So, The Team Chose To Quit

Curious to see what Paul Everts thinks about this?  Well, Tim, I was looking for “blog-topic.”  THANK YOU!

I write this not knowing all the facts.  I don’t know how many players are on the team.  If there are less than twenty-two players, than the decision may have been one out of safety.  After all, all the negative stories about the dangers of football.  You would think today’s football players are the modern-day gladiators fighting to the death or heaven forbid, killing tigers / lions!!  Unfortunately, if there are fewer than 22 players, I would have to agree with quitting the season following just two games.  I would love to have seen the season continue.

Now, if the reason they are quitting the season is just because the season has started off so poorly and the future doesn’t look much better?  This is AWFUL!  A life lesson in no way would I want my son, especially his final year in high school football, to be taught by another adult.  The team took a vote?!  Really?  A team made up of high school students.  Teenagers.  CHILDREN!  Why would any average teenager want to continue following two losses with the combine score being 100+ to ZERO?!?  But, on the other hand, the lessons they would learn.

I know why Tim wants to know, “wonder about Paul Everts’ thoughts?”  Because, this summer, probably for the sixth or seven time, I gave a leadership seminar to Tim’s high school band / color guard / choir students. And the book we used?  SOMETIMES YOU WIN.  SOMETIMES YOU LEARN FOR TEENS by John C. Maxwell.  IT IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS ABOUT LEARNING FROM LOSSES.

So, by quitting the season following two shellacking losses, what is the lesson learned from the losses?

NOTHING GOOD.  Again, UNLESS, there were less than 22 players on the team, they needed to continue.  No team is going to be “healthy” if the Healdsburg football team must have three or four players go both ways.  THAT IS DANGEROUS.

But, if there are at least thirty players on the team… SUCK IT UP!!  Show some character.  Learn through the losses.  So, by quitting, here are the lessons the coaches / adults have given-up teaching their young men.

These are the chapters from the MAXWELL BOOK:

1).  Humility – The Spirit of Learning

2).  Reality – the Foundation of Learning

3).  Responsibility – The First Step of Learning

4).  Improvement – The Focus of Learning

5).  Hope – The Motivation of Learning

6).  Teachability – The Pathway of Learning

7).  Adversity – The Catalyst of Learning

8).  Problems – Opportunities of Learning

9).  Bad Experiences – The Perspective of Learning

10).  Change – The Price of Learning

11).  Maturity – The Value of Learning

pg XV (Sometimes You Win. Sometimes you LEARN)

Bottom line … I DON’T HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION IN THE DECISION TO FORFEIT THE SEASON!!   My response is based on the article I read.  Our children are who we want them to be.  YES!  It’s true!  Once they get to be eighteen and start to make their ADULT DECISIONS, they are who we want them to be.  I cannot think of a time when I would ask my TEENAGE STUDENTS to make such a decision to continue or quit the season.  But, again, the danger of the single story.  We don’t have all the facts.  But, if the team, a team of people who only six years ago were between the ages 10 – 12, made the decision to quit following two terrible losses … too much of that GARBAGE is happening.  Garbage – not training the students / abdicating our role as their adults … and … quitting.  The teenagers are not on the same level with adults.  We are the adults.  We need to make the tough decisions.  We need to motivate our teens to get through the bad experiences / adversity.  As we know, quitting is too easy.  Well, at least I know from personal experience, quitting is too easy.

Gosh, I do hope something good is going to come out of this decision.  It was the wrong decision.  Those boys could have learned so much this season.  Oh, well … I guess the players know better than the coaches.  After all, the coaches / adults looked to them for the guidance.

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