Game Preparation and Management

1. What is your philosophy on scouting?

2. Do you scout in person, send an assistant, or strictly use film?  

3. How will you present scouting information to your team?

4. Will you use a scout team during practice?  

5. How much emphasis do you put on watching film as a team?  As individuals?

6. Ideally, how many players will you carry on your team?

7. Do you prefer to play a certain number of players during a competitive game?

8. What is your philosophy on substituting?  What factors could alter this strategy?

9. What is your philosophy on managing players with foul trouble?  What factors could alter this strategy?

10. What is your team organization for 30 second timeouts?  Full timeouts?

11.  Do you value a pre-game routine?  If so, what is it and what is the purpose of each phase?

12.  What is your coaching attire?  Does it vary?  Do you want uniformity within your staff on coaching attire?

13. What is your philosophy on game day dress for players?

14. What are your expectations for players on the bench?

15. What is your plan for getting players to invest in their role?  How will you deal with players who struggle playing their role?

16. What are your expectations for players interacting with officials during a game?  

17. What are your expectations for players interacting with opposing players during a game?

18. What is your plan for halftime organization?

19. What is your philosophy on using timeouts?

20. What is your plan for end of quarters?

21. What is your plan for end of game situations when trailing?

22. What is your plan for end of game situations when ahead?

23. If you use a delay game, what factors determine when you incorporate this strategy?

24. Do you have a signal or call for fouling when needed?

25. How will you teach players to foul when necessary?

26. What tactics will you use to stop a “run” by the opposing team?

27. What strategies will you use when having trouble stopping the opponent?

28. What strategies will you use when your team is struggling to score?

29. What is your post game plan for addressing the team after a win?

30. What is your post game plan for addressing the team after a loss?

For each of these questions, if you were asked “Why do you do it that way?” do you have an answer?

Practice Organization and Planning

1. Develop an overall plan for each year broken into summer, fall offseason, in season, and spring offseason or whichever of these you have

2. Break down each segment of your year into phases.  Define your goals for each phase and how you intend to accomplish these goals.

3. Within each phase, determine the amount (or percent) of time you want to spend on strength & conditioning, skill development, mental training, film study, team concepts, special situations, character development, leadership, etc.

4. What is the role of each coach in practice planning?

5. What is each coach’s role in practice?

6. What is the role of each coach after practice?

7. What are the expectations for managers, filmers, or other support staff during practice?

8.  What is your pace of practice?  How will you implement this?

9.  Do you plan to incorporate “breaks” into practice or is practice continuous?

10.  Do you intend to practice various teams together or separate?

11. What percentage of each practice is spent on skill development, offense, defense, situations, conditioning, etc?

12.  Do you intend to use multiple drills to teach concepts or a few specific drills for each concept?

13.  How much time do you plan to spend doing full court drills? 

14.  How much time do you plan to scrimmage 5 on 5?

15.  During what part of practice do you plan to install new concepts? 

16.  Do you prefer a practice routine or keep it random?  

17.  If you prefer a routine, what is your order of practice? 

18. What is your plan for conditioning?  

19. What is your plan for practice on the day before games, game days, and the day after games?  

20. Do you plan to have practice on Saturday?

21. Do you plan to have open gym on Sunday?

22. Once you get into your district schedule(assuming Tues/Fri games), do you intend to practice on Wednesday? 

23. What is your metric for the length of practice? 

For each of these questions, if you were asked “Why do you do it that way?” do you have an answer?

Defensive Philosophy

1. Do you mainly prefer a containment or pressure type of defensive system? Why?

2. Do you prefer to institute your defensive system by using man, zone, or a combination of both?  Why?

3. How variable do you intend to be with your defenses?  Why?

4. If you intend to be variable, what factors will determine the particular defense you play?

5. If you intend to major in one type of defense, what factors would force you to vary from this?

6. Do you intend to leverage your defense?  Force baseline, force middle, force weak hand, force left/right, square?

7. Do you believe there needs to be a correlation between your degree of pressure on defense and your offensive philosophy?  Why?

