What would happen if we don’t have football anymore?

Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?  How can I even think this in light of the way our team is playing right now, and the very strong fan support that the TigerHawks have had this year and last?  It is almost impossible to imagine this in our school district because of the success that our players have had on the field over the past twenty-plus years.  But is it?  The common sense part of me says that the game is too entrenched in American culture, and the culture in our community to disappear, but the skeptical part of me says that with all that has happened recently, it is possible.  Of course, nearly anything is possible, and from what has happened in the past few years, it is worth watching.  So what is going on!

The primary issue has to do with recent studies that have drawn a direct correlation to concussions in football and significant brain trauma that leads to a condition common called CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy.  In essence, brain tissue starts to degenerate and there is an accumulation of tau protein.  Individuals who suffer from CTE experience symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion, and depression.  These symptoms tend to emerge several years after the trauma.  There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but the reality is that many football players who have suffered numerous head injuries have experienced less than productive lives in middle age, many of them experiencing depression and choosing to end their lives.  But those are professional players, and maybe a few college players.  That’s different than high school and youth leagues.  Well, apparently parents throughout the country are taking notice of this as the participation numbers in youth and high school football are dropping dramatically, and have been over the past three years.  Parents are making choices and many have decided it is just no worth the risk.

At this point, I want to make it clear that I love the game of football.  I played and I coached the sport, and my son has played.  Few things give me as much joy as watching high school and college football games.  There is no question that people associated with the sport are taking steps to make the game more safe, and manufacturers are working on helmets and equipment that do a better job of protecting the player.   Some college coaches would argue that because of the changes in the game that have resulted in spread formations and a lot of passing – some people call it basketball on grass – the game is not as physical as it once was and thus is safer.  In our community, we have a lot of people committed to the sport and passionate about the game.  There is tradition and passion.  But is that going to be enough?

The reality is the football costs a tremendous amount of money.  It does generate revenue, yet will it be able to cover increasing costs that may in fact increase due to changes in rules and a greater emphasis on safety.  For example, right now we pay a little over $300.00 for each helmet.  Technology is at a point that there are helmets coming with sensors and other advances that are an improvement over the ones we currently use, yet the cost for those helmets may very well be twice the cost of what we currently use.  Can public schools afford that cost?  Can a school afford to not put their players in the best and safest equipment?  The other concern is that since we live in a very litigious society, when is that lawsuit coming over a head injury suffered by a player in Iowa, or somewhere else for that matter, and insurance rates increase to the point that schools simply cannot afford the risk. 

This might be an example of crying wolf, but from this perspective, the fact that multi-million, possibly billon-dollar lawsuits are pending by football players who’s lives have been ruined due to injuries they suffered from playing the game, one has to wonder whether the game can survive.  Some futurists say that the game’s days are numbered, except at the highest levels where the money can insulate it to a large extent.  Others say that because of the huge risk of permanent physical damage, parents will simply not let their kids play, and eventually there will simply not be enough kids to play.  We have seen a lack of interest in the sport result in schools drop the sport in Iowa in the past five years.  The number of youth football players has dropped significantly the past three years, as has the number playing the game at the high school level in Iowa and other states.  One has to wonder what a Friday night in October would be like without the game that so many love.

Leave a Mark, Not a Stain

I do not remember where I came across this statement, but I thought it insightful and profound.  I like it.  There is a lot of imagery in those six words.  It also struck me that if I were in one of Mrs. Steffens’s writing classes I could have my six-word memoir right there.  There is no question that I am wordy.  My wife is always exasperated when I share something with her because in her opinion I could get right to the point and save her a lot of time listening to me!  I guess I have an insecurity or need to be thorough in my explanation.  But I read this statement and it is very clear and concise, and in reality, it needs no explanation.  So why do I have a need to explain it right now?  Maybe because I see a lot of depth to those six words that I want to share.

Each year at graduation I give a great deal of thought to what I am going to say to the class with the goal of focusing on characteristics they have as a group.  Each class that I have worked with has distinguished itself from others, and that in large part is what I want to point out to them, and the friends and family that join them for the celebration.  What I have found each year as I am writing my remarks is that I believe it is extremely important to challenge the graduations to make a difference in the world.  I firmly believe that every student that graduates from our high school can have a positive impact on the world.  They need to think beyond making a difference in their family or the town they work in because they have the potential to do more.  But I realize as that the six-word title above points out something that I have left out in my words to the graduates: they could leave a stain.

