High School Football Week 2
Week 2 is upon us and wow…my voice is still recovering from week 1. A lot of teams in the area did a great job dodging the thunderstorms and getting their games in. Congrats to those who performed well, and I continue to send well wishes to every player. Stay healthy and safe during your games. To those of you who fell short, keep grinding, keep working, and focus on your goals; you got this! I love seeing all the social media posts from the high school athletics departments, different conferences, coaches and players, and school districts. It’s so fun to watch communities coming together and cheering for their teams. As I mentioned in my last blog, Fandom, we all can be better fans of our teams, I will certainly need the help keeping this in the forefront of my mind Thursday and Friday. Please hold me accountable this week!
Marshfield Football
Marshfield Football is a special place for me. Back in my day (yes, I said it), I had the glorious opportunity to be a Bluejay. This was where I had the opportunity to fall in love with a game that has taught me and brought me so much; experience the brotherhood of a football team, learn leadership principles, and to understand what it meant to be part of a team just to provide a couple examples, there are so many more. Playing for Marshfield also provided me with facing adversity, being uncomfortable, being held accountable, growing, and the ability to cherish the wins no matter how big or small. Today, I am very blessed to see that cycle continue as my oldest son gets to play football at Marshfield and experiences those same qualities bestowed upon him through this game. Yes, it is a special place for me. But this is not about me, it is about the Marshfield Football program and how it is making a lasting impact on the players in the locker room right now and I got to tell you that after visiting with Coach Cody Bull, I am more fired up about what is going on in the football program than I could have ever expected.
A Warrior mantra for this year’s football team has been embraced by every member of the team, even having a decal on the helmet to signify such. Coach Bull wants this year’s football team to focus on what the WWE hall of fame Ultimate Warrior was all about, intensity, hype, no quit, speed, and probably the most important physicality. You can see more about The Ultimate Warrior in this short YouTube video, such a throwback to the early ‘90’s wrestling-hope you love it. I think one could take away from the video that it is the never-ending barrage of on-the-go and the relentlessness of the Warrior mentality. Coach Bull said this is what this football team must be to achieve the success they have set for themselves. Superior relentlessness, speed, physicality, hype and a never quit mantra that out works everyone around them all the time. A warrior can mean many different things to different people, from quite literally, a person who has served in a war to people who go to battle on Friday nights with their team or that person who is battling each and everyday just to make ends meet. One thing is for certain, in all cases, the battle and the war is won with superior intensity, hype, physicality, relentlessness, and speed. Just what the Marshfield Football program is all about.
Another wonderful quality that Coach Bull has implemented over the last couple of years is the mental performance aspect of developing his staff and the team. This is an area where you do not necessarily see the immediate newspaper stats from but over time you will see the overwhelmingly positive impact on the field of play through overall better performance resulting in those coveted newspaper stats. It is not about instant gratification, but the continuous improvement over time. Furthermore, this is something that goes beyond the field of play and will have a lasting positive impact for the years to come. Delving into where coaches really have the most impact on the team is not in the wins and losses columns, but in the lasting impact that they make off the field for their players, it’s the building better humans’ aspect of the game, and certainly an aspect that those outside the locker rooms only get a glimpse of or only grasps just a little. Also, mental performance is an important aspect for the coaching staff because it provides them with many different pieces of key information to help their players achieve their best. For instance, knowing some key indicators of a player’s body language when they are facing adversity and working with the player on positive ways to help them through the adversity, in advance of the adversity, can streamline the conversations in the game situations. This will help enhance the players ability to get back to top performance without going through 100(ish) questions to find the root issue during the game. Also, this provides a teaching moment for the players to recognize in themselves their poor body language and to go back to what is positive within them, their purpose if you will. This is next level stuff and aforementioned, a lasting impact! Then getting into the goal setting of mental performance, visualization of positive performances, setting the standard of what is acceptable behavior or what is not, and focusing on their own one word for the season. Words like leadership, focus, attack, family can be used to realign the compass when adversity hits and situations are starting to go sideways. For me, understanding why Marshfield Football program has implemented this and seeing the impact of mental performance over the last couple of years is not only refreshing but makes me proud of the program because of the lasting impact that it is making on the players lives.
Leadership, man what a topic. Is it ever too early to coach, teach or provide leadership to players? Clearly the answer is ‘no’, and coaching, teaching, and providing leadership to the players is exactly what Coach Bull and Marshfield Football is doing. Before a player can be deemed a game captain, they must first attend the leadership class. This provides a quality foundation for players to build upon during their time in the program. One way that Coach Bull highlighted that he can see momentum in this area is from the upperclassmen this year. They are involving the underclassmen in more things than just football. They are hanging out and going out into the community together to develop the bond and showcase leadership throughout. It is not just saying all the right things on Friday nights, it’s doing the right things Sunday through Saturday and doing it with the next crop of leaders in the program with them. Not only will this pay off on the field, but off it as well. Additionally, this continues to layer the foundation to strengthen the program, which will inherently pay off; not only in the program but also in the lives of the players as they move on throughout adulthood.
It is clear that Marshfield Football is focusing on more than just on the field play, it is what is being focused on off the field that is leading to success on the field and will continue to even more so in the years to come. The Warrior mantra, the mental performance, and development of leadership in the program are all wonderful aspects of a developing process for a solid football program.
One response to “High School Football Week 2 – Marshfield Football”
Great info, glad to know that alot of their focus is also off the field on mental performance this is great for anyone’s future!! Happy to have the boys playing football in Marshfield!