First + Goal: New FHS Football Coach Curt Funk Talks Excitement For First Season

NEW FHS FOOTBALL COACH CURT FUNK TALKS EXCITEMENT FOR FIRST SEASON

Writer / Seth Johnson . Photographer / Eli Beaverson

urt Funk has a passion for football that goes all the way back to the sixth grade.

“Some friends and I traveled to a league that was about 30 minutes from our house because our town didn’t have one,” Funk recalls. “We traveled from Bluffton to Hartford City. We played in a league there, and I just fell in love with the sport of football.”

Having worked as a coach and teacher for 17 years, Funk will now bring his talents to Fishers High School, where he’ll serve as the school’s new head football coach. Before his move to Fishers, Funk coached football at Mississinewa High School for 10 years, where he led the program to two Class 4A sectional championships and an overall record of 77-36.

Prior to accepting his role at Fishers High School, Funk and his family got a glimpse of Fishers via various sport-related commutes. “My sons wrestle in a club down in the area called CIA Wrestling, so there were many times in the off-season where I would drive them down two to three times a week to practices at Lawrence North High School,” Funk says. “Off of I-69, we would see the Fishers complex and always thought it was just a beautiful school. As the kids would be at practice, I would drive around the area, and a lot of times we’d do our shopping in Fishers.”

This familiarity with the community made

it a little easier for Funk and his family to make the move to Fishers.

“It was the type of community that we could visualize working and raising our family in,” Funk says.

When it comes to his coaching approach, one of Funk’s key speaking points is for players to “close the gap.”

“Something I want to instill in our program here right away is for our kids to close the

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“IF WE CAN GIVE OUR BEST EFFORT EVERY DAY AS COACHES, AS PLAYERS AND AS A PROGRAM IN GENERAL, THEN THE WINS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES.”

- CURT FUNK -

gap and just give their best effort every day in all aspects of life,” Funk says.

Another key coaching concept for Funk is the acronym DAT-63, which he learned from longtime college football coach Butch Jones.

“[DAT-63] means we’re going to be disciplined, accountable and tough for six seconds every play, with three great efforts,” Funk says. “If we practice that way, then we’ll play that way. Then, that will carry into our everyday lives.” Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Funk and his staff were only able to virtually meet with players throughout the summer offseason. In-person practices kicked off in July as the high school football season is still set for this fall.

“We’re definitely excited to be able to get back and work with our kids because that’s such an important piece to athletics, just that interaction between the kids and the coaches,” Funk says.

Funk looks to build on the program’s

previous successes with a simple, hardfought approach.

“If we can give our best effort every day as coaches, as players and as a program in general, then the wins will take care of themselves,” Funk says. “All I can ask for in year one is just that we create a culture where we give our best effort, and we live by closing the gap and DAT-63.”

Visit FishersTigersAthletics.com for more information on the football team’s upcoming season.

Conner Prairie’s New Inclusive Park Welcomes All

Writer / Julie Yates Photography Provided

True to its mission, Conner Prairie’s new Ag Adventures at Estridge Family Park inclusive playground offers patrons a funfilled experience while teaching history at the same time.

The new outdoor play area has modern equipment that is accessible for all levels of physical and developmental ability, yet it blends into the existing landscape and buildings. Considered to be an exhibit, the 5,000-square-foot space, which took nearly 10 months to build, honors the legacy of the past. “The playground sits on the spot where Eli Lilly had livestock barns on his fully functioning farm,” says Andrew Bradford, vice president and chief advancement officer at Conner Prairie. “During the 1930s, Lilly diversified his own hobbies and interests as a man. He looked at what the Rockefellers did to preserve Colonial Williamsburg. When Lilly came across the William Conner house on this property, it was in a state of disrepair. Lilly restored it and built Prairie Town.”

Unlimited Play, a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis, built and installed the unique facilities. Ramps are wide enough to accommodate both wheelchairs and those on foot. Audio sounds contribute to the fun - patrons can push a button and hear a cow. A slide equipped with rolling bars creates an opportunity for a sensory experience. Fabricated components such as a silo, tractor and giant corn stalks reaching up to the sky, give the area plenty of visual appeal.

“Every year, close to 125,000 people attend Symphony on the Prairie and bring their children with them,” Bradford says. “We realized many of these children played on the nearby playground without knowing the Conner Prairie story that is just beyond the gates. As plans for a new playground developed, the idea evolved for an inclusive space accessible to all.”