3 minute read
“BE A MAN”: WHAT IT MEANS ON THE GRIDIRON
“Be a man” are the three scariest words for a boy to hear. Crying and expressing your emotions at a young age is unacceptable in our society. Young boys are often told to “man up” without knowing what that means.
With the recruitment of new Head Coach Kadeem Rodgers, the boys on the football team quickly found out what being a man really means.
-Kadeem Rodgers
Ted Talk, “Be A Man.” “Being a man doesn’t have a single thing to do with athletic ability, size, strength… What’s it mean to be a man? It means you can look someone in the eye and say ‘I love you’ and receive that love back,” Ehrmann explained.
As the video ended, Coach Rodgers flipped on the lights and began to read his mission statement aloud: “Our mission is to impact the world by helping boys become good men.
Players that matriculate through our program will understand that their role as a father, husband, and community member is far more important than any football score.”
Football became more than just an afternoon option or sport to the team that day, and we began to work harder for each other in every drill. We started to understand how we can use what we learn on the field to become a better person in our community, friendships, and families.
Being members of the football team on campus, redesigning what it really means to “be a man” starts with us. So many young men take part in the sport, giving us an opportunity to reshape how boys view and play the sport.
In our first home game of the 2021 season, we found ourselves down 7-19 at halftime. We ended up winning 20-19 that day, and I have never seen more love for one another following a game. There was no trash-talking or disrespect towards the other team; there was only love and respect for those players and for each other.
Because of Coach Rodgers, the football team cultivated love for each other instead of hate for our opponent. We kept ourselves accountable for our jobs on the field and maintained an unbreakable love for each of our brothers. Football taught us how much a person can love and how powerful it is to be loved by your teammates. The ability to love and accept love granted us the ultimate gift: being men on the football team at Episcopal.
