How Coaching Football Furthered my Legacy

I work in a school system beside students with specials needs. On an average day I go from tutoring to potty training students and everything in between. It has been a real privilege to walk with and notice the growth in students that some have said was impossible. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today.

Four years ago I transferred to a jr high school from an elementary school. I had previous work experience at the high school and elementary levels but I had yet to put in some time working at a junior high school. My first day of orientation, I walked in I grabbed myself a danish and some orange juice(very healthy I know). Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a booming voice in my ear say, “You look like you played football. Have you ever considered coaching football?.” I look to my right and see a beaming smile on the face of this massive man.

This massive man with a beaming smile turned out to be Bill Bates.

Turns out Coach Bates is the athletic director at Richardson North Jr High. I’ll be referring to him as Coach Bates for the rest of this story.

Hearing but not truly understanding the question I put my hand out for a shake and stumbled over my practiced greeting, “Hi, my name is Jaydan Roseboro and I work with students who have special needs.” Still smiling Coach Bates responds, “Well, hi Mr. Roseboro. Have you ever thought about coaching football.”

Now to give you some information about my self I’m a six foot one three hundred and fifteen pound guy. I played football in junior high school,high school and a little in college. At one point in my life I was one of those kids who watched football games with dreams of grandeur going on in my head. I had thoughts of playing in the NFL and making millions. But, to be frank those dreams as all a thing of the past. Besides being a fan I hadn’t thought of participating in football in years. Also I never thought of coaching….ever. Still, there was something about this massive man with a beaming smile. I don’t know how to describe how I felt other than warmed and welcomed. After a short conversation I agreed to coach the seventh grade B team.

In Texas football is a big deal. A normal roster for football teams is around thirty five players. Eleven on the field at a time for offense or defense and most students do not play on both offense and defense. At many schools in Texas the student level of interest is ridiculously high when it comes to football. For many schools there can be enough students who want to participate that we can field two seventh grade teams.

The players who are not good enough to play A-Team play on the B-Team. here is some coaching insider info for you MOST COACHES DO NOT WANT TO COACH B-TEAM ANYTHING. Now most of you will ask why? Well, this is because the talent and the focus level as tend to drop drastically when it comes to B-Team.

Back to the story. Tryouts came and went. Positions and statuses were assigned. I was issued my roster. After looking it over I doubted my B-Team would win a game and I was right. However, as the seasoned continued and the losses piled on I realized that the focus on wins and losses was the wrong focus to have.

This Group of B-Team guys surprised me on numerous occasions. Their tenacity teamwork and willingness to go to war with each other was truly admirable. No, they didn’t have talent. Yes, they made mistakes(numerous). Yes, I spent a lot of practice time going over the basics again and again. But they never quite on me. No matter how repetitious and tedious I was. No one quit. Also, on game day these guys refused to quit no matter how bad they lost. And we lost badly most games. These guys played their hearts out every game.

When the end of the season came around our record didn’t have a win on it but my B-Team was A TEAM. I failed to mention earlier that I worked these guys very hard. We ran during practice on our own and at the end of practice with everyone else. Even after practice I made my Linemen do push ups. I was very strict and held my players to a very high level. Our all back chant was, “What Works?” They would respond, “HARD WORK!” I would rant an rave about how I wanted them to be overly ready for eighth grade football. I would tell them about how they were better than me because I did not play seventh grade football. I was sure that by the end they would be happy football was finished and they were rid of Coach Roseboro’s crazy hard practices.

A month later Richardson North jr High School(Go Vikings)did a school wide project for teachers appreciation week. The school asked the students to hand write thank you letters to a teacher that taught them something. I received Twenty two thank you letters. All of the letters came from members of my B-Team. All of them short and sweet conveying the same message. “Thank you coach for making us work hard.” Some even had the chant written down “HARD WORK, Works.” I was shocked to say the least. Shocked, and proud!!

After the season was over Coach Bates put me in charge of off season work outs for my B-Team. I studied on my own time how to teach my students to work out efficiently. I learned what to focus on and how to monitor and observe growth in those areas. I made my students write down their work outs. I made them take data on their conditioning times lifting repetitions and agility speeds. I always told them “I don’t care about how heavy the weight is I care about how many times you can lift it”. I created challenges to test them and created way to show them their own growth.

I was able to start an after school work out club through the after school program. I was even able to start a wrestling club for my jr high school. This, “Hard Work, Works” philosophy continued through out the rest of the year.

Fall turned to winter and winter to spring spring to fall and before you know it football season was ready to start anew. My awkward seventh graders were now awkward eighth graders. Football tryouts came and went and I was handed the roster for my new B-Team. But Coach Bates also gave me the eighth grade starting roster. Nine players from my B-Team were now starters in eighth grade. After the prior year of training my guys from the B-Team that never won a game had won starting positions.

Coach Bates looked at me with that beaming smile (he had lost a good bit of weight by then) and told me, “This is a legacy to be proud of.”

The definition of Legacy: A gift by will.

It was truly a gift to coach those boys. Their will and no quit attitude showed me why I coach football. It’s not the wins and glory. I coach football to make these students better. Mentally physically and emotionally better. We go through the fires of hell in practice and during games. But, that fire makes us stronger. That fire brings us together. And as they move on to do different things in life those students became my legacy to the world.

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