WABC Golf Outing

We wanted to pass along a note from AD Andy Tebbe:

Coaches and Parents,

The 19th annual Westfield Athletic Booster Club Golf Outing will be on Friday, June 5 at Woodwind Golf Course.  The WABC supports Westfield Athletics with over $75,000 a year on uniforms, awards, scholarships, and more.  Every sport at WHS and WMS benefits from the efforts and support of WABC.  Please consider playing and being a part of this event.  In addition to playing, there are also opportunities to be a hole sponsor and a cart sponsor.  This is a great way for your business to support Westfield Athletics.  The attached form outlines the registration process for entering a team or individual to play in the golf outing.  It also has information about being a hole sponsor.  If you are interested in being the cart sponsor please contact Andy Tebbe directly at tebbea@wws.k12.in.us

Thank you for supporting Westfield Athletics and the WABC.

Go ROCKS!

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Drive

We received the following letter from our player's family, and wanted to pass along the information. Several of our players are teaming up to take on this challenge, and we're certainly proud of their competitive spirit for a good cause.

Owen Ogle is one of 20 area high school students competing for the title of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Student of the Year by raising the most money during a 7 week campaign which ends with the Grand Finale on Saturday, March 14th. Owen is the only Westfield candidate, competing against 19 other candidates in neighboring communities (Carmel, HSE, Noblesville, Brebeuf, Cathedral, etc). But, he isn't doing this alone, a team of 10, including several teammates, are all working to help him reach his goal of raising $125,000 for LLS. We would love for the entire community, especially our football family, to rally behind Owen's team: "Owen Tackles Cancer" and help a Westfield student WIN!!! 

You can read more about the campaign and leave a donation by clicking one of the team member's link below (all team members count toward Owen's campaign):

• Owen Ogle’s page

• Kyle Atkisson's page

• Aidan Parker's page

• Jacob Riddle's page 

• Dane Wheeler's page 

Thank you for helping make a difference!

-The Ogle Family

All-State Recognition

We're very excited to have a several players make the Indiana All-State teams. It's a tough thing to do, and speaks highly of the following individuals:

Senior All-State

• Aidan Parker
• Eli Patchett

Junior/Sophomore All-State

• Bronson Kooy
• Mason Piening
• Micah Hauser

Colts Academic All-State

• Levi Kaster

Congrats! 

Ben Davis Lifting Contest

You may have already seen this shared on our other social media outlets, but I wanted to make a note of it here. Rocks work hard in the off-season, and one of the barometers for how we stack up against area competition is taking part in the local lifting contests. For several years now, we've taken part in the Ben Davis lifting contest that pits us against some of the best and strongest teams in the area. It's a great way to add a little competition into our workout routines.

This years Rocks traveled down to Ben Davis and produced an excellent showing, winning to the Tug of War competition and earning second overall as a team. Perhaps more important than the accolades were the many compliments about how positive and respectful our players were. "Victory with Honor" is one of our core values, and it's great to see this iteration of Rocks buying in and representing Westfield well.

Go Rocks!

Thank You, Dee!

This post already appeared on the athletics site, and we re-posted to our Facebook page, but we thought it important enough to deserve a re-posting here as well. We would love to have a packed house to honor Dee.

Dee Mahoney, our beloved athletic trainer, is retiring at the end of this school year. We would like to honor and celebrate her 25 years of dedication, expertise, and friendship on Friday, January 18th at the Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys Basketball doubleheader. We will have a reception area/hospitality room from 6:30-8:30 PM in a classroom next to the gym. We will also recognize her prior to the start of the varsity boys game around 7:30 PM. All former and current athletes, coaches, and parents are invited to attend to help celebrate the care and love Dee has given Shamrock Nation. This will be a great night for a great person!!

Dine to Donate

This Wednesday, at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Westfield, there's a Dine to Donate opportunity. If you dine in or carry out between 6pm and 9pm, a portion of the proceeds will go to the Shamrock Gridiron Club. Sounds like a Wednesday will be wing night!

Pizza Fundraiser at Jan's

Tonight, from 5PM to 9PM, there's a buffet at the Westfield Jan's Village Pizza. A portion of the proceeds go to our gridiron group, so if you're in the mood for pizza tonight, stop by and help us out! If you'd like more details, give them a call at the number below:

Edit: In case you are curious, we were told the price is $9.75 per person, drink included.

Kaden's Gold Glove

Kaden's site came across my desk today, and I wanted to share. One of my all-time favorite movies is Field of Dreams. In particular, the scene where he plays catch with his dad at the end gets me choked up every time. As much as I love football, there is something special about grabbing a glove and throwing a ball around with a parent. Kaden's site has the simple goal of wanting to share that special moment with as many children as possible by recycling old gloves, getting them to folks who might not otherwise have the opportunity. So whether you choose to play catch with a football or some other ball, I thought this a wonderful idea from a group just down the road in Carmel, definitely worth sharing.

