Devotion

by Ryan Krzykowski

In addition to directing Community for Coaches, I have the privilege of coaching the 8th grade football team at Mission Trail Middle in Olathe, KS.  Heading into a new season, and considering my Coaching With Purpose Statement, this year our players will spend the first 15 minutes of each Monday practice discussing a relevant character trait.  The calendar for the year is laid out, the videos and guest speakers have been lined up, and in this space I plan to preview and recap some of the topics that we’ll address over the next two months.

I figure if we spend so much energy encouraging Coaches to implement ideas like this into their programs, the least we can do is do it ourselves and share some anecdotes about how it all goes.

So later this afternoon our players will have a lesson on devotion, featuring “Team Hoyt”.  You might be familiar with this father/son duo, who have competed together in numerous marathons and triathlons over the past 40 years.  Seeing the commitment and love displayed by these two men is inspiring.  At least it’s inspiring to me.  Hopefully a group of 13 year old boys will find it inspiring as well.  I plan to read them this article, show them this video, have a discussion about what they heard and saw, and ask them to write a short paragraph about how the Hoyt story could affect how they live their own lives.   Pretty simple.

I will let you know how it goes.  Stay tuned.