Those words greeted me when my son signed up for
a youth football team in Strongsville, Ohio back
in the early 80’s. My son loved sports
and I had coached some of his teams before so when
the organizers of the league asked me to coach, I
agreed. I was happy this father of one of the boys
alerted me that we would not only have Brian but
his son and two other boys from the championship
team of the year before. He even told me how
they would be glad to help me call the plays and
even knew at sign up which boys should be playing
at each position. When I told him that my philosophy
for kids this age (10 and 11 year olds) would include
having all the kids play all of the positions so
they could appreciate what it takes to make a team,
the idea was not met with very much appreciation. He
quickly stomped off to find some other fathers who
were also outraged at my idea before they even considered
its merit.
As the season got started, I could see in practice
that the fathers were right about one thing. Brian
was a special athlete and clearly could have carried
our team. But I explained on the first day that it
was important at this age to learn about playing all
the positions because a team cannot be successful unless
each player and each position is honored for what they
do. Brian’s father was an interesting and
distant bystander thru all of this. He never
came to watch us practice and he always found a faraway
spot to watch all of our games. We won our first
three games with Brian playing different skill positions
and all of the rest of the team rotating as well. Then
came the fourth game when Brian was scheduled to be
a lineman and blocker. Kids and parents told me that
Brian was thinking of skipping the game to teach me
a lesson. But he didn’t and even though
he was a lousy lineman and had never blocked for anyone
before, he played hard that day. We lost in a
close game and risked losing the championship because
of this coach’s idea to play all of our players
at ALL of the positions at least once.
As we walked off of the field that day, the normally
distant figure of Brian’s father, Marty ran up
to me and wanted to tell me something. I was prepared
for a tongue lashing for having lost the game. Rather,
he thanked me for a great game and for following up
on my game plans to teach the kids the importance of
all the players and positions on a football team. The
father actually was Marty Schottenheimer (he was the
head coach of the Cleveland Browns at that time), and
Brian his son, is the current Offensive Co-coordinator
of the New York Jets. Brian had a distinguished college
career at Kansas and the University of Florida. Marty’s
own words to me were, “My son learned more about
what it takes to make a football team today than all
the trophies he has ever won!” It appears that
the crazy coach's idea didn't destroy Brian's future. Whether
it is sports, the church, or any group of people, knowing
the importance and value of each member of society
is God’s way of teaching us to respect and honor
all of the people that He places in our lives.
John 15:5-6 (NIV) “I am the vine; you
are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can
do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is
like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and
burned.”