The story you are about to read is true. However, certain facts and names have been changed to protect the innocent, if there are any.

The story begins at Lowland Highschool in Middleville, an average sized city in Heartland State. LHS is not a small school, but neither is it large. The majority of students graduate (72%) and a small majority (59%) of those start college, even though 74% attend Middleville Community College; because their test scores are too low, and 11% of the adult population graduates college, but this story is not about the school, it is about the football team.

The football program started about a decade after the Great War. There were too many young men hanging out near the soda fountain with nothing to do after school, so they had them running laps around Junior Jones goat pasture. That was years ago; when this story starts, the team is fully modern, outfitted with a legal sized field and painted goal posts. Their colors are black, white and gray and their mascot is the magpie.

This is not an Horatio Alger story but it has some similarities. You see this team was absolutely average. They had an average number of players and they were average sized players. Their running, kicking, passing and receiving were all average. They even had a 50/50 record which they had kept unabated for years.

Then someone suggested they change, sometime in the late 60's, we don't know when. The booster club called a meeting of the football community, players, coaches, cheerleaders, parents, everyone.

“What can we to do become better than average?”

Everyone had an opinion. Some of the players talked about fundamentals; many talked about not getting along; some talked about being tired of the same coaches and not getting enough support from the community. A booster stated that they need to redo the field and get new bleachers. The cheerleaders needed to change their 50's style outfits. The coaches said their pay is too low and the school just doesn't have enough good players.

The group came up with a plan that would become history. The historical plan is the reason for this story now.

First the old fashioned coaches agreed it was time for them to retire, they both had second businesses anyway and it would give them more time to work on their retirement. Then, the boosters came up with a plan to redo the field. The cheerleaders got new outfits. The new head coach would emphasize fundamentals and the assistant would work on spirit and cooperation among the team and community. They all agreed, their meeting was so positive that they were going to schedule it once a month, and make it the backbone of the their program. Everyone left the meeting excited by their potential.

The head coach hit town with an air of excitement and trepidation. The fundamentals he emphasized didn't always align with what was expected. Everyone thought he worked too hard because they wanted to win games, not the Mr. World competition. But, he knew how to work muscles the boys didn't know they had, in order to fulfill their best potential. They complained a lot but the assistant coach kept them together with “letting off steam” sessions. Then at the 1^st monthly meeting the head coach announced he was changing all the positions and there would be a new quarter back and running back and a new team captain. The cooperative spirit was being challenged.

The community overwhelmingly agreed that the head coach must work cooperatively with the others and everyone must feel comfortable with new policy and personnel changes. That second month the assistant and some of the boosters put in a couch and a table in the exercise room so the players could relax from the “fundamentals” being hammered into their bones.

The first game was a wash. The boys were too sore to do well, so they didn't. After the third monthly meeting, the head coach was put on probation to encourage him to try to cooperate more.

Since his contract was monthly, he left. The assistant became the head coach and they hired a new assistant. The new head coach moved some of the weight equipment out and brought in enough couches for the entire team to sit and talk together.

The newly appointed quarter back transferred to another school.

The team began to cooperate and work together. Their record that year was 70% losses.

While the team spirits seemed high, they never won games and new students chose the local arcade which opened recently over playing football.

After summer camp, the assistant was put on probation when the whole team and the head coach complained that he made them work too hard at camp. The next meeting the community decided that the cheerleaders should practice on the football field to cheer the practices and encourage attendance.

The next fall, after another season of losses, practice attendance was down to 10% with the rest of the team showing up for some of the games. Therefore the community action committee added after practice dances and recreation. When the team still fell short, they changed and put the dances before the practice and let any students who wanted join every week.

20 years passed: the weight room is now a game room; the team spends 10% of their time in the field, 30% in counseling sessions, 30% in the recreation and 30% in personal activity time. Now they have games and recreation before practice and dances only occasionally: big, expensive dances.

The team now can bring in their girlfriends during the practice sessions so they can be more open about their feelings.

The cheerleaders have the same schedule.

The new record is 97% losses. They have had 15 different head coaches and they replaced assistant coaches with community organizers ten years ago. Each month the community gets together to talk about the football program, but people are at a loss for ideas. They do know that this all started when the head coach pushed fundamentals, discipline and tried to change the key leaders. Before him they were a 50% team, now they are a 3% team.

No fundamentals for Lowland High, and this they all agree. School trustees finally closed the program because of injuries.

Study Questions:

I. Why was Lowland High football average?

A. The size of the school

B. The cheerleaders outfits

C. The old wooden bleachers

D. The coaches had other jobs

E. None of the above

II. What were the causes of their decline?

A. They didn't change their mascot

B. The new head coach was not cooperative

C. Too much change too soon

D. New students had no team spirit

E. None of the above

III. What are some helpful solutions for football

A. Change the mascot

B. New Cheerleader Outfits

C. Sex education classes

D. Drug dog check out those couches

E. More input from unhappy players

F. None of the above

Essay Question

What ideas do you have for a successful football team? (There are no right or wrong answers at Lowland High)

Commentary:

Now you say, this is not a true story. But, it is; it is a thousand times true. I know you have never seen a football program like that, nor have I.

However, this is not really about sports, but the training and ministry of Christian youth. The drop out rate for American Christian youth has slid from 50% to 97% between 1960 and 2007. If it hadn't been for 1968-75 Jesus people we would have reached the 3% Christian youth of today 2 decades ago.

People ask me frequently how to reach today's youth and I tell them to go back to fundamentals and they shut me down. You see, they know more about sports than they know about the spirit, and the two are closer than they realize.

It is a fact you cannot have a winning sports team without the understanding and execution of fundamentals. You will not go through the painful process of making fundamentals routine unless you plan on winning in the first place. If you don't plan on winning, you loose the interest of the youth, because no one wants to be on a loosing team.

Fundamentals are easy to learn the first time, but if you learn them wrong it becomes harder. It is not only harder but embarrassing. You don't want your mom in the bleachers watching you at the pre-season training, throwing up your pizza and passing out on the field. I can't tell you how many youth workers have quit or been fired because Mr. Deacon's daughter confessed her sins at a youth meeting or because student's were tired of hearing “preaching” or wanted to just have fun. No youth leader will repeat that mistake. That is why it is harder to work with church attending teens who are not taught fundamentals correctly than street kids who know nothing. But the easiest of all are the Pks and Mks and deacon's kids who do understand and execute the fundamentals in the game of life. The “church kids” who learned fundamentals wrong complain about the speakers who teach HARD stuff. They don't want to be on the field in the pre-season of their life coughing up garbage in front of mom and dad and church friends.

There is NO OTHER WAY! Do you want to win? It is fundamentals time in Spiritual Life!

Pastor Randy