PEA RIDGE — July is upon us, the final month before prep athletes begin reporting for the 2011 football campaigns in early August.
As is usual, a lot of schools or teams enter their fall seasons with hope and a belief that maybe, just maybe, this will be “the” year. “Ya Gotta Believe” has proven to be a popular slogan for bumper stickers and T-shirts with reference to a particular person’s favorite high school team.
For a fact, a team has to have a belief in their talent and ability before they can even hope to be successful.
I’ve never heard a coach say after winning a state or conference championship, “Well shucks, that sure was surprisin’. We didn’t think we had a chance.”
Belief is a word oft bandied about with varying degrees or what I would call, believability. When a person believes in something, just what does that actually mean?
Belief is, or usually is, something that is basedon facts and some hard evidence or what someone thinks is hard evidence.
Believing “in” something is much deeper than believing “on” something. For example, I know and so believe for a fact that the Pea Ridge football program has acquired the services of a couple of football coaches (Tony Travis, head coach, and new assistant Lafe Caton) who come from winning backgrounds and who actually coached in class 7A state championship games. I can also go beyond that feeling to profess a belief that something is up, that a new era is coming to Blackhawk country.
Pea Ridge hasn’t had much football success since moving up from 2A a few years ago. I’ve heard folks opine, “Well, hey ...we are so small here at Pea Ridge and we only have second- or third-rate football facilities compared to other schools in our classification, how can we compete?”
Resignation to defeat can be a hard thing to overcome.
Competing is more than just showing up. To compete successfully in anything requires that you know that you couldn’t have worked any harder or prepared any better. The changes in the football program lately has seen a sharp increase in the numbers of kids playing.
Despite coming off a 1-9 record in 2010, optimism abounds for the students of Pea Ridge. They have something to believe in, a pervasive feeling that things are getting better and are going to keep on getting better. Belief drives athletes to do their best and be their best in order to attain the best. The construction of the new indoor practice facility will havequite a positive physical and psychological effect.
Having been a longtime high school track coach, I have witnessed dozens of examples of athletes whose personal beliefs in their teammates, coaches and teams led to the accomplishment of great things. The “magic” of such beliefs is that they led the athletes to prepare physically and mentally to reach the highest levels of their potential. In the 1980s, I once coached a discus and shot putter that came from behind to win five national championships when he had the last throw. He had the belief that he was going to win and he always did when it came down to a last throw.
There is an oft-quoted remark by former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson - “You have to be lucky to win, but the harder you work, the ‘luckier’ you get.” Richardson also remarked that while he did not like losing, he truly hated to lose if it was due to poorpreparation or a lack of commitment.
There have been a lot of athletes that will be working out this summer in preparation for the fall.
The ’Hawks had perhaps their largest turnout ever for spring ball this year and coach Travis said he believed the athletes had good off season workouts during the winter. The signs are there that the ’Hawks may have their biggest turnout ever for the 2011 edition of the grid ’Hawks.
While the students have to acquire the will to win, and more importantly, the will to prepare to win, there is something required of us, the fans and community. Loud and vocal support at games by fans and supporters can actually transfer energy to the boys on the field. Big visiting crowds at road games can offset the home advantage of the opponents.
As it stands, the boys of Pea Ridge High can take confidence from the factthat they are being led by men who have made it to the top of high school football competition. They can gain resolve from the desire of the school and community to give them every possible chance to be successful with greatly improved practice facilities that came at no small cost.
With the highly successful elementary/middle school football teams of late, the high school will be gaining more and more athletes who know how to win.
I am looking forward to 2011. While great improvement is expected, they are coming from a long way down. This should be season to remember as it well could be a harbinger of things to come.
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Editor’s note: John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.
Sports, Pages 10 on 06/29/2011