Sporting Padula Soccer Academy

News Detail

15

Mar, 2013

NL FLAG 2013 - FINAL THOUGHTS

(Long Post-Kick your feet up and enjoy!)

In 2001 I thought it would be a good idea to start a camp business to teach the game of football to the youth in our area. I wanted a business name that was concise and told a story. I thought that the phrase “Next Level” would be perfect for the message I wanted to send to the youth in our area. Through my experiences as a youth player in football and baseball, in high school at De La Salle, college ball at San Jose State and the University of Texas-Austin, I felt I could help kids/parents understand what life is like at the Next Level. Through my tenure at Serra High School over the past 12 seasons I am constantly reminded about the life lessons I have learned along the way and feel honored to be able to impart these lessons to the Serra community, our Next Level Flaggers and beyond. As you know and have seen, the game of football is my passion. It is my passion not because of the game itself but what we all can learn from it—In Wins and Losses. Good Seasons and Bad Seasons-At De La Salle the teams I played on in four years lost 1 football game. In my four years at San Jose State we won 11…Total! Coach Ladouceur my mentor and guide from De La Salle always told us, “Football doesn’t build character, it REVEALS character.”

In 2012 the Next Level Wolverines played in the inaugural season’s 1st Grade Super Sunday Game. My young son William was super excited and nervous about the game. I liked that he showed that he cared and was emotional and not just another game. It was important to him. As I mentioned earlier in the year to all of you, secretly I was hoping the Wolverines would lose the game. Sounds crazy but its true. I wanted my son to deal with adversity. Next Level is a one trophy league. The champions get a trophy, the rest of the league does not. This is life at the Next Level. The boys are young right now but someday they won’t be and life lessons can be taught along the journey to adulthood. I believe every experience in the classroom, in sports, in society are teachable moments.

I wanted our team to lose in 2012 (I made no calls to secure this prophecy Wolverine Friends) so I could have a teachable moment for my son. I wanted to see how he reacted. Secretly I wanted him to cry if they lost. I wanted him to be able to show his care and concern for his teammates. I wanted him to feel that empty feeling of being close to the top but not getting there. I wanted him to see another team get the trophy and celebrate and handle himself with dignity and respect. I wanted him to begin to learn one of my favorite quotes from one my favorite people in all of History President Teddy Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

I wanted my son to understand that life is not always going to deal you a straight flush every hand. You might get a two, ten off-suit. Then what? At the Next Level the only shame is failing while NOT daring greatly.

Fast Forward to last Sunday. The 2nd Grade Longhorns found themselves in the Championship game again. This time, secretly, I wanted to see the Longhorns win (I made no calls to secure this prophecy Jayhawks Friends). After the sadness of the loss in 2012 I wanted to see how the boys would react to the season in 2013. I believe the adversity of 2012 helped the Longhorn boys get to the top of the mountain and finally scale the mountain top vs a very well coached Bollinger Father/Son tag team in the Jayhawks who happened to win the trophy in 2012. Its for this very reason, so close to my own home, that we are a one trophy league.

No matter what happened to your team this season parents, find the teachable moments. I played for the THE best youth baseball coach in the country in my dad Charles Walsh (huge help to us this NL Flag season) growing up. I played for THE best coach in the history of High School sports at De La Salle Bob-Ladouceur. I played for THE best coach in the history of College Baseball in Auggie Garrido at the University of Texas. (Top 3 at least). I played for 100′s of coaches in my lifetime some real good and some not so good. I learned something from each and every one of them. I learned how to win excessively and I have learned how to deal with the pain and disappointment of excessive losing. All of these lessons as helped guide the young men under our care here at Serra. I urge you once again parents: Find the Teachable Moments!

In my opinion, in an area where our kids have everything and in a time where it is our duty to make sure our children’s lives are hopefully better than our own we must remember that struggle and pain are part of the growing process. I love my two boys more than anything in the world (except my wife Lindsay of course) and I pray daily for God to show me the way to become a better parent. When we had our first born I learned quickly that there was no manual that came out of the birthing process titled, “How to raise a child.” And even though when our children feel pain we feel it 10 times over I am always reminded of the struggle of the butterfly. Click Here to read this great parable. Through the lessons learned this season, both good and bad, I hope this program has helped in some small way in the quest to have all of our kids take flight.

One final note: The 2nd Grade Baylor Bears got crushed all season long. Coach Malouf and Zack Kazakoff (A great Serra Padre) did a miraculous job of keeping the spirits up for the 0-9 Bears. They showed up every Sunday with smiles on their faces eager to compete again. I could see from their faces and even heard chatter on a weekly basis…”This is the week! This is it!” Week after week that elusive win never came until last Sunday when they finally put it all together! The joy and happiness from field four was equal to any field at that moment. That is life at the Next Level! Great job Bears. The 4th Grade Ducks also tasted their 1st victory on the final Sunday of the year. Congrats to your crew as well!

Many of you said, “Man I bet you are relieved now that the season is over!” I thought that over and I can honestly say that Sunday March 3rd was met with disappointment for me. I loved the 2013 Flag Season so much I did not want to see it end. Thanks to all of you who volunteered and made this best program for youth in our area. Thank you for all of the compliments you have shared with our team and forgive me for all of my failures. I promise to do better next year! Lance Smith and Charles Walsh without you guys this league would not run as smoothly as it does every Sunday!

Until Next Time,

Coach W