Graduation is a time for celebration and I have always tried to say something meaningful when I talk to the seniors, something that is positive.  Who wants to be the one to put a cloud over graduation?  That said the challenge I issue has been to make a positive mark on the world by doing things that will benefit others.  When I came across this quote and started thinking about this column, I realize that I have shared this message with kids that did make a mark, but it was far from positive.  I have had four students that I know of that have been convicted of felonies and have or still are serving time in prison, one for life for murder.  That’s a stain.  There is former student of mine who killed his wife and children before taking his own life.  That’s a stain.  There are graduates that I know of that have abused their wives and children, and some that have abused themselves with drugs and alcohol.  Others have vandalized property and committed petty crimes.  Those are all stains.  So maybe my message needs to change.

I have thought through the remarks I want to make to this year’s seniors.  There are some good things to say about them and some positive words of encouragement that I will make.  At the same time I wonder whether that’s enough.  I know that most of the kids won’t remember what I say on that day.  They have far more important things to concern themselves with, but maybe there will be one or two that will pick something out and really hone in on it.  Maybe something I say about not leaving a stain will resonate with them at some point in their life when they are face with a choice, and they will opt to leave a mark, rather than a stain.

Some Smart Smartphone Advice For Parents

I was wandering through cyberspace looking for some information regarding teen smartphone use and came across this web site.  There is simply too much good information here for me to even try and summarize or condense into an article.  Neither of my kids have a smartphone, but both have a regular cell phone and iPod.  Both of them spend way too much time on them, and we have had to put rules in place in our house that we had not thought were necessary.  I don't want to take anything away from the article, but do want to make a couple of points.  First, nothing in my nearly thirty years of being an educator has had an impact on students at school the way the cell/smartphone has.  Nothing!  I won't belabor this, but for the most part it has not been positive.  We have a generation of kids who "need to know" right now!  We have some kids in our school who have an addiction to their smartphone and the messages they anticipate are coming from folks via text or Twitter.  We also have kids who are handcuffed in some respects by parents who text them while they are at school.  That's right, the worst violators of our cell phone policy are parents who text their kids during school!  Whether it is to check if they picked up the check for lunch money, confirm after school plans, or to give them a motivational message for a competition after school, parents are putting their children in a position during school hours where they violate the cell phone policy.  DON'T TEXT YOUR CHILD DURING SCHOOL  HOURS!  The  kids don't wait until after school or lunch to check it.  They check it right away.  There are many students who discretely carry on conversations with friends while instruction is going on, and some of them are really good at remaining undetected.  When they are doing this, they are not learning.  Some students use the "I need to go to the bathroom" excuse to leave class to check out what is going on, again, missing out on instruction.  Like so many other things they confront, teenagers make poor choices when it comes to using these tools.  Yes, smartphones are great tools, though I am looking forward to the day when I toss mine away.  But, they are an obstacle in school and right now, education is losing the battle.

Generation Smartphone: A Guide for Parents of Tweens and Teens

What's Harming Our Students

I have acquired quite a collection of articles so far this summer that I have been reading through, and doing quite a bit of writing for this blog, so I have quite a bit that I intend to share.  However, for the second post this July, I am going to go back to Tim Elmore.  As I have stated before, I strongly encourage you to bookmark his blog and sign up for his updates.  I have learned a lot from him not only in my role as a school leader, but also a parent.  He confirms a number of my fundamental beliefs about how to raise children, and the role of school and parents in developing young adults.  I believe that this article provides some very solid information and shows that it is okay for a parent to let their child stumble and fall while they are still young and living under your roof.  Otherwise, they may never get out from under that roof!

Risk and Rescue: What's Harming Our Students Today

I Love To Watch You Play

There is a bit of irony here.  Over the course of about ten days, I read two different blogs and both of them focused on these six words: I love to watch you play.  There were some common themes in the articles, and as I read both of them, a number of thoughts ran through me brain.  Perhaps the one that sticks with me comes from the writer of one of the articles I read.  He stated, “The best thing a parent can say to their child is ‘I love to watch you play.’”  That can be extrapolated to ‘I love to listen to your sing’ or ‘I love to watch you perform.’  The key is that on that drive home, or once you are sitting in the living room after the performance, that’s all you need to say.  You don’t need to critique.  You don’t need to give advice.  You don’t need to replay the event.  The best thing that a parent can say is, “I love to watch you play!”

