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First I would like to thank everyone who volunteered their time to help make our second Pop Warner Southwest Seminoles Football season a huge success. Throughout the season, there were many people who gave their time to this organization and our boys and I want to thank each and every one of them. The coaches, video tape volunteers, spirit wear volunteers, St. Joes volunteers, Byers field volunteers, and all the parents for driving their boys and girls up to practice. We wouldn’t have had any success without you. With so many new families coming into the program, this season was again a learning experience for most. The majority of boys on the TM and MM were first year players who were thrown into the toughest league in NE Ohio. The returning boys which were mostly on the JP team already knew this going into the season which was most likely why they enjoyed the greatest success. They anticipated the elevated competition and embraced it knowing that it would make them better football players and better men. I am hopeful that the majority of TM and MM will feel the same way next year so that they can continue to develop their skills. With this said, we need to spread the word and recruit more boys that want to elevate their game. I am going to relate this to wrestling since I believe it is very similar. If your son is satisfied winning local tournaments, then a recreational or CYO league is fine. If your son wants to potentially become the best wrestler in the state, or even the nation, then he needs to enter the toughest state and national tournaments. I am sure Coach Jackson could relate this concept to basketball as well. I am a big believer in giving kids the chance to succeed at the highest level possible. If they win at the local level, but never get the opportunity to compete at the state or national level, how will they be able to compete in high school, or college? I have been fighting this mindset the past two years getting the word out to players in recreational leagues such as Southern Hills, Tri-city, and CYO teams. Many of these families would rather see their son succeed at a lesser level than fail at a high level. These organizations will not even think about scrimmaging us since they are afraid of having a poor showing and losing players. I have been trying for two seasons to get scrimmages, but the only teams that will touch us are Pop Warner and Muny League teams. The message they are sending to their sons is that if something is difficult, stay away. Our boys learned the meaning of hard work. In other leagues, they did not work as hard, they did not practice as hard, nor did they play as hard against a much tougher level of competition. What we have to understand is that if we want our boys to truly succeed, they must continue to work, practice, and play against competition at this level. This can be said with any sport these days. AAU basketball, travel soccer, travel baseball, wrestling, track, etc.. All of which take competition to the next level. Anyone can win a local division or title, but few can say that they competed in or won a state title, competed in or won a regional title, or competed in or won a national title. These are my goals and I hope they cascade down to both players and parents alike, because if we do not believe that we can achieve this kind of success it will never be achieved. Thanks again and Go Seminoles! Coach Strnad |
