Last night I was privileged to be invited to the Awards Banquet, along with Gaylen Blosser, for the Greenville Football team. The event was at the Elks, and the room was pretty full of players, coaches, moms, and dads. The food was prepared by the Booster Club and some moms, and the meat was provided by Winners. Those people did a great job, and it was very good! Thanks to all who went out of their way to provide us all with a good meal!
The awards banquet was like most, recognizing the coaches, players, and parents who support Greenville Football. Coach Shannell was a good host, and he had a running, uh… commentary on Coach Tim Cundiff. That was pretty good and showed how close this whole staff is and how committed they are to a winning program.
There were five Greenville players on the All-League team: two on the first team, one on the second team, and two honorable mentions. Not bad at all! The Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior classes were all presented to the public so we could see our future Wave athletes. More on that later.
The individual team awards went to Gabe Rammel, Player of the year; Landon Noble, Defensive Player of the year; John Barr, Offensive Player of the year; Aiden Manix, Hustle, Heart, Harmony athlete award; and Grady Looker, Junior Varsity player of the year. All five of these young men deserved every award they received, and all showed everyone there what can happen if you are willing to give time and effort into anything you pursue. They are role models to be followed by adults and students alike.
They remind me of the saying by Sylvester Stallone in the movie “Rocky Balboa”. He said “Every Champion was once a contender who refused to give up.” Truer words could not be more appropriate for these seniors. The turmoil, losing, lack of facilities, and sometimes the humiliation they endured to stick it out for four years of Greenville football made them champions in everyone’s book! I know they will all be successful in whatever they choose to do in life.
As I said, the evening was laughter-filled, and everyone enjoyed themselves. By the way, thanks to Coach for recognizing Gaylen and myself for our support of the team. He did not have to do that, but it was greatly appreciated.
The one part of the evening that struck a sober tone for me was the introduction of the Freshman Class by Coach Cundiff. I was stunned to see ONLY SIX PLAYERS come up front. SIX! What is wrong with the now Freshman class? Have they no pride or energy to compete? Are they afraid they won’t get to play? What is it? Greenville loses 17 Seniors, and between the freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors coming up, it looks like they will only have 30 or so returning!
THEY NEED MORE PEOPLE!! Coach Kerg, (now School Board Member Kerg, Congratulations!”) said the 7th and 8th Grade teams were successful with the 7th grade going 6-2 I believe, and the 8th Grade 3-5. That is a good start, and bodes well for the future, but they still need NUMBERS!
Now the questions become, how do we get more young men out for football? How do we keep students from transferring to play somewhere else? How do we show them Greenville is behind them, and will they believe us when we say a new weight room is coming?
I do not have all the answers, but I did talk to the new Superintendent last night, Julie Jones, and she IS COMMITTED to bringing the best we possibly can to our student/ athletes…..facilities and teachers.
That is good to hear, and I had a brief chat with her and the coach about an idea to temporarily fix the weight room problem, and both were receptive. There are details to work out, but at least they both listened and didn’t shrug it off. I think both of them are all in, especially Julie, because she, like me, graduated from Greenville. Coach Shannell was born all in I think! His enthusiasm and will are what are needed to turn things around, and he has a group of coaches who have bought into his thinking. They actually LIKE each other, and you could tell it last night.
Greenville Football is on the right path; they just need help finding and keeping players. The players we have are good people, but as coach said last night, they need to get mentally tougher and physically stronger…ALL Greenville athletes need to if we are going to compete in all sports, not just football.
There is no magic potion or charm… our athletes need to work at it…all the time…that’s the way it is now. They also need to commit to their school and participate, even if they have never played football before. Really, it is a simple game; it had to be for me to learn it! You commit yourself to getting stronger and faster, you block, you tackle, you win! Simple!
They need to listen and do everything the coaches tell them, too. There is a method behind their madness, guys, trust me, I went through it too! What may seem trivial to you is important for team unity and discipline…discipline is something you can use your whole life, so JUST DO IT!
Last night was a step in the right direction. Now it is up to all of us to help get young men out to play football. We do our part, and the coaches and administration will do the rest. Let’s not let them down. I trust this bunch to get what needs to be done, DONE! Let’s make sure we do our part…I’m all in…..HOW ABOUT YOU!
That’s the way I see it….from the sidelines.