This Day In Football History

We wanted to share an obscure bit of trivia. Today's Google Doodle celebrates what would have been the 127th birthday of Wilder Penfield. While you may not have known of him, he was a 20th century neurosurgeon who contributed to much of what we know understand about brain function.

Penfield was born in the US but lived most of his adult life in Canada. His list of academic achievements are too long to list, but include Membership in the Royal Society (who also counts among its members Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Charles Darwin, and a dude named Stephen Hawking).

Oh....and here is a picture of him when he played football at Princeton. A sub freshman on the 1911 National championship team (which, according to Google, only allowed 15 points that season), he also was named head coach in 1914 and lead the Tigers to a 5-2-1 record. In the middle of the season, Penfield was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for the following year, and he was accepted for admission to Merton College, which granted him special permission to defer his entrance until the end of the autumn of 1914 so that he might fulfill his coaching responsibilities at Princeton.

After completion of medical school and embarking upon his career as a medical professional, Penfield came to realize that he could not carry out an effective approach to knowledge of the human brain and make use of that knowledge all by himself. He began to dream of organizing an institute where neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neuro-pathologists would work together with the kind of team work he had learned as football player and coach. This led him to Montreal, Canada, where he joined the medical faculty of McGill University while also working as a surgeon at two different hospitals. If that weren't enough, he would go on to found the Montreal Institute of Neurology which became a respected center for neurological research and treatment worldwide. In his later years, Penfield penned at autobiography entitled No Man Alone, a phrase repeated frequently in the book to underline his emphasis on the team approach to neurological research and treatment.

It's pretty cool to think that maybe the most important neurosurgeon of 20th century played and coached Div 1 football. Not only that, but that the impact the game had on him played a key role in his approach throughout the rest of his life and many achievements.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Penfield!

(For further reading on Wilder Penfield, we found most of our information above in a great article here, as well as a Wikipedia entry here.)

2017 IFCA All State Rocks

Congratulations to the following Rocks who were chosen for IFCA All-State honors:

• Matt Robinson - OL
• Koby Hauser - DB
• Colin Caldwell - LB

Very proud to have two seniors and one junior recognized statewide!

Midland Rail Video

A good handful of stuff has come across my desk today, so I'll be sharing in multiple postings. First, we were pointed to some pretty awesome video footage of the varsity game against Noblesville. It sort of functions as a quick recap of the game with a sweet instrumental laid over top. Definitely give it a watch:

Westfield vs Noblesville HS Football - 9.8.17 from CarisDesign on Vimeo.

Stacked Shamrocks

Westfield's Stacked Pickle is doing a promo for the football team. From 4pm to 9pm tomorrow, if you stop in, have a bite to eat, and mention you are there for the Rocks, then our booster club gets a slice of the pie. These fine folks help us out with all sorts of stuff throughout the year, so please stop by! You have to eat anyway, right?

Announcement: BW3's on Wednesday

BW3's in Westfield is doing a promo for us on Wednesday night. All orders, dine in or carry out, between 6-9pm will donate 20% to the Shamrock Booster Club. Considering that we're facing the Cardinals this Friday, I'd say it's a great week to feast on some fried bird. So, head out to B-dubs on Wednesday and support your Rocks!

Shamrock Day Shenanigans

Looking for something to do on St. Patty's Day? Check out what is going on at Grand Park:

Click for larger view.

Regional Stream

Also of note, if you are not able to make it to the stadium, it looks like the IHSAA is streaming our game live here: http://www.ihsaatv.com/

Go Rocks!

Green Out T-Shirts!

By the way, tonight is a "green out," and up until 6pm, our friends at My Logo Shop have a sale on playoff Tshirts. Snag a free third down rally rag with purchase. Might as well pick one up on the way to the game, right? Check it out:

It's sort of off the beaten path, so I thought a map was in order:

Good Bet, Mr. Russel...

Clipped the following from the Hamilton County Reporter. Green is always a good choice:

Shamrock Solidarity

We're big fans of both the WHS volleyball team and Hamilton County First Responders. So, imagine our enthusiasm when they told us about an upcoming opportunity to celebrate both on the same night. We wanted to pass along the information to the rest of you. The contest is this Thursday. For more details, check out the flyer below.

Stacked Shamrocks

Our community is growing by leaps and bounds these days. Grand Park is bringing in a ton of new businesses, and one of those has partnered with our Gridiron Club to tie a fundraiser to their grand opening. Food is free (!) and free-will donations will go to our Gridiron Club. It will be a limited menu, but what a cool way to open! Please consider stopping by to support both the Stacked Pickle and your Rocks.

Here's the full flier:

Life Lessons

I was able to get the game schedule added to the calendar today, so that is up there now as well. Check it out, and plan to come support your Rocks. (Of particular note... two Frosh Saturday games this season!)

In addition, Coach G wanted me to share an article today that talks about the life lessons learned from football. I 100% agree with the author's assertion that, with so much negatively publicity on the sport, it seems that a lot of the positive aspects of football are being overlooked. This is us doing our part to shine a light on those aspects. Please consider checking out the article here.