The boards are going to be dead for the next 6 months. Do ever wonder Why? Not why the boards are dead, but why we end up doing what we do. Why do we wind up where we are?

I was going through some old stuff yesterday and I realized I don't have a lot of memerolbia for my experiences as a coach over the last 10 years. So, I thought I would begin a blog about coaching. I thought this would be an excellent time to do this as it will be my first year as a Head Coach, albeit for a ninth grade program, it is still a head coaching position, nonetheless. So, some of you may hate it, others may learn something for it. It will start out boring, since there is no football going on at the moment, but I think it will be interesting as the season goes on.

Well, tomorrow is the 4th of July and I am thankful that we can live in this fine country of ours and I owe many thanks to all the men and women who have couragously served in our armed services. With out them, we would not have the freedom we have.

Funny, it seems like yesterday when school got out and we had our ninth grade football camp and the summer was off in a bang. Once you get to the 4th you can assume that your summer is pretty much over. Couple of real good things came out of the camp. 1) I noticed we were very deep at the skilled positions,  but a little light up front. 2) This allowed me to see who might play where and I think we will be good.

I have been taking the kids over to the IF weight room twice a week in the mornings so that they can begin to get a feel of lifting and to hopefully get them a little stronger for football and prevent injuries.

Today, after weights, I went over to our shed (big metal train car, that has an impossible latch and door to close) and began cleaning stuff up and trying to get a feel for what kind of equipment we have and what we are going to need. The camp was good, because I was able to hand out equipment and check out lockers, so most of our kids have the equipemtn they need for the season. What was apparant today was the complete lack of money that has not been put into the program. One job which needs immediate attention is fund raising. Replacing the shed would be a high priority on my list as it is a piece of crap.

There are ample helmets and shoulder pads, but the ones left are all too big for most ninth graders, as they were donated by high school programs. We have no gurdles, mouth pieces, chin straps, helmet kit accessories for fixing helmets, practice jerseys (which I think I have a good spirit pack price on those so I may defer that cost to the kids), practice pants, helmets and shoulder pads that fit smaller kids, footballs, hand shields (there are four stand up dumbies, but I don't think they do a good job of showing kids how to place their hands for inside leverage, as they are rounded bags), no sled (the sled we have is a four man grid kid sled, which is outdated).

I would like to be able to pump somewhere between 5 and 25 thousand dollars into our program over the next three to five years.

Year one:
 Upadate some shoulder pads 4 X 120=  500.
Update helmets 4X 150= 600
Chin straps 30 X $10= $ 300
Helmet Kit= $150
Stunt Sheilds = 8 X 6= $660
Diamond bags 12 = $1200
Save for Jerseys= 500
Save for Sled = 500
Save for Shed = 1,000
Total= 5,000-5,500

Year 2
Upadate some shoulder pads 4 X 120=  500.
Update helmets 4X 150= 600
Chin straps 10 X $10= $ 100
Helmet Kit= $50
Stunt Sheilds = 8 X 6= $660
Save for Game Pants= $500
Save for Jerseys= 500
  Buy  Sled =$1,750 X 2 - 500
Save for Shed = 1,000
Save for uniforms= 500
Total = 6,000- 6,500

Upadate some shoulder pads 4 X 120=  500.
Update helmets 4X 150= 600
Chin straps 10 X $10= $ 100
Helmet Kit= $50
Stunt Sheilds = 8 X 6= $660
Save for Game Pants= $500
  Buy Jerseys = 500
  Buy  Sled =$1,750 X 2 - 500
Save for Shed = 1,000
Save for game pants=$1200


Anyway, the point is, I need to raise somewher between $4500 and $7,000 a year for the next three years to make the program respectable. The new shed is the biggest item and where it may take five years to raise the money for it, we will work in that direction to replace the current structure. I think it will cost about $10k, but hiopefully we can get some of the work donated.

At this point these are the following ideas I have for fundraising:
Gold Cards $2,000
Coookie Dough $3,000
Bus Washing $1,000
Candi Sales $1,000
Donations of money and time (sky is the limit)

Speaking of "sky is the limit".
I think IF needs a quality 8 lane Junior High Track and a Field Turf football field to house Junior High and youth events. I think Gale, given the land that it has and the need that it has for better facilities and the central location would be an ideal location. Anyone interested in working to raise a million doallars for such a facility with me?

Okay, I have talked enough, but I am going to use this blog to talk openly and honestly about my upcoming football season to give you the reader an in depth behind the scenes perspective. Don't hate me, it should be fun.

I often wonder what my life means. Do you ever ask yourself, "Does my life have meaning?" Well, I sure do. I love teaching in the classroom. What is ironic is I quit everything in my life so that I could coach football and be unabated in what my coaching career was to be, so I took up teaching to make that happen. What is the irony in that you ask?

