What is a family? What brings people so close together that they do everything for each other and not for themselves? The answer is a bond between people or teammates towards a common goal that wants to be achieved. This year a new family was created at Kennedy High School.
The idea came from Kansas State University. Their football team uses a block of wood with the word family on it to bring their team and fan base together. This year we decided to try it. We brought back the block of wood idea and hoped it would work. Luckily we bought into it and the "family" has spread like wildfire around Kennedy High School.
Many question the method? How can a block of wood do this? Is this some sort of publicity stunt? The answer is no, and in my opinion, the family stick has brought greatness out of our team. The stick has sixteen points on the back, each one representing how we are going to stay together and our commitment to the team. Once we acknowledged these things we signed the back, marking our dedication towards the team. The wood gave us a set of ground rules to go off of, and this team has definitely made the most of them.
The coolest part to me is the impact this has had on people outside of the team. Sure there is always going to be haters of the idea, people who say that it's stupid, and make fun of it. But what has made it work so well this year at Kennedy is that the majority has believed in it. The student section tweets about it, young people look up to it, and alumni take interest in it. A story to prove this "family" concept has truly worked is with a fourth grade football team. Two cougar teams were playing each other and one team had a false start on a play. In order to teach the kids and get them disciplined not to do this anymore, the coach made that team do ten up-downs. A player on the other team started doing the up-downs too and the coaches were so confused. They asked, "Why are you doing that? You weren't the one who made the mistake." The boy looked at his coach and said, "I know, but we are all family at Kennedy." That proves that it works. That shows how great of an impact the stick has on more people than the players on the varsity team.
Finally the alumni. Calls from all around the US have contacted coach White telling him how proud they are of what we have accomplished, and wishing us luck moving forward. A special one that I got to see was a video sent to us by one of the Cleveland Browns coaches. That made the whole thing real to me. It proves that what we are doing actually has an impact, and is making alumni keep track of us from all over. In addition we now invite three alumni to every football game we play. They stand on the sideline and enjoy the experience with us, making it a cool for everyone.
The "family" idea has skyrocketed out of this world! The impact it is leaving is unimaginable, and to be a part of it is truly inspiring. I now know how much this program and school mean to people, and it put everything into a new perspective for me. I can't wait to take this idea and accomplish a dream.
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