Junior/Senior

They all say that your four years of high school will be the fastest years of your life.  As a Freshman I said no way, but now as an almost senior I am one of those people saying those words.

All year long I kept saying I am so ready for this year to be over. Now that it is almost over it feels like just yesterday when I was setting my alarm for the first day of school.  This year was filled with so many memories, good and bad.  Moving into a new house, having an undefeated season and making it to the second round of the state playoffs in soccer, making straight A's, not having more than one snow day, and gettting an iPhone are definitely the highlights of this past year.  However, dissecting a pig, backing into a trailor with my car, suffering through my last year of history, and having to say goodbye to some amazing senior friends are memories I would have been fine without making.  Many people say their junior year is their hardest, but mine was fairly easy.  No class was to overwhelming that I just wanted to lay down and cry. Well, maybe sometimes.  But I had some of the best teachers in this past year that I have ever had my whole life to help me through it.

Only three words come to mind when I think about my senior year. Off campus lunch!  Being the oldest in the school with the most "power" is exciting and all, but as long as I have off campus lunch I am not worried about much more.  Since we will not have to make them up, the only other thing that I am praying we have is a lot of snow days. May I gain twenty pounds from actual edible food and let it snow! Bring on senior year!

Me and Survival

I have never thought much about myself being put in a life or death situation until being recently asked the question, "To what extint would you go to guarentee your survival?"  Having to think for a little while, I began to answer this seemingly simple question.

Ever since I was little I was told what to do if a stranger was trying to kidnap me.  My mom and dad always told me scream as loud as I could "You're not my mom (or dad)." To kick, to thrash, to throw a fit loud and wild enough to make a scene.  It was my parents job then to protect me.  Now that I am older I must protect myself. If I were to get grabbed I would kick, scream, bite, hit, and practically do anything to get free.  However, if I was not able to free myself I would then turn to God and pray with all my heart that He would protect and comfort me.

If put in the situation of drowing or burning in a fire, so many thoughts come to mind. When drowing, my biggest fear, I know I would be anything but calm and collected. I would try to grab anything or anyone to help pull me up. Trapped inside a burning building is another one of my biggest fears. If all exits were blocked and there was no way out except through a window thirty feet up in the air, I would jump. I would take the risk of breaking every bone in my body to survive over buring alive without even a second thought.

After thinking about my own survival, I then begin to think about if I ever had to save my family or friends. Would I put my own life at risk to save theirs?  What if I failed and we both died? So many questions came to mind.  Even though the thought scares me, I believe if the ones I loved were in a life or death situation that I would try to do something to save them.  Even if I died along with them I fully believe that it is worth it to at least try.

Survivor Synthesis Essay: Coaching

Six-Word-Slant

• Coaching- teaching, trusting, disciplining, encouraging,pushing.

140-Character-Claim

• High school coaches can survive the ups and downs by creating a form of trust with his/her players and inspiring them in all that they do. (138 characters)

Essay

In Jack London’s book, The Call of the Wild, Buck, a St. Bernard-Scotch shepherd dog, has many coaches along his journey.  However, the only “coach” he works hard for is John Thorton.  John Thorton is the only man who proved himself to Buck by saving his life and treating him as a true companion. The relationship between John Thorton and Buck can be compared to the coach/player relationship.  High school coaches can survive the ups and downs by creating a form of trust with his/her players and inspiring them in all that they do.

To be a successful coach one must work to create a strong form of trust between herself or himself and their players. In a recent interview with Johnathon Burgess, Batesville High School girls head soccer and girls assistant volleyball coach, he declares, “You spend a lot of time with your players throughout the year and if you give them a reason not to trust you then they probably won’t enjoy playing for you, which could lead to a lack of effort on the field.” Trust is one of the most important things two people can have.  Slipping up one time could not only ruin that relationship between the two people, but  could also hurt the entire team’s season.  Trusting each other fully, a player and coach will put out their best effort when on the field and sidelines. Columnist, Patrick Hite, reports in his article, “Parents driving coaches away from game,” “Bennett and his coaching staff were questioned by parents about something after every game.” In the same way that a player and coach must have a bond of trust, so must a coach and the player’s parents. I am not saying they need to have the same type of relationship that a coach has with his or her players, but they need to trust that each other are doing the best thing for each athlete. The first step to surviving coaching is having a form of trust between the coach, his or her athletes, and to some degree the athlete’s parents. “Trust is a very important factor” and with mistrust comes the early cessation of a team’s season and the chance of advancing to the state playoffs.

It is not unwonted for every athlete to be inspired by someone or something, and a coach has to be that someone. Again Burgess adds, “Athletes will learn a lot from their coach throughout high school, mainly because they spend so much time with them each day. I get plenty of opportunities to try to teach and mentor my athletes and I try to give the best advice I can to them while being a positive role model.” A good coach, as their athlete’s role model, will inspire them to be better in every way in their life, “On and off the field.” Not to mention the fact that they will show more respect during practices, huddles, games, timeouts, and later on in life even after they graduate. In B. Mackenzie’s article, “Coaching Principles,” she uses a quote from Richard Caborn MP, UK Minister for Sport who claims, “They [coaches] are the people who motivate, encourage, and inspire.” Whether athletes realize this now or not, coaches have a huge impact on their lives. Everything they learned from their coaches in high school they will take with them the rest of their lives. Inspiring players on and off the field will be a huge factor in whether or not a coach is successful.

On the other hand, whether or not a coach will survive depends on how many wins a team has in his or her coaching season. In Clay Travis’ article, “Derek Dooley Loses 11th Coach in One Offseason,” he writes, “None of them left for better jobs. It's simple, they have no faith in Derek Dooley's ability to win football games at Tennessee. Or in Dooley's future as a coach at the university.” Nobody likes a losing team, and they sure do not like to be a part of one. Who cares if a coach inspires his players and has a certain bond of trust with them that nobody else has if they are losing? The only thing that will help a coach survive is if he or she is getting the W’s down on paper by the coach doing whatever it takes to come out ahead.  However, Mackenzie again states, “Being a good coach is not just about having excellent sports-specific and technical knowledge.”  A coach should be hired not just by his or her ability to win, but by their character and how they are going to be able to lead the adolescence of our society into becoming adults. What teenagers learn while they are in high school is not transient, but will carry on with them for the rest of their lives out into the whole wide world.

As a coach is to his or her team so is a parent to a child and a teacher to a student. A person may not “officially” be a coach, but everyone at some point is a mentor to someone else.  This calls for self-examination in terms of being a positive or negative influence.

 Work Cited

Hite, Patrick. "Parents Driving Coaches Away from Game." The News Leader. 05 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://newsleader.com/article/20120205/SPORTS/202050332/Parents-driving-coaches-away-from-game>.

"Interview Questions with Johnathon Burgess." Message to the author. 03 May 2012. E-mail.

Mackenzie, B. "Coaching Principles." Coaching Principles. 1997. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.brianmac.co.uk/coaching.htm>.

Travis, Clay. "Derek Dooley Loses 7th Coach In One Offseason : Outkick The Coverage." Derek Dooley Loses 7th Coach In One Offseason : Outkick The Coverage. 02 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://outkickthecoverage.com/derek-dooley-loses-7th-coach-in-one-offseason.php>.