Tuesday, October 6, 2009

We Were Lucky!

When we lost Coach Armstrong we were sure that all hope for a great season was lost. Coach Al Rotella came to us in LaFollette, Tennessee as a our head coach. He was different.

We first noticed that he did not own an automobile. He was dependent on someone else getting him to and from the high school. He and his wife had a large family. It was important to him to have them in church every Sunday.

He was a very big man, but he could move fast. He was very friendly. We liked him as a person, but we missed Coach Armstrong, who had made us a winning team.

It did not take Coach Rotella long to make us forget about Coach Armstrong. He expected a great deal from us. After he led us through our first day of exercise, it was hard for us to get out of bed the next morning. Every muscle in our body hurt. He put each of us in a position and taught us a several running and passing plays. He told us that each of us had a very important role to play. He revealed to us that every play is designed to go for a touchdown if every player executed his assignment. Therefore, we knew that everyone had an important job to do each time the ball was in play.

He was always helping us to look on the positive side. In the heat of a hard practice, he would stop us and say, "Look around you at the mountains. Thousands of people come from all over the country every year to see these mountains. They spend millions of dollars to get here. You get to see them everyday for free. Enjoy them."

When we were preparing for an important game with Lake City, one of our strongest rivalries, he asked us why in the past our team lost so many times to the "Blue Devils." Someone spoke up and said, "It is because they are lucky!" Coach Rotella said, "You are right. The lucky team always wins. What is that makes a team lucky?" We could not answer him. Then he quoted Thomas Jefferson, one of our country's founding fathers. Someone asked Jefferson, "Why is it when we are in a battle with the English they seem to have all the luck?" Jefferson answered, "To win battles it is important to be prepared to fight. You have to have a plan, and every soldier has an important job to do. Yet when all is said and done, luck does play a role in who wins. Therefore, I have studied why it is that some persons have more luck than others, and I have come to the conclusion that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." Every year Al Rotella was our coach, LaFollette had a winning season. We even completed one season undefeated. We were lucky!

Biblical Guide: "God blessed the seventh day, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation(Genesis 1:31).

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