8. How far do you prefer to extend your defense under normal game situations?  Why?

9. Develop a plan sheet for each level of your program that details all the defenses you want utilized at that level and the drills that correspond to training them.

10. Develop a plan for defending special situations including BLOBs, SLOBs, Tip, Free Throws, End of Quarter, and End of Game.

11.  What is your plan for pick & roll coverage? How many coverages will you have?  Why?  How do you plan to drill it?

12.  What is your plan for defending various screening actions?  How do you plan to drill it?   

13. What is your plan for defending a dominant perimeter player?  Do you have a   plan for forcing him/her give up the ball?

14.  What is your plan for defending a dominant post player?

15.  What is your plan for defending spread offenses or 4 low?

16.  What is your plan for defending delay offenses?

17.  How will you denote your defenses?  Numbering system, colors, names, etc?

Offensive Philosophy

1. Go to this link and have answers for each of these scenarios:

https://ibelieve.wonecks.net/2018/04/07/developing-an-offensive-philosophy/

2. Develop a plan sheet for each level of your program that details all of the offenses, set plays, and press breaks that you want installed at that level.  Also, include the drills you use to implement these.

3. List the offensive skills you want mastered at each level of your program and the drills you use to develop these skills.

4. Develop a plan sheet for offensive special situations including BLOBs, SLOBs, Tip, Free Throws, End of Quarter, and End of Game situations.  Include how you will train these situations.

5. Have a plan for special defenses such as box/diamond & 1 and triangle & 2

6. What is your delay game?

7. How will you communicate your offenses, sets, BLOBs, SLOBs, etc?  Numbering system, signals, colors, names, etc?

Total Program

1. What is the overall philosophy for your basketball program?

2. What is your overall offensive philosophy?

3. What is your offensive philosophy vs. full court defense?

4. What is your offensive philosophy vs. half court man?

5. What is your offensive philosophy vs. half court zone?

6. What is your philosophy on baseline and sideline out of bounds in the front court?

7. What is your defensive philosophy?

8. What is your overall philosophy for your Junior High program?

9.  When a player leaves your Junior High program what specific skills should he possess?

10.  What is your overall philosophy for each of your sub-varsity teams?

11.  What are your expectations for your Junior High coaches?  What are their staff duties?

12.  What are your expectations for each of your sub-varsity coaches?  What are their staff duties?

13.  What are your expectations for your youth program?

14.  What are your expectations for your summer program including team and individuals?

15.  What are your goals for fall offseason and what is your plan to accomplish them?

16.  What is your plan for involving your former players in your program?

17.  What is your plan for developing the total person and how do you accomplish this?

18.  What is your plan for involving the student body in your program?

19.  When other coaches watch your teams play, what 3 words do you envision them using to describe your team?

20.  On a scale of 1-10, how close do you believe your program is to being where you envision it being?

Building Culture

1. List and define the Core Values of your program

2. Do you have Non-Negotiables within your program?  If so, what are they and what are the consequences for violating them?

3. What are your standards for behavior?  What are the consequences for violating these standards?

4. What are the expectations for each level of your program?

5. What is your discipline plan?  What are the consequences for violating the various components of this plan?

6. What is your academic plan?  

7. What resources and methods will you use to coach your coaches?

8. What is your philosophy on captains?  Who selects the captains?

9. What are your plans for team building?

10. How will you sell your program to prospective athletes, the school, and the community?

11.  What is your plan for developing support for your program through the student body?

12.  Does your program have a motto?  Does it change every season or is it traditional?

13.  How do you plan to keep former players involved in your program?  Do you have a plan for honoring players who have completed your program? 

Program Self Assessment – Personal

1. Why do you coach?

2. Why do you coach the way you do?

3. What do you believe it feels like to be coached by you?

4. How do you define success?

5. What are your 3 greatest strengths as a coach?

6. What are the 3 areas of coaching you need to improve the most?

7. How do you plan to attack these areas of improvement?

8. How would you describe your coaching style?  What do you consider the  positives and negatives of this type of coaching style?

