I have often said about this coaching family life, “It’s not what we do, but who we are!” I believe we are created with gifts for our calling. God created our family with heart, incredible spirit, and loyalty!
Loyalty is a life value that represents your dedication and commitment to another person or group of people.
The coaching life can be quite interesting. Some families end up at multiple schools along the way, and some do not. We had been with the same program for 16 years, and our kids had attended the same school district from Pre-K til middle school.
In coaching, loyalty does not always work both ways. It’s just not how this profession is built. When it came time for a change in colors and mascot, it was heartbreaking for our whole family. It didn’t happen as we had imagined it. We left with memories of state championships, 15 winning seasons, and many playoff wins.
If it were possible, we would have literally bled our colors when cut.
When we transitioned to a new program, it didn’t take me long to realize that half my closet was my new royal blue. And my love for our new team quickly matched what I’ve always felt for our previous teams. My kids had fast friend groups and knew the school song even before their first football game as Indians.
This sports life has taught us that God gifted us with a passion and true spirit for our team and our people. Our values of loyalty, spirit, and virtue ran high in every part of our programs. When we changed mascots, it took a little bit to realize our loyalty to our team, calling, and people were just as strong as ever.
It just looked a little different.
We taught our children and our players in both programs to always do the right things for the right reasons. We remained loyal to our calling… loyal to our team… loyal to our friends (and coworkers), who all went in different directions.
When it’s all said and done, there is one specific record of wins and losses! I enjoy watching records being broken at our current school and the program flourishing with every sport making the playoffs and many several rounds deep for three years in a row.
I love that our record looks great – but you can’t imagine the wins our family will cherish! We will cherish our loyalty to each other, our loyalty to being who we were created to be, and our loyalty to our team. We will cherish our spirit for our team and showing what it means to be all-in. I wouldn’t trade all these memories!
So, when loyalty looks different than you imagined it, consider this…. You are still loyal to your team and who you were created to be.
And Let’s GO INDIANS!!