is clean and friendly.  And even though people in the world hate Chic Fil A because of its strong Christian values, Chic Fil A is going to keep growing and expanding because they are skillful in their work. A little old chicken shop thirty years ago in South Atlanta has grown into a world-renowned fast food powerhouse because they are skillful in their work.  

            And to make all of this skillful work more powerful, we do not do it to stand before kings, we do it for the Almighty God of the Universe. We do it for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We do it that others may see Jesus Christ working and moving in us and through us: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  Matthew 5:15

It’s Game Time!!!

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” Proverbs 21:31

BEAT PACE!!!!

Wholly for Christ,

Coach Gess