9. What are professional goals in coaching?  Are you willing to move to accomplish these goals?

10. What are 3 words your former players would use to describe you as a coach? As a person?

11. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to obtain your professional goals?

12. What are 3 words your coaching colleagues would use to describe you as a    coach?

13. What are 3 words you would use to describe yourself as a coach?

14. What sets you apart from the coaches you compete against in your district, area, or classification?

Well, I guess a better way for stating it would be, “What’s your plan for dealing with losing?”.  

Winning is never a certainty.  For every Goliath on the field or court, there is always a David out there slinging stones.  The day will come when the stone finds its target. 

For some, winning is much less certain.  Anyone that believes winning is easy hasn’t played long enough or faced enough adverse conditions.  If you stay in the game long enough, one thing is for certain, you are going to lose.  Some more than others, but no one escapes.

Everyone in a competitive situation is going to devote time and effort toward winning.  However, in this entry of the Coach With A Purpose blog, I would like to suggest having a formula for dealing with losing.  And the more competitive you are, the better your plan should be.  If you don’t, you risk putting your emotional, mental, and physical health at risk as well as your relationships.

This is not a theory, it’s a testimony.

From 2011-2013, our boys basketball teams at White Oak compiled a 104-6 overall record, we won 2 Class 2A State Championships, won 49 consecutive games, and 13 consecutive playoff games.  We were blessed to win….a lot.

From 2014-2016 (my last 3 yrs as Head Basketball Coach), we still had very competitive teams, made the playoffs each year, and advanced to the Area round 2 of the 3 years.  However, emotionally and physically, I could feel each season starting to take a toll on me.  I attribute some of this to my coaching style.  It was very physically demanding in practice and games.  Some I attribute to the amount of time I put into our program over 25 years, especially outside of the season.  But I also believe, over a 3 year span, that some of it was due to becoming accustomed to winning at a very high level.  A much higher level than was the norm for our basketball teams and, to a degree, I don’t think I handled losing as well my last 3 years.  I lost some of my perspective and, consequently, coaching became much more stressful.

I never slept much after games…wins or losses.  Still don’t now that I coach Junior High.  Without a doubt, my hatred for losing was what drove my desire to win.  That’s just how I’m wired.  It is my greatest strength.  In some ways, I believe I let it become my greatest weakness.

So, as I share with you what I believe are 5 ways to help deal with losing, please understand this was (and is) never easy for me to do.  I’m speaking as much to myself as anyone.    

1. Preparation

This was always my favorite part of being a head coach.  I believe this was one of my strengths as a coach and was driven by my competitiveness.  Doing all that I could to have our teams prepared to maximize our potential extended from 3rd grade Little Dribblers throughout every facet and level of our program.  I loved it and felt it was the only way we would succeed at White Oak.

One of the things I was most proud of with our program was that I felt we rarely lost to teams that were less talented than us.  We beat the teams we were supposed to beat the vast majority of the time and competed against most others.

As much as I believe this helped us win, I also believe it helped me to handle losing.  Though investment increases the pain of defeat, I usually had a peaceful feeling of knowing we had done everything we could possibly do to give ourselves the best chance to win.  Sometimes the other team is just better or plays better that night.  When you have the solace of knowing your team was prepared, it is much more likely that you didn’t lose, you got beat.  Getting beat rests better at night than losing.

                2. People

I once heard the great Dick Bennett say in reference to culture, “As a coach, you have to surround yourself with people you can lose with.” To me, that’s a very unique (and truthful) way to look at culture.  

When we have standards for our program and we surround ourselves with people who share those standards, are willing to sacrifice for those standards, and, ultimately, win or lose with those standards, I believe we are on our way toward developing a Championship Culture.  

Unfortunately, this could mean that players (or anyone else associated with your program) who consistently refuse to meet these standards must be eliminated.  For this reason, I never used “family” in reference to people currently in our program.  We were a team or program not a family.  In my mind, you can’t be eliminated from the family.  You can be eliminated from the team or program.

