Friendship

by Ryan Krzykowski

In my last post I promised to share how things are going with our weekly character lessons for the 8th grade football team.  The boys are enthusiastic and when it is time to write in their journals, they are actually doing it.  (In my next post I will anonymously share some of what they have written.)

The past week’s lesson was about friendship.  We talked about qualities that make a good friend, and we also talked about how maybe the greatest takeaway from being an athlete is the opportunity to develop meaningful friendships.  We watched this video featuring the Pro Football Hall of Fame speech of Andre Reed, as he gave special recognition to his friend, Jim Kelly.  We discussed how when athletes stop playing, no matter what level, what they tend to miss is the time with their friends.  The practices and games are secondary to the people.

Hopefully, that idea will begin to sink into these 13-year old brains.  I know we aren’t going to show some videos and have discussions that will make all their lives perfect, but I am convinced that we are helping build something important and meaningful as the groundwork is being put down for their next 80 years.