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coach is coach |
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by patrick cooper • • • I bet at every high school across America there's a guy everyone calls "Coach." Whether he heads up a sports team, or used to head up one, or just walks around with an old football tucked under his arm, he hears the calls of "Hey Coach" down every lawn and up every hallway. He responds with a smile and a tip of the old ballcap, and maybe a "Hey champ" or a "How ya doin', Chief?" to everyone whose name he used to remember. He's old now. At least, older than he was when he still had it going. Now the teams don't do so well, and that's hard to watch. He winces when the kids screw up, and wishes he knew what to tell them so they wouldn't do that. He used to know. Instead he'll give them a few more laps around the gym. The kids know it won't do them any good, either, but they don't say anything. It's what Coach wants them to do. Coach still has his good days. There's no doubt about that. Just when they've seemed to disappear, he rummages through what he's got under that ballcap and finds another one. Something to spark, something to encourage, something useful for a good kick in the pants. He's fond of telling stories about what he's seen, and once in a while, the present will try on the past and find it fits just right. If there isn't time for a story, or a story would be too much to tell, he'll tuck those memories back under his cap and come up with a few words to say. The kids, they may not get it when he says it, but they know he tried and that makes them try too. A few years down the road, if they haven't forgotten, they'll think of those few words and discover that they make a little sense. Not a whole lot, of course. Coach is Coach. But they make some. And, like Coach used to say, there's no 'I' in Afghan. Patrick Cooper writes irregularly updated commentary for patrickcooper.com. Related
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