Into Their Shoes

Several years ago while exploring a bookstore in Macon, I ran across a book entitled “Out of Their Faces and Into Their Shoes.”  I must admit, I didn’t buy the book, but the title has stayed with me and has influenced my coaching style.  I also remember my dad telling me when I first got started coaching that as a coach, players will respond to you better if you are able to get out there and ‘show’ them what to do.  Now, I have never really been an ‘in-your-face’ type of coach, but I have tried my best to always ‘get in my players shoes’ and to be able to ‘show’ them what to do.

Over the past few months I have personally experienced the ‘in your shoes part’ for some of Upson-Lee’s Fall Sports.  I realize that my experiences are just a small part of what these athletes go through, but it has given me a better appreciation for what they do at practice and during games on a daily basis.

Upson-Lee’s cross country team has been very successful over the past few years.  Coach Boyd and Coach Sanders have done a great job making them into one of the best teams in Middle Georgia.  They have traveled to meets all around the South from Disney World to Savannah.  I have personally experienced what it takes for these athletes to get ready for their meets.  Most every summer I run the Peachtree Road Race on the Fourth of July in Atlanta.  It is a 6.2 mile race.  I probably do not train like I need to, but this past summer was my 22nd year running it and one of my better times in the recent past.  As I finished the race this summer and received my time, I was quite pleased with myself.  Until I got home and started to see some of our young athletes Cross Country times!  These athletes are very fast!  And even though they are 20 years younger than I am, I don’t know if could ever run a 5k race in under 20 minutes.  If you ever get a chance to see them practice, it is not just ‘hey go run’, it’s distance training, speed work, strength training and the list goes on and on.  By putting myself ‘in their shoes’ this summer, I gained a better appreciation for our Cross Country athletes!

I have been coaching middle school football for the past 13 years.  Over that time I have seen a lot of different coaches come and go.  I have also seen some very good football players come through the middle school and move on to the high school football program.  It has been a great experience and I thank the ULMS administration for allowing me to coach for so long!  Now, it is very hard as a grown man to be able to put on pads and buckle up a chin strap so I can show the boys what to do, but one day I did decide to participate with the boys in their fitness part of practice.  Just from running with the boys for a small percentage of one practice, I learned how tough it is for these boys and I gained a better appreciation for what they go through as well!  I jumped in to one of the fitness groups.  On this particular day, we mixed a ‘pursuit drill’ with ‘running the hill’.  It was probably a mistake for a 37 year old man to try and keep up with the boys, but I tried.  I got down in a four point stance and ran with the boys.  They loved it!  Of course every single one was trying to beat me up the hill, and of course, I COULDN’T  LET THEM!  Even though I made it, when the fitness was over, I thought they were going to have to bring the oxygen tank to me!  Our football players at all levels at Upson-Lee work their tails off every day!  It is true, ‘Hard work pays off!’

Both our volleyball team and softball team have had good years.  These girls just like any other sport work very hard to get themselves ready for their season.  Their practices start in the dead heat of the summer.  The volleyball team had to spend some pretty hot days practicing for hours in a hot gym with no AC. Our softball team did the same out under the blazing summer sun.  These girls really put the work in!  I always knew how hard both of the teams practiced, but again, I put myself in their shoes a couple times here recently and realized how tough these girl’s sports are.

My first experience with these two sports came when the girl’s softball coach, Stephen Hammock, came and asked me to put a team in his Coed Softball tournament fundraiser.  It had been a long time since I had played any softball, but I jumped at the chance.  I got some of my close friends together and we showed up to play our first game.  About 5 games later, I had a great appreciation for the girls softball team.  That night I couldn’t move!  My hamstrings felt like rocks and I thought my arm was going to fall off!  Again, it could be because I’m just not quite as young as I used to be, but I did gain some great pride in the girls softball team and how hard they work so they don’t have to feel like I did!

My next experience with a tournament came when my step-daughter walked up and pretty much ‘told’ me I was putting a team in Coach Monica Perdue’s UL Volleyball fundraiser tournament.  I have always loved the game of volleyball but my only experiences have came from playing on the beach with family and church leagues from the past.  I quickly learned that girls volleyball at the high school level is completely different than what I knew!  The rules are different and the way you play is different!  After a couple of games trying to figure things out, my team, made up of my close friends again, went on a run and ended up finishing second in the tournament. Again, just like the other experiences, I have to take my hat off to the girls volleyball team!  I think we ended up playing 17 or 18 games.  By the end of the day, I couldn’t walk!  In fact, it took me until the middle of the next week to be able to walk normal again!  These girls really put in the work to get themselves ready for the high school season.  I went to one of their tournaments yesterday in which the girls started at 8:30am and ended after 6:00pm.  Did they feel like I did after the tournament?  NO!  They were still running to the bus after they received their trophy just like they hadn’t played a game!

