I want to tell you a few truths on how to acquire success in the football realm at the six man level. Yes, coaching has a lot to do with it, but its more than that. Much more. It is a rarity that you find a place where the sole purpose of living is for football. Everything at Richland Springs revolves around football. I wouldn't be surprised if football is the only thing keeping the budget afloat.
But with great accomplishment comes greater adversaries. Nothing comes without a price- a self sacrifice. If you want to know what it takes to be as successful as Richland Springs, you have to sell out to one sport just as they do. Sure, you play basketball, but you must enter into that sport with the mind frame of "How can this sport make me better for football?" The same goes for track and baseball. The sad truth is this: teenagers don't want to sell out to anything now-a-days. They are growing up in a world where everything comes instantaneously by the thumb print on a screen. It's hard for them to grasp the reality of what it took for six state championships to manifest.
If you want to mirror the type of success that Brownwood, Celina, Southlake Carrol, Fort Hancock, Stephenville, and Richland Springs has had, there is a dying to self agenda type order to the process. What I mean is this:
When the rest of the kids are getting ready to go on vacations, parties, etc. in the summer, you have to spend those times in the weight room, studying film, sweating over countless agility drills, diet, repetition, and building team friendships that seem like brotherhoods.
You have to get out of the state of mind that tells you, "is this really worth it? Why am I doing this? What's the point?"
I promise you, you will never succeed in anything if that is what you're dealing with between the eyes.
There must be an all out mentality towards whatever you do in this life in order to dominate the field you were created to take dominion over at this point in time.
Trust me, there is always a price to pay. Set aside that worthless Xbox360. There's no athletic growth in that. Tell your girlfriend she'll have to wait. Plenty of sharks in the ocean anyway. You need to completely reject the drugs and alcohol lifestyle. Winners don't have anything to do with that crap. I promise before God, there is no good that comes out of that lifestyle. It is a lie that the enemy of our souls have tricked us with. Leave those types of choices up to the feeble minded world chasers.
Now I'm not requesting you to become a monk. You just have to learn to discipline yourself from all the distractions of this life. Remember, everything in moderation.
I speak for myself when I say all of these things. For I have been through a lot in my short life. I have seen the good, the bad, and the really ugly.
It is possible to mimic what has been achieved by these juggernaut programs- but it will not come easy, and it won't come late. You must begin early. Jr High even.
Are you willing to dedicate such a microscopic six to seven years of your life towards a sport that comes and goes like a storm? That is the million dollar question.
I wish you the best of luck.
God bless,
TE