I only referenced “family” once players graduated from our program.  At this point, they became members of our basketball family and, as the leader of that family, I did my best to give them my unconditional loyalty.  To the best of my ability, I would do all I could to help (not enable) them in any way possible.  At this point, they had met at least the minimum standard for our program and I believe this meant something.

Along those same lines, dealing with losing is much more tolerable when it involves people with common goals and standards.  They aren’t all going to be pleasant or exactly like we want them to be but if we will hold them to a standard and we have common goals, they will usually conform their behavior.

Too many times as coaches, we allow talent to tempt us to lower the standard and I believe, more times than not, this is a recipe for demise. To me, there is a lot of truth in the saying,  “Lower the bar and you lose the winners.  Raise the bar and you lose the losers.”  

Now, does this mean remove every kid that doesn’t measure up?  Of course not!  It does mean, however, that players understand two things.  First, there must be growth.  It might be minimal at times but it must be present.  Secondly, there is a line.  You don’t get to consistently tread water or go backwards without consequences.

In our program, most of the kids who weren’t going to meet our standards eliminated themselves before they became varsity players.  I rarely had to remove a player.  Did this cost us some talent?  Without a doubt.  Did it hurt our program?  Maybe at times because no situation is perfect but over the long haul upholding our standards was never a detriment to our success.

When the culture of your team or program is to the point that defeat is shared pain, then losing can be handled in a much more constructive way.  Everyone loses from time to time but it’s much less miserable when you don’t have to share it with losers.

                     3. Prayer

For me, my faith has always been my rock.  Prior to every game I was going to seek to spend time in solitude with my God.  On road games, I would pray as I sat at my desk in my office before we departed.  On home games, at some point I would venture up to my classroom (the officials dressed in my office) and spend time with the Lord.

My prayer was never for victory.  Sometimes there were specifics about players who I knew were struggling in different areas of their lives.  I would pray that we would play in a way that was pleasing to God, that He would protect us and the other team, and finally, that He would help me deal with whatever result we got that evening in a positive way.

Over the years, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it has been my faith and prayer life that has helped me the most when it came to dealing with the 242 times my team met defeat.  The prayers of my mom and many others helped as well!

                      4. Purpose

In coaching, it’s easy to say, “It’s not about wins and losses.  It’s about making a difference in the lives of our players.”  Many (hopefully most) coaches subscribe to this philosophy but there are places in high school coaching that losing will eliminate your opportunity to make a difference at that school!  Let’s not be naive.  Winning is a factor in job security for many coaches.  

With this being understood, I believe few professions offer the opportunity to make a lasting positive impression on young lives than coaching.  To me, basketball (or whatever sport I was coaching) was just my platform for making that difference and as driven as I was to win, I wanted to do it in the right way and within the grand scheme of having a higher purpose.  

I believe one of the best ways to do this is to come up with a method or constant reminder to keep the game within the priorities of your life.  For me, that reminder was not keeping up with my career record.  Now, I knew I was not looking to ever leave White Oak.  It was my home and my “dream” job so I knew I would not need this information for applications or such.  Whenever I would get the yearly newspaper information form to fill out, have someone ask me, or just wonder what my overall record was, I would immediately be reminded of my purpose.  It was a little thing but very effective for me.

Along those same lines, my prayer life and quiet times each morning were also useful in keeping me focused on where my priorities needed to be. Ultimately, there will only be one scoreboard in my coaching career that counts and that’s the one that is measured much more in “Thank you, coach” than wins and losses.  

Purpose leads to peace and peace is our ally in a profession that can be as stressful as coaching.  Losing may still cost us some sleep but it only takes our peace if we allow it to.  We all have to find ways to keep our purpose at the forefront of our lives and when we do, peace will be there as well.         

                             5. Perspective

The final piece to the puzzle is keeping things in perspective.  Few things are more valuable to someone in a competitive leadership position than perspective and self awareness.  Being able to objectively assess our situation, put a plan in place, and then work our way through the process of executing this plan is crucial but we must also factor in the level of difficulty.

