By Justin Albers
Fishers, Ind.- How would you define success for fourth grade football players? Would you define it as playing only the very best players in order to win a trophy, or would you define it as playing together as a team and having fun whether you win or lose? The fourth grade Raiders in the Hamilton Southeastern youth football league would choose #2.
The Raiders were unable to win a game this season, which many people would consider a dud of a season. Not this team. The fourth graders had just as much energy running through a tunnel of parents at the end of the season as they did at the start. These young kids had a good time and made some new friends, which is the real goal in youth sports. At the end of the day the win/loss column means nothing. When these kids remember back to when they played youth football they will remember how much fun they had, and will care little about their record. This is an experience they will never forget.
As a fourth grader I participated in youth football and basketball just like these kids. I knew many of my peers who were under extreme pressure from their parents, and came into the game every week extremely nervous. The parents would yell every play, trying to push their kids to be the best, but these same kids were the ones that ended up giving up sports before junior high. When you are under pressure from your parents, it takes all the fun out of sports. Sometimes people forget that the point of sports is to allow kids to get away from schoolwork and have some fun. The more fun kids have at a young age, the more they will want to be a part of sports when they are older. So commonly I see kids who have been burned out on sports so early in their life which is just too bad. There is no reason in the world why kids should be too nervous to go to their football game, or too afraid to tell their parents how they feel.
Because of babysitting duties I was only able to see the Raiders play 3 or 4 times this season. The games I did see I was extremely impressed with the effort of the players. When I looked at the Raiders team compared to some of the others, I could tell they were undersized. When that happens at this age, your effort definately has to be there and it was. The best effort I saw all season was in today's game against the Colts. I could really tell how bad the kids wanted to win the game, and I was definately pulling for them. It was a tough loss but a brilliant effort. I told my brother Patrick all year how much he needed to block, and I finally saw him blocking somebody today which really excited me. I would next like to give out my own awards from the game today:
"O" line- You guys did an outstanding job getting off the ball and pushing the Colts back. You opened up some real holes for the backs to run through and I was impressed. When you are able to run a QB sneak 3 or 4 times in a row successfully, that is a real compliment to you guys.
Jacob Totman- You are an outstanding player young man. The touchdown run that you had today was magnifcent with a juke and everything. I love the effort you give each and every play and how you play at 110% the whole game. You are not afraid of anybody and go out there and give your all 100% of the time. Congrats on a great season!
Joel Wilcox- Congrats on making the all star team Joel. You were great on the line this season and always worked your butt off. I appreciate the effort that you gave.
Coach Wilcox and Coach Reed- You guys stuck with this team and improved them every week which was impressive. You were the right coaches for these kids and you really did a great job this season. All of the parents greatly appreciate your time and effort this season.
The rest of the Raider nation- Raiders, everybody else had a great season as well. Thank you guys for giving your best effort the entire season, and I hope that you will go out for football again next season.
Parents- This is one of the strongest support systems I have seen a youth team have. Some teams have problem parents that yell at the refs or coaches, but we didn't have that on this team. Remember to push your kids, but not too hard. You always want them to have fun, so give them praise and try to keep yelling to a minimum.
9 comments:
You have summed up the season beautifully, Justin! The kids played with all heart this season. As I told Coach Wilcox at the wrap up party...he and Coach Reed taught this team so much. Christopher has always been fiercely comptetive (with four boys in the house, that happens!), but he did not seem bothered in the least that they had an 0-8 record. He has informed everyone he spoke to at every opportunity this season that his coach says "we are the best 0-4 team in the league"..."we are the best 0-5 team in the league"...and so on. The coaching staff on this team (and all the parents) has made a huge impression on these fourth graders. You never know what they are going to remember at the end of the season when you start out, but what an awesome lesson in life they have all learned.
I would be proud to have Christopher play on a team with any one of these players.
Mom to #24 Christopher Artale
Thanks Justin Cool article!!!!!
#22 Totty!
Justin, Great article. The kids on this team played hard every week. I would like to say something about all the kids and this seems like a good forum for that. Thanks to all
Patrick Albers- You did a great job running the ball. Sorry I could not get you in the end zone more. Excellent at cornerback as well.