Boy have I blown this so many times!  Coach Wolverton comes through after every game my kids have played, or Director Wolverton surfaces after every music or speech performance.  Even when I did not have a clue what the criteria or scoring system was, I did not hesitate to add my thoughts and perspective!  I was especially “tuned in” at the conclusion of a sport that I knew a lot about, particularly after a loss.  It was only after the fact that I would realize that the last thing my son wanted to hear was my take on the game when he was already frustrated with the way that it ended.  Pointing out that she was opening her shoulder with every swing, thus the reason for her popping up was something my daughter already knew.  And, more often than not, shortly after we started down the road and I shared what I thought, anger may surface, tears might be shed, and the next few hours would pass in silence.  Not the kind of ride anyone looks forward to!  Certainly not when everyone is tired on a Sunday with an ETA at home after midnight!

Coach Wolverton has learned a lot, most important is that after the event, he needs to be Dad Wolverton.  He’s the one that needs to let his son work through his own emotions after a loss, and the one that needs to let his daughter ask if he will work with her to keep the shoulder closed.  Dad Wolverton is getting much better at letting his two favorite players/performers know how much he loves to watch them play.  And those drives home are a lot more enjoyable!

Should High School Baseball and Softball Be Played In The Spring?

An article in the Des Moines Register last summer focused on a topic that has been debated quite a bit recently: whether high school baseball and softball in Iowa should be played in the spring rather than the summer.  That discussion has not reached many rural parts of the state, other than perhaps the coaches of those two sports, but it is a topic that has generated a lot of conversations in the cities and surrounding areas, as well as in the media.  Before I go any further, it needs to be said that Rick Wulkow, Executive Director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, has publically stated that moving baseball to the spring is not under consideration at all at this time as the most recent surveys of member schools are strongly opposed to that change.

From my perspective, it is an interesting debate as I am a huge fan of both sports, have kids that play, and yet am on the school side of the equation as well.  When I read this article and others, and listen to those who advocate moving to the spring, the only ones I have heard talk about it favorably are from metropolitan areas.  That is not to say that there aren’t folks from small schools that support this, but it really does come down to a big school-small school debate.  On the surface, there is no way that smaller schools could support softball and baseball in the spring and maintain the traditional spring sports, track and golf.  Soccer and tennis are in place in some schools at the same time of the year.  Adding baseball and softball would certainly deplete the pool of available athletes.  At North Fayette Valley, it would create some very difficult decisions because there has been track and golf success, as well as strong baseball and softball teams.  If students had to make a choice, what direction would they go?  Regardless, something would be weakened.  That would not necessarily be the case in big schools as there are more student-athletes and specialization already in place. 

In Iowa the strongest negative for spring ball is the weather.  Having two nephews that play in the spring in Nebraska, half of their twenty-some scheduled games were cancelled this year due to weather.  Most coaches are opposed due to a narrower period to schedule games, which would result in a much shorter schedule.  Those that are the strongest advocates point out that Iowa kids are at a definite disadvantage in terms of college opportunities and for baseball, the ability to play in front of professional scouts, because they have wrapped up their efforts by the time summer games get going.  Unless Iowa players are on travel teams in the spring or fall, they do not get exposure in front of these coaches.  And this is where the heart of the argument lies.  Does it make sense to shift seasons so that a small percentage of student-athletes have better opportunities to catch the eye of coaches and earn college scholarships?  Of course, parents of those kids would say yes, as well as coaches at schools that have the opportunity to work with kids that are more specialized in their sports. 

There are positives for this move for schools like NFV, one of which is cost.  Because we wouldn’t play as many games, our costs would drop almost in half.  We wouldn’t have to employ coaches and some administration in the summer.  Students would actually have more of their summer off, and those that really love baseball or softball could hook up with legion or club teams.  But is that what people want?  A few weeks ago my dad, a hardcore baseball and softball fan that has watched high school games for decades made the comment to me out of the blue that “Iowa should never get rid of summer ball.”  He has five grandkids that play high school baseball in the spring, legion, high school baseball, high school softball, and ASA softball in the summer, and, high school and club softball in the fall, and he believes it would be the worst thing that could happen to the games in Iowa to move it away from the summer.  Personally, I have mixed feelings, but my opinion right now is that perhaps it is the time to offer those kids that really want to play in college other opportunities to play, and if they choose to play for someone other than their high school team, that’s their prerogative.  That way that majority of folks could keep doing what they want to do.

Seven Ideas to Build Perseverance in Students, Part II

In the previous blog, I shared the first part of this article from Tim Elmore.  In Part II, Elmore articulates steps that we should take to build perseverance in our kids.  

Seven Ideas to Build Perseverance in Students, Part II