Well, I almost like teaching now more than I like coaching. I think this is two-fold. On one hand I like coaching, but sometimes it seems to be too much. Secondly, I like teaching the kids who have no one in life to be their compass. I like to work with those kids and tell them that they have a chance and everything they want in life is right in front of them. I want to focus on my personal life a little bit now.

I went to my grandmother's funeral a few weeks ago and the overwhelming question on my mind was, "What did her life matter?" Then my mother got up and she said that my grandmother lived for her family and especially for my grand father. And that made sense to me. My mother has suffered from MS for the last 20 years and I wonder, "What have I really done to help her?" My father just had a portion of his lung removed and is going to begin Chemo treatment in a week or so, and I think, "Have I been there for him?" I cherish the long phone conversations and just watching a game with him while he is in his hospital bed, and I ponder, "What if he should die?"

The passing of my friend Gary Scheiss was a huge blow to me. I still have not forgotten about it. The day he died, my world was turned upside down. Looking at his son Nate and seeing his family and the turmoil they went through was almost too much. I think the biggest eye-opener was the fact that Gary was not much older than I and his kids were very young. I just want my kids to be much older before that time comes. I guess we can't live in fear, but I have to wonder, how much I will regret not focusing on my family on this run of coaching; which leads me to my most important relationships in life.

I love my wife. She is so beautiful and she has done everything to make me and my family successful. I am not sure that I can ever thank her enough. Right now I am working a part time job as a ref so that she and my kids can have the Christmas they deserve. It is not like we cannot do it anyway, but we are working to be debt free by the end of next summer and want to have enough cash to buy a new mini-van (no payments, I love it). I wish that I could be more of a husband than the one I am. I don't want her to one day realize that I haven't done all that much for her and that I am really not worthy of all she has done, the cooking, cleaning, and staying home with the kids while I am at a game or a practice. Has it been worth it for her? And then I wonder, what it is that I have become.

I think in life we are all naked and lost in the forest, but it is the security of relationships with people who need us as people that take us out of that primitive state and make us feel reassured. That and knowing the gospel of our Father in Heaven. I look back now and I realize I have always been blessed; it has just taken too long for me to stop and notice. Well, now I am noticing and appreciating all of the little things in life.

I play sports with my son constantly. I don't even care if he ever plays any sports, I just like the time with him. I love to read to my daughter Emily as she is the cutest little girl on the face of the earth. I have a hard time relating to Caitlyn as she is from my wife's first marriage and is big time ADHD. I hope that I have provided everything she needs and as she grows older she will overcome some of her disabilities and live a healthy fruitful life.

I constantly hug my son and give him kisses and tell him how much I love him. I hope he doesn't grow-up with a false sense of masculinity where he feels he has to be "tough", and that he knows that he can always hug his father and that I love him very much. I love to listen to my daughter explain to me the world around her and to try and see just how important the littlest things are.

Right now, I just go to work and then come home. I spend all of my free time with my family and I am grateful for that. That has always been my main focus, but in all reality it has been somewhat secondary to my passion, of coaching.  I am not so sure that coaching is really granting me the benefit that I need, or should I say that it takes up a lot of time and effort. In some regards, I feel that I am very unhealthy. I walk everywhere and I feel lethargic. I no longer play many sports. At sometimes in my life I act as if I were getting old, but older than 30's.

This brings me to my greatest worry in life. I am worried about my health. Two days ago, I just weighed in at 328.5. I was doing great with my health and eating right and was at 312, but the last few weeks have been hard. I reffed some games tonight for the third time in the last few weeks and it felt great to get out and start moving around again. It is kind of like a catch 22, you get so outta shape that it becomes harder to workout and exercise especially when you work all the time and spend any free time with your family. If you try to workout more, then you have to give up family time and you get even more tired. I guess the key to life is balancing your responsibilities.

Anyway, I think that it is interesting how we change as people the older we get, both mentally and physically. The older I get, I begin to realize how precious life is and hope to make the most of it. I hope some of you read this and gain something, if anything that life is precious and we need to be grateful to our creator for all we have.

God Bless

I'm Audi....Audi5000

I am wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this comment, when winning isn't everything. Winning is important and I know it is not everything, but when you aren't winning, it becomes the most important thing.

It's kind of like having money. Money doesn't make you happy, but when you don't have it it seems to be the one thing that really could do the most for your own personal satisfaction out of life.

Well, this is another season and I look forward to hearing from everyone on their teams and their successes. I hope that Rigby makes it to the playoffs this year and the goal posts return blue.