My first season as the head coach at White Oak, we had graduated 10 of 11 players from the previous season.  The JV I had coached was fair and so was the freshman team.  After being hired, the coach I was replacing (Glynn Hughes, who was my JV coach at WO and the guy who made out the schedule) told me point blank, “You may not win a game next year”.  My dream job had just been put into perspective! 

We went 9-19 my first year, didn’t have a winning record until my 3rd season, and didn’t make the playoffs until my 7th season so I quickly learned not to accept losing but I would have to learn to deal with it or lose my sanity.

To me, won/loss records (especially non-district) never tell the complete story.  All jobs and situations are different.  Winning is definitely never easy but it’s much more likely in some situations than others.  As the saying goes, “Comparison is the thief of joy” so resist the temptation to either be envious of others or be too hard on yourself.  High expectations are good but must be kept in perspective.  We all have people who will make our jobs harder, don’t let that person be you. 

In conclusion, losing is as much a part of life as winning and probably moreso.  I never wanted to lose (who does) but I always tried to go into any game knowing it was a possibility and that for my sake and my team’s sake I needed to have a plan to deal with it if it happened.  I encourage you to have one as well…then do all you can to not have to use it.

Thanks for reading and Coach With A Purpose!           

As a coach, there are few things that rival the thrill of victory.  It’s humbling, satisfying,  and rewarding…it’s fun!

Losing?  It just plain sucks.

The scoreboard will always be a part of coaching and oftentimes the most visible part.  For many coaches, it is the judge and jury and it holds the fate of their family in its hands.  When we sign our contracts, we accept this as the world we have chosen to live in.  And most wouldn’t choose to do anything else!

So, what draws one to coach?

I’m sure the reasons vary and it’s most likely a combination of things but I believe in the vast majority of cases, somewhere in the equation, is the burning desire to make a positive difference.  The reverend Billy Graham once quipped, “A coach will impact more people in one year than the average person will in a lifetime.”

Now, I’m not sure where he gets his data but far be it for me to question Reverend Graham…that man had friends in high places!  So I’m going to take his word for it.  Plus I believe he is right.

For coaches, what a great opportunity.

What a great responsibility.

During my quiet time each morning, I thank God for the opportunity to impact the lives of those I encounter that day.  For most of my coaching career, this has been young men.  Seventh graders to seniors….thousands of them.  Along with thanking Him for the opportunity, I also ask to be mindful of the responsibility that accompanies this opportunity.  In my position, my words will influence.  My actions will speak volumes.

Like many of my brothers in the coaching profession, my purpose is to take the game (that’s the dangling carrot) and use it to help boys learn about life.  Along the way, hopefully, I will have a positive impact on their journey toward becoming a man….and most likely a husband and father.  

It’s being a father that has my attention today.  Because the world needs good fathers…and a lot more of them.

We all know the statistics.

For the most part, kids that come from a household with both biological parents have a decided advantage in life.  That’s a blessing.  These kids didn’t do anything to earn this situation any more than the kids who come from single parent homes, blended families, or any other situation deserved theirs.  Sometimes kids are the victim of adult decisions.  Sometimes we are all a victim of life in a fallen world.

As a coach of primarily male athletes, I also know that boys who grow up without a father in the picture are at a decided disadvantage.  Life has put them behind the eight ball and the only thing worse than this is they are now much more likely to put their children in the same situation.  That’s why male coaches have to show up.  We have to do more to put value on being a good father.  Our kids need it.  Our families need it.  Our society needs it.

Well, how can we do this?

First of all, we can talk about the value of fathers.  We can talk about the attributes, responsibilities, difficulties, and rewards of fatherhood.  Sure, this may not mean much at the time to a seventh grader who thinks his jock strap is a head band but it starts to plant seeds.  For high school coaches, fatherhood may already be a part of some of their athletes’ lives or in their very near future.  Whatever the situation, we can’t waste our opportunity to address the importance of a father’s role in the life of his children.