Chris Artale- Great athlete that gave everything he had every play.
Steven Bauch- Man can you hit hard when you want to. Don't be afraid to hit, other kids expect it.
Chris Beresford- Thanks for not having Oreos and Pink Lemonade before practice this year.
Arick Crecelius- You did a great job at Quarterback this year. Keep practicing.
Anthony David- Great catch this year. Sorry we could not get you the ball more.
Joel David- Good job on the line. Next year try to meet the ball carrier weight limit a little earlier. You were almost there this year.
Mason Gaines- Hard nosed kid that hits hard when he wants to. If you keep playing you will be good.
Elias Handford- You improved so much from the first practice. Remember to keep your head up.
Jack Kleinrichert- Good all around utility player.
Tyler Pongonis- I don't think I ever saw you not smiling. I will always remember you walking around after the last game with the stripe on your head asking do you think people will laugh at me.
Matt Reed- Sorry you broke your arm at the beginning of the year. You did a great job. Hopefully next year you can run the ball more.
Jacob Totman- Probably the best all around athlete on the team. You were fun to watch run, when you went upfield, and were a great defensive player.
Joel Wilcox- I knew you would give 100% on every play. Great job on both offense and defense.
Alex Vaught- Most improved player from the beginning of the year. I still can't figure out how you jumped offsides twice in one game on offense with a normal snap count. It was fun having you on the team.
Last- The Parents. Thanks for the tunnel at the end of the games. Your support this year was much appreciated.
Great comments for all of the players, and we couldn't agree more. It was a tremendous season, and Mason (#10) really enjoyed being a Raider for his first football season.
A quick note to Justin: As a journalism graduate, it's always refreshing to see someone write with such a talent for telling the story, while infusing your obvious passion for sports as well. You have a gift, and I wish you well in your future writing endeavors. (BTW - Ball State is a great journalism school!)
Thanks for such a thoughtful well-rounded summary of our remarkable season!
Tina Gaines - Proud Mom of #10
Hi Justin,
Great article about the 4th graders. You should send it to your local paper's sports dept. for wider publication. Keep up the good work. I enjoy all your articles and look fwd to reading them.
Grandpa from LV
Justin, Thanks for the write up. It was a great article. You hit it right on the nose about this team. This team played with a lot of heart. The record does not speak for the effort that they all gave. I am proud of all of the boys. They each, in there own way, made great strides all season long. I will never forget our last practice together. A cold, rainy night with the temperature hanging around 45 and a wind chill much lower than that. As the sun disappeared we gave the boys the option of calling it the day but the boys didn't want to leave the field. We stayed for another 30 minutes while parents began turning on their headlights so we could see better. It was our last practice together and I felt it was our best practice of the season. That moment was exactly what youth football is all about. Boys who don't want to leave the field because they are having too much fun to quit. That's the way I will remember these Raiders. Thanks for a great season boys.
I would be remiss if I didn't take one last opportunity to thank all of the parents for their support all season long. You have a great bunch of boys that you can all be proud of.
Just wanted to say thanks for writing this article. I think I can say that it represents the feelings of all the Raider parents. We appreciate the great coaching from Coach Wilcox and coach Reed. Not only did you use this time to teach the boys football, but also great team spirit, respect and what really counts when you are in fourth grade and play football: To Have FUN! We will miss watching the team fight so hard and do their best. It was a great season thanks to the coaches, parents and most of all: the Riders!
Justin, thanks again for the great article!
Birgitta Handford ( Elias #18's mom)
Thank you Justin for the wonderful article about the team! I couldn't agree more with the things that you had to say, and I am very thankful for the group of kids, coaches, and parents that we had this year. I believe that a winning attitude is far more important than a winning game and everyone had that this year!
Thank you again to the Raiders coaches, you set the tone for the boys and we were proud to have Tyler play on this team!
Keep up the great writing Justin!
Justin: I think you know I have been coaching Phillip and Anna and recently Joe's baseball and football teams. Parents can be downright ignorant when it comes to sports and kids. U have expressed some pretty good insight here -- All parents would do good to read your article.
Uncle Paul
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