“I coach to inspire boys to become men of excellence and strength who lead others with mercy and grace.”
Coach Alec Lemmon created that Coaching Purpose Statement early in 2013, and has spent a great deal of time and energy this year figuring out what it looks like for him to inspire boys to become men of excellence and strength. How can he help his players learn to lead others with mercy and grace? Does his Coaching Purpose Statement serve as a tool to change lives, or is it simply a string of words that look good or sound nice?
Like many coaches, Alec wanted to teach his players that the best way to learn to lead is to learn to serve. And so he set out to create an experience to use their excellence and strength to serve and offer grace to others. While there is no shortage of people to serve here in Kansas City, Alec thought that it would be even more educational for his players to get out of town.
So last weekend, twenty 13-year old boys and thirteen men (dads and coaches) traveled to St. Louis. They worked with an organization that is well-established in underserved areas of the inner city and spent Saturday working in a neighborhood doing yard work and basic home repairs at a number of homes. Many of the people living in this area are recently relocated from various parts of Africa and other parts of the world that have been afflicted with war and poverty. They worked in groups of 3-5 players, with at least one dad serving along with each group of boys. Along the way, one group of 4 boys came across a game of street soccer and they jumped right in and played. 
Later on Saturday afternoon Alec’s club played an organized game against a soccer club called Umoja FC (which means “one” in Swahili). This club is made up of all inner city refugee kids from Africa and other parts of the world. After playing an organized game with them, they mixed up the teams and played small sided soccer together. The kids had a blast celebrating goals and playing together. Alec said it was amazing to just stand back and watch how soccer was bringing these kids together. When they first met the Umoja kids at the park the kids didn’t mix together, they stayed in their groups. But by the end the time they were there, they had kids jumping on kids’ backs, dog piling each other after goals and just being kids together. It was allowing these young people a chance to get to know each other and enjoy being together. After the scrimmage they all sat down to eat dinner at the park and Alec’s team got to hear more about their new friends and their families. That evening, Alec showed his team a documentary called “Lost Boys of Sudan” about a group of thousands of young boys who are orphaned and displaced by civil war.
The most important takeaway from Saturday, according to Alec, is that seeds of empathy and understanding were planted for people that are “different”. In talking with the kids he learned that even at age 13 they walked into this experience with preconceived thoughts about the people they were helping. And those preconceived ideas got blown out of the water. They learned that these people were not that much different and that underneath the surface we as humans are more alike than different.
The following day, they attended an African church service, then went out and played two games against one of the top competitive soccer clubs in the St. Louis area. Alec’s team tied the first game and won the second, and played their very best soccer of the season! As he reflected on the experience that he and his team had together, Alec told me that he’s going to do a trip like this every year. His players experienced service, leadership development, and sport as a means of connecting people. Alec said, “telling players about life is one thing, but experiencing something together is far more impactful.”
Looking ahead, Alec looks forward to this year’s trip and others like it in the future providing a springboard to meaningful reflection and conversation between soccer players, their parents and their coaches about the significant ways that their sport and the connections it leads to can change lives. Alec commented on how not only did they have a life-changing trip together, but that in the midst of that, they played their very best soccer as well.
Many sports teams do service projects together, which is a very good thing. In Alec’s case, he told his team at the beginning of the the season that he will do things a little differently than other clubs in the city. He said they might not understand why he does things so differently until they understand his purpose statement. However, once they understand and buy into that purpose, everything would make sense. This trip captured in a single weekend the core of what he hopes to teach his kids and families.
We are all in process, and all on this journey together, and the clarity that comes from knowing what we are here to do is absolutely invaluable.
Many thanks to Coach Alec for sharing this story and for the work he is doing to change lives.