I think we should all take our hats off to not just our Fall athletes, but to all of Upson-Lee’s athletes.  Our coaches put in a lot of hours to get these athletes ready to play at a very high level.  I’m sure just like me, our athletes sometimes go home with sore muscles and bumps and bruises.  The great thing is they come back the next practice ready to go again and ready to bring some pride to our Upson-Lee athletic program!  I’m glad this summer I was able to get in their shoes and to realize just how hard they work.  If you get a chance to see some of our Fall athletes play, you should!  So in closing, I’d like to give a big ‘UL!’ to all of our athletes and now… I’m going to ice some of my sore muscles!!!

Field of Dreams

Throughout my life I have been able to travel to many different places around the world.  Some of my favorite journeys have usually revolved around sports.  I have been to several baseball stadiums from the east coast to the west coast.  I have had the opportunity to visit many college football stadiums in the South, usually following the Dawgs around. I have watched one of Coach K’s practices and cheered with the Crazies at a game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. I have even had the chance to attend a Major League Soccer game in Denver, Colorado. All of these trips were great, but the one trip that I will take with me to my grave was seven years ago. A trip to a place that is a true ‘Field of Dreams.’

I can remember the trip like it was yesterday.  My dad, my little brother and I decided we were going to take a ‘guy’ trip to New York City.  Our main purpose was to see a couple of stadiums before they were torn down.  One of the stadiums that we got to visit was the Met’s Shea Stadium.  All the horror stories you have heard about the stadium are true!  It was a dump!  I am happy to say that we did get a chance to see the Mets play the Braves.  We even got to hear the crowd chant, “Larry, Larry!”.  Even better than hearing the chant was seeing “Larry” Chipper Jones hit a double off the left field fence!  As fun as it was to see the Braves beating the Mets, this wasn’t the sole purpose of our trip!  We were there to see one stadium.  That stadium was the old Yankee stadium!

We actually were able to see the inside of the stadium twice.  Our original plan was to watch the Yankees play on Friday night, and the Mets on Saturday.  On Friday morning, we flew in to New York, visited all the typical tourist spots, and then got ready at our hotel for our first visit ever to the hallowed grounds in the Bronx.  We arrived at the ‘house that Ruth built’ early to get the feel of all the sights and sounds.  We purposely bought tickets in the bleachers.  We ordered a hot dog and a coke (a tradition I have for every baseball park I visit). After scarfing down the hot dogs we waited patiently for the game to start.  Only one problem… RAIN!

You would think that rain would put a damper on the situation.  But for three boys from Georgia, just sitting in Yankee stadium was a dream come true!  As we covered up in $7 ponchos, we were able to analyze every detail of the park.   The game was eventually postponed after a 3 hour wait, but passing the time was well worth it. As we waited, I will never forget watching my dad, a former high school and college baseball player, sit in the stands watching the scoreboard as they played videos of Yankee legends.  I will not forget in between the videos, my dad answering every Yankee trivia question that they could throw at him.  I was amazed at his baseball history knowledge.  What a night!  No game, just a guy and his two sons in what some would call, ‘baseball Mecca’.  You would think when the PA announcer came on the loudspeaker and said the game would be postponed we’d be disappointed, but we weren’t.  Especially when the PA announcer told the crowd the game would be made up the next day!

The next morning, we were ‘up and at ‘em, bright and early’.  We toured Times Square, ate New York pizza for the third time, looked over the city from the top of Rockefeller center, and so on and so on.  We loved visiting all the neat places of New York, but we were ready to get back to Yankee stadium!  As mentioned before, we did visit Shea that Saturday for the Mets/Braves game, but we were only there to watch just a few innings.  We had to get back to that glorious place we had visited the night before.

Game time was set, so we left our seats in the dump they called Shea, jumped on the subway and rode it to the 161st station.  A short walk across the street, a quick trip to see the front of the stadium and then we were back in the same seats from the night before.  

You would think that my story would end here.  You would think that we had experienced enough of everything from the previous night.  You would be wrong.  There was nothing in the world like being at a REAL game in THE Yankee stadium!  We had a blast!  I will never forget hearing the captain announced, “Now batting, #2, Derek Jeter, #2”.  I won’t forget participating in the ‘roll call’ in which the Yankee fans in the stands chanted each players name until they acknowledged them.   I will not forget throwing my hands in the air while the field crew drug the infield diamond as they sang ‘YMCA’.  I will especially not forget the 7th inning rendition of ‘God Bless America’ that was sung.  What a special night!

I honestly can’t remember who won the game that day.  I can honestly tell you I don’t care.  I was in the old Yankee stadium.  I did everything that young boys who know anything about baseball dream about.  I sat in a stadium where Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, and Mariano Rivera played.  I got to sing ‘New York, New York’ at the end of the game with my little brother.  I got to watch my Dad live out one of his childhood fantasies.  I got to sit there, with my two best friends, my dad and my brother, as the ghost of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle helped me live out one of the greatest experiences of my life.