Wolves Nation,
Here we are, the Tuesday of week four of our stay at home expedition. If you are anything like me you are over this. I am tired of not having normal everyday life. Not getting to do what I want when I want. But when I have those self-absorbed thoughts I think about why we are doing the social distancing, the isolation from society, the essential jobs and non-essential jobs being closed, the crisis distance learning, and all the precautions we are doing. I remember my 91 year old Grandma, I remember my parents, my daughter, my wife, my aunts and uncles, former teachers and coaches, former teammates, current and former neighbors, people that are in my community and people I've met during my teaching/coaching career and life's travels. It is their faces that I see when I am being selfish. After I've washed my hands for the 21st time during the day and my skin cracks when I make a fist, I see my baseball coach that changed how I approach my coaching. When I use Lysol wipes on my groceries to clean those, I see my grandma and my wife's grandma's faces as I take the extra precautions.
I am aware that we have that feeling of invincibility sometimes. I am guilty of it. I think that this can't happen to me, it won't happen at WMU. My parents will be fine, etc. We all think that way. But the reality of this situation is we don't know. We have absolutely no way of knowing if we or our loved ones are safe. It takes just one person to infect multiple people. In our little county of Henry we've had 9 cases as of when I typed this, and one death of those nine. It doesn't seem like a lot at this time. But from what we've heard it is only going to get worse. We have to do better at staying home. Normally I would like to get the football guys together, do some speed school, do some play installation, some fundamentals but we know that this type of behavior is exactly what we don't need at this time. There will be a time when we can get together as friends and teammates and hang out, discuss plays, how many video games we played, or whatever. Now is NOT that time.
I've seen with my own eyes guys out playing tackle football on the field. This is an example of exactly what we are not suppose to be doing. I've heard that we have students going to other communities to hang out with their friends and have parties. First, that's unacceptable without a worldwide pandemic, but especially now. You don't know where those kids have been, their parents, the other people at that party. You are inviting the sickness into your world, our world, your relatives world. I urge you to utilized better discretion and decision making. I'm not going to call you names but I'm sure you understand my position on this. As far as the football guys go- I love that you were throwing it around but this isn't responsible right now.
As I close this article out I want to share my opinion about what is happening. As of April 7th we are not improving. The chances of spring sports is very slim, even with the revised schedule. The chances of summer sports is a bit higher but still not great. I coach fall and I'm not sold on the fact that we will start on time and play a full schedule. We have to to do better at taking care of ourselves and our neighbors. Please stay home and stay away from people that don't live with you. Do the right thing, be a WOLF. If your teammates aren't doing the right thing this is the time to be a leader. Make sure they know our season, our team, and our community depends on it. Every little bit we do is important.
Wash your hands, stay at home as much as you can, let's flatten this out and get back to our new normal.
For those before us, those of us now, and those that follow, we are WMU!
Here we are, the Tuesday of week four of our stay at home expedition. If you are anything like me you are over this. I am tired of not having normal everyday life. Not getting to do what I want when I want. But when I have those self-absorbed thoughts I think about why we are doing the social distancing, the isolation from society, the essential jobs and non-essential jobs being closed, the crisis distance learning, and all the precautions we are doing. I remember my 91 year old Grandma, I remember my parents, my daughter, my wife, my aunts and uncles, former teachers and coaches, former teammates, current and former neighbors, people that are in my community and people I've met during my teaching/coaching career and life's travels. It is their faces that I see when I am being selfish. After I've washed my hands for the 21st time during the day and my skin cracks when I make a fist, I see my baseball coach that changed how I approach my coaching. When I use Lysol wipes on my groceries to clean those, I see my grandma and my wife's grandma's faces as I take the extra precautions.
I am aware that we have that feeling of invincibility sometimes. I am guilty of it. I think that this can't happen to me, it won't happen at WMU. My parents will be fine, etc. We all think that way. But the reality of this situation is we don't know. We have absolutely no way of knowing if we or our loved ones are safe. It takes just one person to infect multiple people. In our little county of Henry we've had 9 cases as of when I typed this, and one death of those nine. It doesn't seem like a lot at this time. But from what we've heard it is only going to get worse. We have to do better at staying home. Normally I would like to get the football guys together, do some speed school, do some play installation, some fundamentals but we know that this type of behavior is exactly what we don't need at this time. There will be a time when we can get together as friends and teammates and hang out, discuss plays, how many video games we played, or whatever. Now is NOT that time.
I've seen with my own eyes guys out playing tackle football on the field. This is an example of exactly what we are not suppose to be doing. I've heard that we have students going to other communities to hang out with their friends and have parties. First, that's unacceptable without a worldwide pandemic, but especially now. You don't know where those kids have been, their parents, the other people at that party. You are inviting the sickness into your world, our world, your relatives world. I urge you to utilized better discretion and decision making. I'm not going to call you names but I'm sure you understand my position on this. As far as the football guys go- I love that you were throwing it around but this isn't responsible right now.
As I close this article out I want to share my opinion about what is happening. As of April 7th we are not improving. The chances of spring sports is very slim, even with the revised schedule. The chances of summer sports is a bit higher but still not great. I coach fall and I'm not sold on the fact that we will start on time and play a full schedule. We have to to do better at taking care of ourselves and our neighbors. Please stay home and stay away from people that don't live with you. Do the right thing, be a WOLF. If your teammates aren't doing the right thing this is the time to be a leader. Make sure they know our season, our team, and our community depends on it. Every little bit we do is important.
Wash your hands, stay at home as much as you can, let's flatten this out and get back to our new normal.
For those before us, those of us now, and those that follow, we are WMU!