format.

Sorry about how the format is a paragraph. I should probably fix that. Nothing makes a story better than a space between thoughts.

my kids.

The high school I work at has amazing kids. We had a varsity football game last Friday at Millsap. It is a two and half hour drive. And yet we had so many fans and the guys pulled off a great win. Here is an email from the Principal at that school and what she had to say about the high school I work at: "I would like to commend the students of Crawford High Sschool on their behavior at both games - the JV and the varsity - against Millsap High School this week. I just happened to be walking behind the varsity players as they were going from the high school to the football field. I was highly impressed with the discipline they displayed during that time. Throughout the day on Friday - after our return from Crawford the previous evening - and continuing into the evening, I had MHS fans coming up to me, telling me what respectful players and students you all had. Each had a story of an encounter with a CHS student or group of students and/or the coaches, and each one told their story with great excitement and awe - many saying they had never seen such disciplined/respectful kids! And I recall receiving the same compliments from our fans of your students/athletes after we played you all last year. It is a testament to the leadership portrayed by you all that so many people have so many nice things to say about your youth. I wish I knew your secret! Congratulations on your win last night . . . we wish you continued success as the year progresses." Kayce Haenisch Principal, Millsap High School How awesome is that?

Friday Night Blackout.

Last night my high school boys played a wonderful first half. At halftime, the score was 28-0. Some of them were having a bad games and not getting the tackle or catching the ball but the other guys would pick up the slack and cover for those players. During halftime, I actually got to sit and didn't have to re-tape any guys or check any injuries. The most that happened was that a lineman got his ankle stepped on and his sock ripped. It actually was quite painful for him but there was no ligament damage so I really wasn't too worried about keeping him from playing. And then we start the second half. We're not doing that great really, but we're holding them. And then all of a sudden with six minutes to go in the third quarter, the lights go out. No joke. We are in complete darkness. I'm standing next to one of the guys, freak out, step closer to him and put my arms on him. I then realized what I was doing, let go and walked away. Yeah, I was embarrassed. But I was told later by some other football players that they were scared, too. That made me feel better. Apparently, one of the circuits blew. For twenty minutes, we are in blackness. Luckily, the whole town was there, meaning we had an electrician out there who was able to figure everything out. We finished the game and let them score two touchdowns on us, to which we responded with a wonderful thirty yard throw to a wide receiver who was able to get in the end zone. We won. We're awesome. I know I talk about my players a lot. But I am going to the fair tonight. I know I'll have to have some stories about that.

Bye Week

Today is Saturday and I am putting off studying for a somewhat very important test next week and taking a moment to comment on my life. Last night, I didn't have a high school football game because it was a bye week. It was much needed. My guys are falling apart right now. Hopefully the extra days of minimal hitting helped them and next week will be great. Sometimes its hard to get in my car and drive to Crawford everyday. But when I get there, it just makes sense. I could see my self doing this until I burn out. Which could be soon. Athletic trainers have to put a lot in to prove themselves, for minimal compensation. And at the same time, I am very limited in what I can do. Do you know what I wish? That I had x-ray vision so that I could tell people with 100% accuracy that they have a broken bone. It would save the families money and just be awesome. In the last week, I have found out that four people have broken something. Really maybe five, but there was too much swelling for the x-ray machine to correctly identify a fracture. In most of the cases, I told the kid that it's probably not fractured. Whoops. And really one of them was only a buckle fracture, which basically means the bone bent. In my opinion, that's not a real fracture. I just need to keep reminding myself, I have only been doing this for two months. I should not expect perfection. Just my best.