One of the points I always try to make is that for the most part their present family situation is outside of their control.  They have a role to play just like they do on the team but a lot of their circumstances, especially when they are young, are determined by the choices of their parents.  Whatever these decisions are, they can be learned from.  They’ll eventually do some things in their own families because it had a positive impact on them as kids.  Unfortunately, they may also be experiencing things that negatively impact their life.  They may have little influence over this now but the day will most likely come when they can choose to do better in their family.  They can break the cycle.  They have the power to turn a negative into a positive but we may be the influence they need to realize this.  Words carry weight and it’s up to us to speak hope into situations that may presently look hopeless.

Secondly, if we are fathers, we need to model and be examples of what a good father should be. Whatever our marital status may be, we never stop being a father.  I was divorced when my daughter was 2 so I know this can be difficult but I also know the one it was hardest on was my daughter and she deserved to have her father in her life regardless of the decisions made by her parents.  Though I wouldn’t wish divorce on anyone, it did give me a greater understanding of what many of my players were dealing with themselves and I needed to model for them (as well as my own daughter) the importance of using a negative situation in my own life to help someone else.  It was meaningful for them.  It was invaluable for me.

One way I tried to model for my players the importance of being a good father was on the Wednesdays during basketball season when I would have my daughter from 6:00-8:00.  *I would usually have to leave practice a little early on these days so I explained to my players early in the season what I was doing and why I was doing it.  They knew if I was missing practice it was important and I was always blessed to have many gracious, understanding, and high character young men that understood the situation.  Some of them all too well.  They were easy to pick out.  They were usually the one’s nodding their head with understanding or lowering their head to hide their tears.

It never failed that I would usually leave while the players were finishing up their free throws so as I walked around the gym giving each player a “fist” I would get comments such as, “Have a good time with your daughter, coach.”  As much as I was trying to show them the importance of being a good dad more often than not they showed me I had little to worry about.

Finally, one of the most rewarding parts of coaching for me is having the opportunity to tell the children of my former players how blessed they are to have such good fathers.  Whether it’s crossing paths in the grocery store, at a local restaurant, or around the school I always love being able to say, “You are one lucky kid! You must have won the dad lottery because you got one of the best one’s!”

It’s important to me that my former players know how I think of them as well as taking the opportunity to remind them of the responsibilities of being a dad.  Whether they can still stroke the 3 or play in the passing lane doesn’t mean much now but if they learned something about the value of being a good dad then I’ve done my job…no matter what the scoreboard says.

*I was very blessed to have assistants that would graciously finish up practice, monitor the dressing room, start the wash, and lockup when I would need to leave early to pick up my daughter.

I was 22 years old when I surrendered my life to my Lord Jesus Christ and from that day forward my life has never been the same.  As I have matured in my Christian walk, one of the things I have learned to do is act when I feel the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit.  Usually, it is an uneasiness during the day or not being able to sleep at night due to thoughts running through my mind that need to be organized and expounded upon.

Tonight is one of those nights.  So, at 12:35 a.m., I am going to share with you what God has placed on my heart because I have learned if I don’t take the gentle nudge, He’ll turn up the heat until I finally come on with it.  Thank God for maturity!

For 11 years (2006-16), I taught U.S. History to most of the juniors at White Oak High School.  I say most because some elected to take Dual Credit College History instead, which usually assured two things: 1) my class sizes would be fairly small 2) All the History Channel nerds were probably in college history so I was most likely the smartest history dude in the room.  That was good for my confidence.

As we embarked on our study of the history of the United States, I would always start off by mentioning how blessed we were to live in the greatest country in the world.  I would illustrate this point by pointing out the fact that every day people risked their lives in order to get to our country and that most people in the world would trade places with us even on our worst day.  I could say this with conviction because I believed it.  And I still believe it today.

The second thing I would point out was my belief that, historically, the United States had failed greatly in two areas: 1) our treatment of women 2) our treatment of black Americans.  In my opinion, these were the two biggest black eyes on America.

