BEHIND THE LENS - October 12, 2007 -

Football Stars For Tomorrow - www.storkmontgomery.com

Choose your own path
Know your limitations and do what you like
Have fun and enjoy

Well Region 4-5A was off on fall break last week, so we all won! But now this is where the rubber meets the road. The second half of the season, they all have meaning from now until the end. I have three topics to ponder, so let's jump in and get going.

Choose your own path
Sometimes I get calls from parents asking me my opinion on what Joe Johnnie ought to do when it comes to playing sports. His mother wants him to play baseball and his daddy wants him to play football.

I always end up in one of these debates every year. I always say "Put Joe Johnnie on the phone". After all it's his career and he needs to be the one to choose.

I think a lot of parents get wrapped around the axle on which direction to point the compass. At the end of the day Joe Johnnie needs to chase his own dreams and plot his own course.

To the adults that read this rag, think back to the DAY O when your dad wanted you to pursue a career in farming. That is one thing that my brother and I always had the same opinion on, if all else fails, sell the farm first. We both quickly learned that farming was not in any of our future plans.

Know your limitations and do what you like
Whatever you do in life always try to find something that suits you. If you are not happy with the current status, then you need to work on change.

If you are an offensive lineman and would love to play on the defensive side of the ball, then work on it. I mean you can't switch in the middle of the season, but you can plan your change for the end. Everybody wants to play Quarterback but we all can't play Quarterback.

It is no different in the real world. There are certain people in the company that you work for who are born leaders. Then there are some who just need to be sacked. When I was young I always wanted to be a manager, not anymore. I know my limitations, I know what suits me and I love what I do.

Show me somebody who loves their job, happy with their family and more than likely I bet they are successful. Show me someone who is miserable with their job and all the opposite things will follow from the above statement.
The end of this topic is the same as the beginning. Know your limitations and do what you like.

Have fun and enjoy
Ole Notre Dame finally beat the Sisters of the Poor. If you look real close at the UCLA vs. Notre Dame game you will see that I was the one playing Quarterback for UCLA :-).

I don't mean on Notre Dame, but you guys are way too serious about reality. When the season starts in the tank and things start to fly out of control, you need to make the best of it. If you keep riding yourself and your teammates because of the losses that are piling up, it's only going to get worse.

Morale is a big part of success. Reality is in the topic above. If your coach keeps yelling and screaming when the record is 0-6, then he is not much of a coach. As a coach you need to settle things down and tell the kids that life goes on.

I have a great friend who played college football for four years. He won one game. This guy's morale was still solid even though his team only won one game in four years. All of the coaches that directed that team are no longer coaching. They took it way to serious. The definition of coaching is not to yell and scream. The definition of a true coach is the ability to raise a participant's normal skill level to a higher one.

If your season is spiraling out of control, try to smile and have fun. I promise that things will get better.

That's A Wrap
Well that's a wrap.

All of the rest of the games really count big from here on out.

We got Oakland coming into the Dog Pound tomorrow night and if we play Bulldog football then we should be OK. The weather has changed and is a little more like football. It will be a crispy one tomorrow night and I look forward to capturing all the highlights. Until next week, be good.

As always, if you see us at the game, give a shout or wave.

God bless and Take Care.

From Behind The Lens.
The Stork
“A man who truly delivers”

Football Stars For Tomorrow - www.storkmontgomery.com