Falcons 1 2 3!

Pop Warner parent night was finally held Monday night. Typically, this is done at the end of the school year so that everyone is still in town and the team can meet face to face and get instructions for how to get in shape and prepare. But, there were roster issues this year that needed to be approved by the larger governing body so things were thrown off. Consequently, I was there without my player, as was another parent, and then nearly half the rest were not there at all. No matter. A Statement was Made 🙂 Once all the League big wigs have a chance to talk, they finally introduce the coaches and release the families to go off and meet with their teams. The event is held on the high school quad. The leagues is bigger than ever this year 18 teams. I looked around at one point and saw all these groups of kids/parents/coaches scattered about the quad. Oh, I didn’t even count the cheer squads, but they were there as well. In our group, I did notice many new faces so I think most of our new players were there which is good. Coach Wolfie set the tone right away with a hearty “FALCONS!” then he claps “ONE TWO THREE” and the boys are supposed to clap with him (this is to get their attention with eyes on him). With so many new kids, it was a pretty weak response initially form the group. So he did it again after saying “Awww, c’mon now boys, let’s do this!” “FALCONS!” clap clap clap, then silence. Not just silence in our little group either. I noticed as I looked around that the teams gathered nearest to us had looked up. I heard NO other team do this! So Wolfie spoke, introduced the assistant coaches and then turned it over to them. Our Offensive line coach who has been with us for three years now and has booming voice did the same to get their attention. This time, they responded with enthusiasm the first time. He purposefully used his ‘coaching voice’ and told them to get used to hearing that. A lot! It was awesome. THEN though – our defensive coach got to talk. He is also a veteran of our group. He’s quieter though. A retired eye surgeon who is enjoying this ‘second’ family. He and his wife are the ones who talked me into getting my eyes done and it was his friend who did it for me. Anyway, Coach Lee singles out one boy who he knows from the community, but who is new to the team. Tells us that this boy thinks he can do some awesome push ups. So he tells the boy to get down and show his team what he can do. They boys starts…then Coach Lee says “Hey! FALCONS! Do we do push ups as individuals? Or as a TEAM?” So Coach Wolfie takes over and just says “DOWN!” And the rest of the boys go down and they ALL do 10 push ups as the call goes up from Wolfie and Lee “DOWN” “ONE!” “DOWN” “TWO” and so on. Now this time when I look around the entire quad is glancing at us. I am sure there were a LOT of players thanking their lucky stars they were not on Coach Wolfies team. Oh, but they are wrong. The last person to talk was the team mom who is Coache’s wife. She led them in the typical team cheer which even the new ones pick up FAST.

Who are we? FALCONS!

What do we do? HIT

How hard? HARD

GO FALCONS!

Now, that is what I call taking 10-11 year old boys – kids used to being individual players/stars in baseball, soccer, basketball, etc. and turning them into a TEAM in 15 mins flat. I am so ready for football!!