As we moved forward in our course, I always looked forward to the units on World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II but without a doubt my favorite unit for us to study was the Civil Rights Movement.  For many of my students, this was a topic that hit home and for me, I loved the stories of courage, determination, and the fight for the greater good.  I was passionate about the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., the transformation of Malcolm X, and the courage of Rosa Parks.  I loved the fight and determination of Thurgood Marshall to end segregation in our public schools and the courage displayed by the Little Rock Nine.

There were a lot of things I was not as a history teacher but there was one thing I could do…tell stories.  With meaning and with passion. And these people had a story worth telling!  I can still recall the looks of shock, anguish, and oftentimes embarrassment of the mostly white kids who sat in my class as they heard the stories of what it was like to be black in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s.  They were white kids but the vast majority of them (though there were a few exceptions) were good kids, kids of character, and they knew it was wrong.  It was not uncommon to see tears being wiped from cheeks as they imagined to the best of their ability what that treatment must have felt like.

Then there were the few black kids I would have in class.  Many times only one per class.  Kids like Joseph Young, Kris Anderson, Levi Yancy, and Hayden Nichols who were not only my students but they were also some of my basketball players.  Their faces would show anger and pain as they identified with those who were treated unjustly due to the color of their skin but eventually those looks would be replaced by appreciation, adoration, and pride as they heard the stories of those before them who carried the torch of change.  

As much as I loved telling these stories, by far the thing I looked forward to the most was doing our project on the movie Remember The Titans.  This was for 2 reasons: 1) this meant TAKS, STAAR or whatever was the acronym of the year was over 2) Football, great music, and overcoming prejudice was now on the agenda!

As most of you know, the movie centers around the integration of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971.  The two best players on the team are Julius Campbell (black) and Gary Bertier (white) and my favorite scene in the movie takes place during their preseason camp at Gettysburg College.  The team is struggling immensely with the color barrier so Coach Boone (black) takes them on a midnight run to where the battle of Gettysburg was fought during the Civil War.

As a last ditch effort to bring the team together, Coach Boone tells them “Listen to their souls men:’I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family.’ You listen and take a lesson from the dead.  If we don’t come together, right now, on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed – just like they were.  I don’t care if you like each other or not.  But you will respect each other.”

After returning to camp and during the 3rd practice of the day (must not have been a UIL in Virginia), something happens for the first time.  Gary chews out his best friend Ray (white) for missing a block.  Ray gets pissed but Julius takes notice that Gary jumped his butt and on the next play instead of just forming up on the ball carrier (Petey – black guy), Julius lowers the boom on him and cleans his clock.  Gary and Julius proceed to start the renowned “Left side, Strong side” chant thus signifying the breaking down of the racial barriers between the two leaders of the team.

It never failed that so many of the kids had seen this movie but never understood that the chant “Left side, strong side” illustrated how saying something, with the same meaning, a different way relates to looking different but being the same.

I believe this scene is the most powerful lesson of the show because it illustrates that true change will never come through blame, finger pointing, or calling out the other guy.  Lasting change must start with getting our own house in order first.  

Until we are willing to call out the people who look like us and empathize with those who don’t , we will continue to fight the same battles over and over.  As long as we only point out the inequities of the other race, our words will fall on deaf ears.  

Integrity, honesty, respectfulness, fairness, kindness, and forgiveness know no color any more than dishonesty, disrespectfulness, greed, cruelty, and selfishness.  These are not color traits.  They are character traits!

If as a society, we are determined to lump groups of people together and paint them all with broad strokes, then let’s do it by character and not by color, location, occupation, etc.  There are good people of all colors, people of character, and we must stand together to fight against the inequalities that still exist in our society today.

As a Christian, I know there is evil in this fallen world we live in and until the day comes when Good will eternally overcome evil, we must fight.  Evil will always seek to divide and conquer.  Evil will seek to devour.

It’s now 3:20 a.m. and I am at peace with the words I feel God has laid on my heart.  They are not words that haven’t been uttered before but sometimes they bear repeating. That feeling of uneasiness has subsided now and I will soon call it a night.  I will leave you with the words that I would always write on the dry erase board at the front of my room as we would begin our Civil Rights unit each year.

Racism is not a color issue, it’s a character issue.