For 16 years I coached High School Football in Eastern Virginia. That's the 757 area code of Virginia. If you know anything about College Football, you will recognize that area code as one of the most talented areas in the country.



But our school was small in number, in fact for the past 16 years we had to apply for an exception to the rule in order to play AA football because we were a single A sized school. This meant we never had the numbers (most of our varsity teams never had over 25 players, so our kids had to go both ways all season). We rarely had outstanding talent and if we did it was one or two players every five years or so. This means we were always out-numbered, the players rarely got a rest, a lot of them played hurt and to top it all, we played in a District where a team went to the State playoffs every year.

So how is it with so many disadvantages, we sent players on to college football at every level almost every year?including both of my sons? Not only did we send them, but our players were successful. The old coaching staff and I got together after the game and counted up 9 Championship Rings that our former players had won at the college level from Division III all the way to a National Championship in Division 1AA and an Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in Division IA, with our former player being named ACC Player of the Year.

How could such a small school with an unimpressive win/loss record have such successful players? Because we coached these young men to love the game, give all they had all the time and never, never waste an opportunity when it is given to you.

I was reminded of this last Friday night when I saw the team play once again. We were playing the cross town team who had already won the District Championship with a 9-0 record and we were their last game.

Once again we were outnumbered, outsized and outplayed. By half time we were down 37 to nothing. The game finally ended 44 to 0. Our school was in a down cycle to say the least. With a miserable 3-7 record and only 21 players on the team you would think that a 44-0 loss on your last game would be so hurtful you would want to just leave and go home.

But after each game, down on the field the coaches talk to the team and let the players talk about the game. This was the last night of the season and the last night for the seniors, so the head coach let all the seniors talk. There was no finger pointing, there were no regrets, each one, to a man, talked about how much he loved the game and how much he loved his teammates and coaches. Tears flowing, hearts open, and these young men saw the game bigger than win/loss, bigger than points on the board, bigger than the final team record.

At one point during the game, the team we were playing broke through the line of scrimmage and took off on a 60 yard run to the end zone. We were already down by 30 points, but the middle linebacker chased this player down and tackled him on the 4 yard line. Two plays later the team scored anyway. But for that one moment, our player had the heart not to let his teammates down, not to let himself down and gave everything he had to stop that man before he scored. He had been playing both ways the whole game, but his team and the pride in himself came first.

No one would have blamed him if he only tried half-heartedly to stop him, we were already down 30 points, but that's not what we teach!

After the huddle at the end of the game when we broke up, several of the seniors were hugging each other and crying. They were not crying because they lost; they were not crying because they had a bad game or a bad season. The reason they were crying was summed up in one player's sobbing outburst?"It's over!"

He and the others were crying because they would never again put on a uniform; never again walk on the field as a player, never again be a member of a team on the field pulling for a united goal'it was over.

I have seen seniors in the past go down to the end zone and just sit down as everyone left the field. They just sat there gazing at the field reliving every moment they could. The stands were empty, the field was empty but they just sat their not wanting to leave.

Of course they will go on to other things in life and hopefully carry this passion with them. But the life lesson that is so important to learn here is that we never allow time to pass us by, never take an opportunity for granted, before you know it, that window is closed and "It's over!"

Live with passion. Love what you are doing or find something else to do. You only get one shot at life, make the most of if before'it's over.

Copyright (c) 2007 Good News Publications