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Student athletes learn valuable lessons from sports
The new school year has begun and that means the school sports and other UIL activities are in full swing. The coaches and players are receiving their just accolades for their accomplishments and hard work. There are so many life lessons that can be learned from being a member of the team or group regardless of whether you are first team or a substitute. You are so much better for it.
There are not very many people that have not had the dream to make the pros in some sport. Life shows us the odds in achieving this. At NCAA games you will generally hear the notice that says “There are 380,000 studentathletes in colleges and most will go pro in something other than sports”. What pros face can be determined by knowing how many start on a team, how many are on the squad and multiply the number of teams in the sport by that. Not to mention the average career for most pros is less than five years. Those same odds exist during the youth sports, middle school, high school and colleges. Even so, that should not discourage anyone who has the desire to be in a sport or activity because of the good that can come out of it. There is always a chance to play a sport you love for life without it being the pros.
When you have a well-rounded program as Dripping Springs does (ranked 11th this past year) it can be attributed to good coaches and good athletes. However, in my opinion, it is the quality of the coaches and students as human beings that really counts and makes them winners. So many coaches and players go beyond what is in their realm and contribute to the improvement of life that the general public never gets wind of. I just got wind of this incident quite by accident that brings out the qualities of our people.
As I was reading an article about the Ingram coach and how they were having to deal with the July 4th floods around Kerrville, it mentioned help coming from several areas including the football team from Dripping Springs. Ingram is around six miles from Kerrville and as a side note was in Dripping Springs’ district in the mid-80’s. So I checked in with Coach Galen Zimmerman for the details.
He said they decided to see how they could be of assistance and contacted the Hunt fire chief, a connection of his. There was a neighborhood called Bumblebee between Hunt and Ingram that had major damage and could use a helping hand. So Coach Zimmerman planned a day to go there and work. He was able to get seven coaches and 55 players to volunteer and make the trip. They met early in the morning at the fieldhouse and carpooled in about 20 pickups. Can you imagine what other people on the road thought as this caravan made the 80mile trek. They worked all day doing general cleanup and demolition of building. At the end of the day they had completely cleared four houses.
Coach Zimmerman commented “Our kids were great and really worked hard all day.” Even better, they all went home and shared their experience with their parents, telling them what they did and what they saw. As a result there were parents organized and volunteered, taking kids and friends with them. Many of the players returned to the Hill Country and Leander area to continue their help.
Knowing the type people employed and students under their charge, I have no doubt this kind of activity goes on all the time without most people’s knowledge. The imprint on our youth lasts a lifetime and far outlasts anything they will be able to accomplish on the fields of play. The people of Dripping Springs have every right to swell with pride as they cheer the efforts of their youth. They are being led in the right direction by their leaders and will be good citizens the rest of their lives. We are Tiger Proud.
