SACRIFICES REQUIRED I
FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO PLAY THE GAME
t’s a late July morning in southwest Mississippi and all I can think about is how stupid humidity is. My family and I had recently gone on a vacation to a place without humidity. The mornings there would require a light jacket as would the evenings. The temperature barely broke 75 degrees while we were visiting — even with the sun shining. While buying coffee one morning on vacation, I couldn’t help gushing about how amazing the weather was to the CLIFF barista. He turned and smiled FURR while saying that everyone who visits, no matter where they are from, always mentions how great the weather is. “I’m beginning to think we’ve got the best weather in the country,” he said as he handed me my change. “You ever been to Mississippi in the summer,” I asked him. “It’s like hell, but with more humidity.” That’s in the front of my brain just a few weeks later when I’m back home and it’s getting ready to rain. The skies are darkening as I watch a local high school team go through their offseason conditioning program. Most area teams work out early in the morning in order to beat the worst of the heat, but on this day the air is soupy at 7 a.m. as another line of showers moves in from the west. The players are already sweating when they step outside the weight room and form up in lines for sprints. Their coaches use whistles to signal when they want them to sprint and when they can lighten up to a jog. The effort is high as the first group sets a strong pace. Heads are held back, and arms are pumping as teammates are competing with one another to finish first in their group. Down to one set of coaches they run and then rest with hands on knees. And then back they go, sprinting to the other coaches that stand where the workout started. “What number are we on,” asks the head coach. “That was number six right, we’re on number six.” Around him you can see the players realizing that they’ll have to complete the circuit four more times before they’re done. During the eighth rep a lineman goes down. The coaches are watching him closely as is an on-site trainer. He’s not out on his feet, but he’s pushed himself hard from the first run. Now he’s soaking with
sweat and on his hands and knees in tall, wet grass. He wretches and gags while his teammates run back to the starting line. They finish the workout, but he’s done for the day. His coach asks if he’s ok and he nods as he stands up. He runs back down to join his teammates as they end practice by reciting The Lord’s Prayer. Afterwards I overhear him saying, “I’m never eating fried deer steak the night before we work out again.” That made me laugh out loud. That’s sacrifice, right? Pushing yourself to the point of being sick and then being willing to swear off fried deer steak so that it never happens again. Playing football in Mississippi requires a sacrifice that’s paid in sweat. I know that there are MAIS softball and girls’ soccer teams practicing right now along with cheer squads, bands, cross-country teams and MHSAA volleyball programs. They’re all sweating and running and working hard to get ready for their respective seasons. Not trying to minimize their hard work, but there’s nothing like strapping on pads and stepping into the late summer Mississippi heat to play high school football. Everyone wants to be the one wearing a jersey at the big pep rally, walking out on the basketball court while the whole school screams for the team. Everyone wants to be on the bus when you’re riding two hours away to face a school you’ve never been to before during the pre-conference part of the schedule. Everyone wants to stand behind the wall of butcher paper, painted with some witty slogan, butterflies churning before you break through under the goalpost and down to the home sideline. However, everybody doesn’t want to get up and be at the school at 6 a.m. on a Monday in June. Everybody doesn’t want to step into the squat rack and go deep on every rep and every set. Everybody doesn’t want to sit behind an upperclassman, putting in all the same work but never seeing the field as a freshman and sophomore. Let me pause for a second though and acknowledge this — everyone also can’t get up and go to workouts. Some have a job that can’t be missed because their income is needed within their family. I had a peer growing up that was a very good athlete. When he was in high school, he had to make a decision — athletics or work. He wanted a vehicle and chose work. Would he had rather been doing something else than waiting tables all weekend? I’m sure, but he did what he had to do — what was best for him
and his situation. No one ever gave him anything and he was wise beyond his years. My admiration for him now as adults knows no bounds. So, everyone can’t be there in the summer, but the ones that do show up — they know what it takes. It’s really not that hard of a formula to figure out. The best teams in the state have the best summer participation. Does that mean that everyone that has 80-percent of their players working out each week is going to be good? No, you’ve still got to have talent and coaching. Yet, if you have all the talent in the world and show up in the middle of August ready to play without putting in the work during June and July, you’ll never make it. Defending 3A state champs Magee had over 70 players exceed their summer workout attendance goal this year. That’s what buy-in looks like at the championship level. The coaches at Noxubee County, a perennial contender state title contender, have talked in the past about how their players show up on foot, on four-wheelers, loaded in the back of pickup trucks and even on horseback just to get to their field house and weight room. A willingness to do whatever it takes is always an attribute of great teams. I was talking to my favorite coach I ever played for once as a young adult. We were discussing some deep issues about life and about my future. I told him that there was something that I didn’t think I could do and then talked circles for a minute basically confirming I could do it; it would just take sacrifice. He stopped me and had a twinkle in his eyes while pointing a finger as he spoke. “Did you just hear yourself,” he asked. “You can do it; you just don’t want to. You’re not willing to make it a priority. If it’s a priority, you’ll sacrifice whatever it takes.” He was right — he nearly always is. This 2021 issue of The Gridiron is dedicated to those willing and able to make the sacrifice required to play high school football in the Mississippi summer heat — your determination hasn’t gone unnoticed. Cliff Furr is the sports editor of The Daily Leader. He can be reached via email at sports@ dailyleader.com GRIDIRON 2021
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