Happy Holidays, Rocks!

A holiday message from Coach Gilbert...

Merry Christmas to all of our family! Thanks so much for the past 9 months. It's been absolutely great!!!! We love it here. I hope you all take time to tell your families how much you love them and appreciate them for all that they do for you. There is no time quite like Christmas to be a giver. Servant leadership, and serving others in general, is a foundation of our program. Give till it hurts a little and you'll be rewarded until your stocking runs over! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! God Bless!

- Coach Gilbert

Sports and Christmas

As Christmas approaches, I thought I would do something a little different today. Call it a history lesson if you will. It's not specific to football, unless you count the European term for soccer. It is, however, one of my favorite Christmas stories.

If you recall what you might have learned about the First World War, the manner of warfare was typically fought via trenches. Each army would dig in along the front lines and between the two would form a natural "no man's land." Obviously, this was a contested, perpetually unsafe area.

With the end of the year 1914 closing in, and no end to the war in sight, many soldiers found themselves celebrating Christmas in a trench, across form a multitude of foreigners that wanted to shoot them. Hardly the holiday spirit. In the week leading up to Christmas, however, something magical happened. It was completely unofficial and unplanned (from Wikipedia):

Christmas truce was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas of 1914, during the First World War. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German and British soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many soldiers from both sides – as well as, to a lesser degree, from French units – independently ventured into "No man's land", where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. Troops from both sides had also been so friendly as to play games of football with one another.

A temporary truce; a ceasefire. And soldiers from both sides met out in no man's land, caroled, exchanged gifts and souvenirs, and, yes, played football. This was in the midst of the bloodiest war the world had seen to date. Christmas and sports. Pretty powerful if you ask me. Check out that article I linked if you're interested in more information. I grabbed the picture from there.

Have a great holiday and remember any troops in your life. Pray for peace one day, but until then, give thanks that we have opportunities to unite people under a common cause (however brief it may be). Sports are one piece in that puzzle. Remember that you are not only a student-athlete, but also an ambassador for our school, and it's what you do out in No Man's Land that can speak the loudest to your character.

In our community, our school, and our program, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

What about the cookie crumbling?

Another proverb from Coach Patchett...

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces, is likely the one who dropped it. 

- Lou Holtz.

Never complain, just work harder!

Top Tens: Academic Excellence

We'll start today's Workday Wednesday off with a message from Coach Gilbert:

“Our players and managers are student-athletes. The importance of academics is emphasized daily in our program. Our students know that they are expected to be a class act on and off the field, but especially in the classroom. I demand that each player give his very best to achieve his academic goals.”

With that in mind, today's top ten is for cumulative grade point average.  This is the for the first trimester, and we're extremely proud of our team so far.  We have a team GPA of 3.08, which is great, though there is always room to work harder and achieve higher.  After all, I believe there are other teams with higher GPAs... and we compete in everything we do.

Here's a look at our top ten.  Great job, everyone.  Keep it up during the next two trimesters.  You better believe we'll be watching!

1. Andrew Cull 
2. Jacob Tebbe 
3. Mitch Turley 
4. Johnny Crawford 
5. Joey Freeze 
6. T6- Dani Hartnett 
7. T6- Madi Turley 
8. Normando Gonzalez 
9. Eric Rearden 
10. Jonathan Golliher 

Excellence

From Coach Patchett:

“Excellence is not an act, it is a habit.” 

 -Aristotle

Be great at everything you do!

Top Tens - Athletics

Continuing our Top Ten series for the November testing, we have the athletics portion.  This includes vertical jump, 40 yard dash, and pro agility.  Remember, the theme of Workday Wednesday is based around competition.  We want to compete in everything we do, including out of season workouts.  Look for your name on these lists.  If you don't see it, you've got a goal.

Vertical Jump Height

1. Kory Kostecka - 28.3
2. Stephen Curry - 27.9
3. Nick Henderson - 27.7
4. Adam Horkay - 27.5
5. Bryce Gibson - 27.4
6. Trey Stewart - 27.3
7. Austin Murrell - 26.2
8. T8- Nicholas Woerner - 26.1
9. T8- Normando Gonzalez - 26.1
10. T10- Emmanual Calhoun - 25.8
11. T10- Mitch Turley - 25.8

40 Time

1. Trey Stewart - 4.79
2. Frank Grimes - 4.81
3. Adam Horkay - 4.82
4. Garrett Raleigh - 4.83
5. T5- Emmanual Calhoun - 4.88
6. T5- Bryce Gibson - 4.88
7. Kory Kostecka - 4.91
8. Blake Waters - 4.95
9. Jackson Clifford - 4.98
10. Stephen Curry - 5.01

Pro Agility Time

1. Kory Kostecka - 4.21
2. Adam Horkay - 4.22
3. Emmanual Calhoun - 4.28
4. Stephen Curry - 4.32
5. Blake Waters - 4.33
6. Eric Miner - 4.35
7. Normando Gonzalez - 4.39
8. Jacob Tebbe - 4.40
9. T9- Nicholas Woerner - 4.44
10. T9- Johnny Crawford - 4.44

Go Rocks!

Destiny is Calling

From Coach Patchett...

“Believe deep down in your heart that you are destined to do great things” 

If we do not believe, it will never happen. We are what we think we are.

Strength and Conditioning

I have served as a strength and conditioning coach for the past eleven years, on both the high school and college levels. I spend countless hours studying the body. We accomplished a lot with the teams I've been involved with. That being said, I can't possibly explain how impressed I've been with Coach Hammer's workout. Our players are being trained to be functional athletes, not just lifters. This workout will help all of our players, regardless of their size, position, or other sports.

We have a long way to go physically. We are not nearly strong or fast enough to win the State Championship. However, this I know: We have a tremendous facility for our kids to workout in. We have a dedicated staff, willing to push our guys. We have the best strength coach in the state. Now we just have to see if our players have the commitment, dedication, and desire to put in the effort that its going to take to get there.

-Coach Gilbert

Without hard work...

Hot on the heels of yesterday's top tens, Coach Patchett offers up another proverb:

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds”

Outwork your opponents everyday!

-Coach Patchett