“
Football takes stomach. A boy who doesn''t have it will quit of his own accord. The fields are big. They can accommodate large squads. Let the boy hang around. Let him do calisthenics. Let him run until he''s out of breath. Let him scrimmage with the fourth and fifth teams after the regulars are finished. But don''t cut him. If he hasn''t got it, he''ll cut himself. If he has, he''ll stick it out. He''ll be a better man for the experience and by the time he''s a senior he''ll surprise you. He''ll help make you a winner.” - Hal Lebovitz, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1964
At age seven, our son Jacob decided he wanted to
play football this fall. Although he has never played before, he is very athletic and fast as the wind. So my wife Crystal signed him up and he was placed on a very large
team in Sevierville. Actually, there were enough boys and coaches to form two teams in his age group, but the league decided not to do that.
Consequently, after sitting through four practices of watching my increasingly discouraged son sit under a tree with the many other
players the
coach did not have time to teach, I realized that we made a mistake in choosing a league for him to
learn the game. As a former coach, I have always been opposed to youth sports being an exclusive club. Parents sign their children up to learn to play a sport and simply watching the coach’s favorites practice teaches the rest of the team little. It is also not much fun for the excluded players.
The same day I told my wife that bringing Jacob to practice would be a waste of time, she called me back and informed me that while she was having our daughter’s car fixed, she found a new team for him to join. As a member of the New Center Wildcats, he would not only participate, he would actually get to play. The reason this opportunity presented itself, was because a real man chose to become a real coach.
Leroy Mitchell, owner of the Muffler King on Dolly Parton Parkway had a son on the same team that Jacob was on in Sevierville. Although his boy Dalton was one of the starters, he saw that the others were not being given a chance to learn to play. Deciding to be the solution, he changed leagues and became a head coach for the first time. Undersized and inexperienced, Coach Leroy knew that for a while wins may be few and far between. But, he knew that his young team would get to play and they would improve as the season progressed.
A great coach has a talent for making us believe we are better than we once thought we were. The coach makes us give of ourselves until we no longer settle for anything less than our very best. With the help of assistant coaches Jack and Cody Clabo and Matt Ramsey, Mitchell is instilling confidence among his improving Wildcats through hard work and tough love.
Leroy understands that a young team needs to have a definition of success that is not predicated solely on winning a game or having a winning record. Players and parents alike should understand that participation, performance, effort and improvement count as much, if not more than the final score of a single game.
With his wife Sharon acting as team mom, Leroy Mitchell has selflessly provided our boys with one of the greatest gifts they will ever receive, the opportunity to learn and grow to be men that know how to overcome adversity while they are still young enough to live the lesson.
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