This is an open letter to thank high school strength and conditioning coaches everywhere. Your tireless efforts and dedication to helping high school kids build character and discipline in the weight room is commendable and certainly not acknowledged enough. But I know you’re not in it for the recognition, and certainly not for the money! Many of you who devote hours upon hours after school are usually coaches of other sports and because you care about your team and the success of each player, you volunteer your time during the off-season and make sure those athletes don’t ever give up on bettering themselves and their teams. It must be a thankless, monotonous job to stay so long after your official workday is over, but somehow you always seem to pull out a second wind and inspire us to show up and work hard too. So thank you, coaches everywhere, for giving us your own time, for holding us accountable, for setting a positive example, and for teaching us how hard work pays off to reach goals.
YOU may be the reason that a young man or woman gets a chance to play sports at a college he or she otherwise could not afford. YOU may be the reason he or she stays off the streets and out of trouble just enough to stay focused on their sports and grades. YOU may be the reason that your team starts clicking together and the kids realize they are really part of something bigger than themselves, a lesson that will help them throughout their sports careers and beyond – helping them be better sons, daughters, friends, husbands, wives, business leaders, Soldiers, mentors, and citizens. For all that you do in the weight room, thank you.
On a personal note, I would like to thank the football and wrestling coaches who dedicated hours and hours to hosting open gym workouts and training {even the female} athletes who weren’t even on their teams at Hobart High School, in NW Indiana. All my life I want to be a Brickie. You have no idea the difference you made in my life, thank you.
