SPORTS
Team mottos are more than just a saying for players later in life
One of the things sold to parents when they enter their kids into sports is that beyond the physical activity and friendships they will get, life skills also will be learned. Those values never stop being preached and championed by amateur coaches at all levels, with some school districts valuing those principles over wins and losses.
“All In”
Not all mottos are original. Some are so good that multiple teams use them at the same time. This year’s Bowie and Nocona football teams share the same motto. Why is it so popular? Because the message never stops being relevant.
Successful teams need players who have bought both mentally and physically into what the coach is trying to accomplish. Players can do what they are told, but if they do not fully believe in the goal the team is trying to accomplish, coaches are only going to be able to get so much effort and energy out of a player.
“All In” can also translate to being fully committed in everything important you do in life. Putting everything you have into everything you do so you do not do it half way is a good message.
“Set the Standard”
Bowie volleyball stuck some volleyball verbage with “set” into their motto, but it is mostly centered on the power word, standard. A standard also is also an expectation. The higher the standard is for an individual or group of people, it usually equates to a better success rate. That high standard needs to start somewhere. A coach can have high standards for their players, but a program really starts to gain momentum when a team has great success one year and inspires every team afterwards to follow their lead. They set the standard for what is expected from that program.
“Whatever it Takes”
Some mottos are self explanatory, like the Prairie Valley volleyball teams motto. As coach Jeannie Carpenter puts it: “It means putting in extra work, studying hard, and accepting the roles we are given and being the best we can be at them. Having this motto is a reminder to our girls daily that success doesn’t always come easy and we have to be willing to go above and beyond and do Whatever It Takes to be our best.”
This kind of motto can help in life by getting rid of excuses and making sure whatever the task is at hand, that they will do whatever it takes to make sure it gets done.
“Take the Next Step”
Some mottos are more specific to a certain team and their specific goals. For the Saint Jo football team and their staff, they want to continue to build on what they started last year together with Coach Derek Schlieve in their first year. Improvements were made, but the next step signifies something more.
The next step is what naturally comes next when people walk or run. It is the natural progression if you want to move anywhere in general. The same premise is with a program.
Most times, successful programs do not come from nowhere. They come from teams that are always progressing in some way, usually on the field, but not always. It is a motto from a team with high expectations.
This motto can also translate to every day so as to never get too comfortable and always be improving in every aspect of your life. To always be looking to take that next step.
Whatever the message is, original or not, you ask any former player what they learned from playing sports, the answer is usually not how to serve a ball or catch a football. It usually has to do with the life lessons they learned and chances are, they are along the lines of their team or coaches’ motto.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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