#WhyICoach - Coach Patchett

As a college student-athlete, I thought I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to get my business degree and then go work on Wall Street. Then, one day while on the practice field with the sun shining bright, a bit of a chill in the air, and the smell of fresh mowed grass and fall leaves, I realized there was no other place in the world I would rather be. That day on the practice field in the mountains of North Carolina saved me from a life of cubicles and insane pressure.  I realized at that moment, my place was with the game that gave me everything.

Football has given me so much. I have the education that I have because of football. If not for football, I probably would have never been able to afford or pursue a college education.  Because of that education, I am able to live and work in the best community in the state. With that education, I was able to lure a pretty little blonde to be my wife and she has given me two wonderful sons.

Football has taught me so many wonderful lessons and made me much more mentally tough and optimistic. It has taught me that anything can be accomplished through hard work.  Football has taught me that no matter what life throws at me, that with a positive attitude, patience, and a desire to never give up, there is nothing I can’t overcome.  Football and being part of a team taught me about respect, team work, and loyalty.  Football has taught me to not get too high when things are good and not too low when things are bad. Every play can have a different outcome and emotion.

I coach football because I love teaching and the practice field gives me a forum to help young boys become men. It is a place that mimics life's successes and failures.  The practice and game fields are a microcosm of life with victories and losses on each play. Other than days spent with my family, there is no place I would rather be, than on a football practice field surrounded by my guys.

I once was told that to be successful you should surround yourself with wise and successful people. Through football, I have met some of the wisest men that I know.  Men who are winners on the athletic fields and in life. I have been able to take lessons from each of them and apply them to how I live my life.  When life throws me a curveball, I often catch myself thinking about the lessons those men and the game have taught me.

Lastly, I coach football, because it gives me a chance to expand my family.  When I coach your sons, I love them as my own and expect the same things from them as I do my own.  There are days when, just like my real kids, they upset me, or I upset them.  I get to watch them grow up and become fathers and responsible citizens. I watch them use the same lessons that I started learning as a 7 year old many years ago to go about their lives and become successful.  I coach, because the bonds created by this game we love, last forever.