By David Tepera, January 17, 2024
As most of you know, during the 1990s, I was a high school coach of multiple sports at La Marque.
Even though I enjoyed the run of state championships as an assistant football coach, being head soccer coach was my passion. Through the years, I was able to build from only a boys varsity team to adding a boys JV team and, eventually, starting a girls varsity program. Before I left La Marque, both varsity teams were making the playoffs. I took a lot of pride in that accomplishment, along with the dedication of many players.
Now, one of the important lessons I learned as a coach and former athlete is that there is a difference between injury and getting hurt.
Yes, you might fall and scrape your knee or elbow, but that shouldn’t stop you from staying in the game. Just because you get tripped up or someone fouled you, doesn’t mean you were injured.
Once I left and went into the medical field, I coached all the youth sports my children were involved with. Just know, I only left teaching and coaching because of the pay. My personal opinion when I see these multi-million-dollar high school stadiums and schools is I can hope they would pump that money into teachers’ salaries.
OK, back to youth sports. At the beginning of every youth sports season, I would tell the parents that when their child gets tripped up, falls and starts crying, I’m going to yell at them to get up and get back in the game. Your child will look for you to baby them, but that’s not going to happen on my team. There’s a difference between getting hurt and being injured.
Sometimes life will trip you up, but you must learn to jump back up and try to score.
How many of you have been tripped up? I don’t care if you received bad news for any reason, lost your job, got divorced or had any setbacks. You are not the only one who is dealing with negative situations, so when you fall — get up. You have no choice but to get back in the game of life.
There’s not one of us who hasn’t been knocked down, so don’t panic and feel sorry for yourself. I might be a little harsh today, but sometimes we need a reality check. You’re better than that, so come out swinging and punch bad news in the face.
Accept it, falling is part of life, just get back up.