This past season the Blue Springs High School Wildcats football team finished the year with a 9-3 record and as conference champions and Class 6 district champions. But it is their championship impact off the field that is making headlines throughout their communities. For the past three years players and coaches have gone to a local soup kitchen that serves the homeless community in Kansas City and helped raise the hopes of many struggling families. These annual life changing experiences have led coaches and players to discuss ways they can expand on their community efforts, and in doing so found a willing and motivated partner. The Child Reach Ministries is a community organization dedicated to providing hope to children living in desperate conditions on the margins of society. Child Reach is leading the way on the construction of Hannah's Hope orphanage in the town of Chilca, Peru (about an hour south of Lima) with its mission aimed toward finding homes for over 600,000 abandoned children. A year ago, the BSHS coaches and senior football players joined the cause and made the trip to Peru to help break ground and begin the process of building an orphanage, and the hopes of all the children there.
This year 13 Wildcat seniors will take the impactful trip to Peru which is scheduled for June 18th-26th accompanied by defensive backs coach Matt Marble. Seniors Kyle Brown, Deoindre Hall, Cole Jones, Marcus Brown, David Johnson, Tyler Ray, Chris White, Chance Walker, Kendall Sullivan, Corey Majors, Bret Myers, Shelby Foster and Jacob Clark look to continue the work started by their teammates. Joining Coach Marble on the leadership committee are Wendall Fuimaono (Assistant Principal at BSHS-former football coach), Brett Shamblin (former Pittsburg State football player), Marcus DeBoer (Kuyper University student and middle school basketball coach). The orphanage is expected to house anywhere between 48-60 children at one time, with a nursery to meet the needs of babies. With over 600,000 children still in need of food and homes, the work is still far from finished. The Child Reach ministries and the Blue Springs High School football family are well aware of the work that still lie ahead, and look to continue their partnership for years to come.
The amazing story does not end there. When the senior football players have time to spare, they spend it playing soccer and other fun filled games with the very children they are building the orphanage for. The coaches and players also document their daily activities and experiences in personal blogs they share with students, classmates and family back home. It is an awareness and life lesson they all share, that is filled with a selflessness that goes beyond any touchdown, any win on the field or any championship at the end of a long season. It is the gift of giving that bonds these young men and the fine leaders and coaches who help and act alongside them. The Blue Springs High School football program is setting the example for all to follow, and the children of Peru are undoubtedly grateful for their efforts.
By Ephraim Vega
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Evolution of High School Sports
When you think about how sports has evolved on a professional level, it's hard not to find a trickle down effect to today's younger audience. The modern athlete for instance, is generally viewed as a hot dog for self promotion. One can still separate the images of a humble Barry Sanders handing the football over to an official after a game breaking touchdown, against Chad Ochocinco's "dancing with the stars" rendition of attention grabbing after his trip to the end zone. To say that there is a difference in the generational gap of sports fans and athletes alike is quite simply an understatement. Even more understated could be the cause and effect of how college or even high school athletes are influenced to emulate today's stars.
Let us begin with what the root causes for today's athletes are as opposed to the heroes of yesteryear. Society as a whole was much more conservative twenty plus years ago. My father cheered for the humble, hard working and blue color athletes such as Joe DiMaggio and Roberto Clemente. My old man represented to me what the sports genre was attracted to, by whom the transcended stars were. Today the most popular star athletes are entertainers perhaps more so then they are winners. Great athletes of the 1920's through the 1980's were for all intent and purposes champions. Defined by how they performed in the most crucial and intense moments. That is not to say that all of today's athletes are not driven to be great, it's just that the overall picture is magnified as such. For instance take Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. Both multiple championship athletes who do nothing to draw attention to themselves, save for win.
When attending a local high school sporting event it is easy to see the effect or "me first" mentality at play. From watching a young senior baseball player stand and pose after a home run swing, Alla Barry Bonds, to watching a junior running back break a long run for a touchdown and celebrate by posing for imaginary pictures as did Lebron James when he was a Cleveland Cavaliers player (now with the Miami Heat). High school sports in general has the dubious advantage of better equipment, training methods and advancement of health education. Today's high school athlete is bigger and faster, and with that maybe more confident. The tricky aspect of it all is the fine line between confidence and cockiness.
In retrospect, today's professional athletes were at one time high school players of multiple sports. Their influences were the classical athletes of past times, legends of the game that they chose to veer away from in respect for the game. Today coaches have the opportunity to teach and influence high school athletes in the manner of respect for the games they play and the players that they compete against. And again, while not all of today's athletes are show boats or "me first" players, there are far to many that need back on that right path. That path which we as adults refer to as respectable, can only be earned through knowledge of how the athletes of yesteryear carried themselves. How they influenced our dads and moms and how they influenced our generation, and more importantly how these young men can and will influence those that come after them.
Let us begin with what the root causes for today's athletes are as opposed to the heroes of yesteryear. Society as a whole was much more conservative twenty plus years ago. My father cheered for the humble, hard working and blue color athletes such as Joe DiMaggio and Roberto Clemente. My old man represented to me what the sports genre was attracted to, by whom the transcended stars were. Today the most popular star athletes are entertainers perhaps more so then they are winners. Great athletes of the 1920's through the 1980's were for all intent and purposes champions. Defined by how they performed in the most crucial and intense moments. That is not to say that all of today's athletes are not driven to be great, it's just that the overall picture is magnified as such. For instance take Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. Both multiple championship athletes who do nothing to draw attention to themselves, save for win.
When attending a local high school sporting event it is easy to see the effect or "me first" mentality at play. From watching a young senior baseball player stand and pose after a home run swing, Alla Barry Bonds, to watching a junior running back break a long run for a touchdown and celebrate by posing for imaginary pictures as did Lebron James when he was a Cleveland Cavaliers player (now with the Miami Heat). High school sports in general has the dubious advantage of better equipment, training methods and advancement of health education. Today's high school athlete is bigger and faster, and with that maybe more confident. The tricky aspect of it all is the fine line between confidence and cockiness.
In retrospect, today's professional athletes were at one time high school players of multiple sports. Their influences were the classical athletes of past times, legends of the game that they chose to veer away from in respect for the game. Today coaches have the opportunity to teach and influence high school athletes in the manner of respect for the games they play and the players that they compete against. And again, while not all of today's athletes are show boats or "me first" players, there are far to many that need back on that right path. That path which we as adults refer to as respectable, can only be earned through knowledge of how the athletes of yesteryear carried themselves. How they influenced our dads and moms and how they influenced our generation, and more importantly how these young men can and will influence those that come after them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)