Education on the football field
by Scott O'Donnell

I have learned much from my teachers since coming to Maine South, but my most influential source of knowledge has been the football team.
Besides church, this is the only setting where I've learned about helping and respecting others. Coach Cardez, the head freshman football coach, said on the first day that he doesn't like excuses. Excuses are like farts, he said; they all stink. I learned right then that excuses weren't going to go far anymore. He stressed this continually. He even wore a shirt to practice one day which read, "I don't care if the horse is blind, load the wagon."
The coaches tell us that football shouldn't dominate our lives. They believe that four things come before football: God, family, citizenship, and education. At a practice we were eating in the field house and someone left a piece of garbage on the floor. Coach Cardez became upset and told us that if we wanted to become men we would have to demonstrate better citizenship. In order to prove his point, we were put through a military drill. The problem never arose again.
I can't say that we haven't had our laughs, though. He makes fun of us when we don't work hard enough. He calls us ballerinas, does a ballet dance, and tells us that his 6'4" 275 pound wife can kick his rear end. Coach Cardez tells us many interesting stories. He was arrested for hitting a pig on his way home one night, he says.
Coach Cardez's most memorable story is the Goose Story. The team thought it was going to be another goofy arrest story at first. Or that maybe he killed a goose in front of the school and ate it. You can never tell with him: one minute he is sincere, the next he is dancing and screaming that we are ballerinas.
But this wasn't another silly story. It is about why geese fly in a V formation. They fly in a "v" to give the geese in the rear an airlift, so the trip is easier for them. They help each other as a team. The geese take turns flying at the point of the "V" so each gets a turn doing the hardest job while the others rest. When a goose gets shot, two others follow him down and stay with him until he recovers or dies, as a sign of respect. If we help and respect others, life will be easier for everyone.