Alright, so today I gotta talk about putting together this New Season Church Hill Middle School Football Roster and figuring out the whole coach situation. Man, it was way more of a headache than I thought it’d be.
First Off: The Roster Mess
Started off simple enough, right? Got all the permission slips and forms sent out to parents. Kids gotta be cleared to play. Thought everyone would be quick about it. Nope. Chased down parents for weeks. Called some folks twice a day, practically begged. Got one kid’s grandma trying to fax the form over – who even has a fax machine anymore? Ended up missing like three names until the day before the physicals. Total nightmare.
Then came actually putting the list together. Needed names, positions, jersey numbers, parent contacts – the works. Used that old spreadsheet template from last year. Excel crashed twice on me. Lost half the data once. Almost threw my laptop out the window. Finally got it into a halfway decent PDF. Sent it off to the principal for proofing. Got it back covered in red pen marks. Typos everywhere. Felt like I failed third grade spelling. Fixed it up, resent. Finally got the official roster printed and taped to the athletic office window.
The Coach Disaster
This part almost broke me. Thought we had Coach Davis locked in again. Dude knows his stuff. Then boom, two weeks before practice starts, he emails saying he moved to Florida. Retired. Left us high and dry. Panic mode activated. Started calling around.
- Tried that gym teacher from Lincoln Middle. He said his bad back wouldn’t handle it.
- Called up my buddy Mike. Told me he has night shifts now.
- Even reached out to that loud dad who thinks he knows everything. Turned out he was banned after the ref incident last season. Oops.
Seriously running out of options. Was about ready to coach the dang team myself. Then remembered old Mr. Harrison down the street. Retired, used to coach varsity back in the day. Kinda scary, but knows football. Called him up, begged. Took him three days to decide. Thought it was a no. But he finally called back. Said yes. Thank. Goodness. Signed him up before he could change his mind.
Met with him last Monday. Laid out his basic plan:
- Focus on fundamentals first two weeks. No fancy plays. Just tackling right and learning plays.
- Conditioning hard. Said these kids need wind if they’re gonna last four quarters.
- Wants Friday after-practice film sessions. Thinks it helps.
- Made it clear, no parent interference during practice. That might cause some drama later.
So Yeah, Here We Are
Roster’s finally solid. Looks good on paper anyway. Practice starts Monday bright and early. Coach Harrison is all set, grumpy attitude and all. Just praying we have enough kids show up consistently. You know how it is – half seem pumped, half get pulled for piano lessons or whatever. Honestly? Just glad the paperwork and coach chaos is done. Now the real fun begins…or the real stress, probably both.