Buy a football, Help Zapareo
The Mary Persons Touchdown Club and several local businesses have teamed up to help a former MP Bulldog. The group will be selling special limited edition Zapareo Glover souvenir footballs during the MP football game Friday night, Oct. 10, at Dan Pitts Stadium at Mitchell Field. The special gold and black footballs are decorated with Zapareo's name and #40 and will be available for a $5.00 donation. Get a special platinum football, also with MP and Zapareo's name and number for just a $10.00 donation. Look for the special bags with "Zap" on them full of these collectable footballs and help Zapareo.
Zapareo Glover is a 2005 MP graduate and former football player. He was shot in a carjacking in August and remains paralyzed. The bullet, which remains lodged in his back, left him paralyzed. He faces months, maybe even years, of medical treatment and therapy to recover. All proceeds from the sale of the souvenir footballs will go to Zapareo's medical expenses.
2 Comments:
Would be a honor to help a former bulldog. Intend on getting a couple for my boys. Hope all goes well for Zapareo. Always in our prayers.
WOW! Simply amazing! "Back in the day" people didn't have the internet to use to broadcast how they feel about the unworthy coaching staff, or the team with no talent. Those people did their bickering and complaining to their family and friends. Now they can make it public for all to see - including the players! I'll bet the boys are ready and fired up to play this Friday after reading all of this! How on God's precious Earth can we expect these boys or the coaches to perform to the standards we(parents and fans) have set for them? I'm betting the coaches expectations of the boys have not changed too much - coaches expect boys to learn plays, exercise and build endurance, execute with precision and confidence, pay attention to the game, represent the team well on and off of the field, participate, drop the ball every now and then and learn from their mistakes, miss a tackle but learn what they did wrong, throw the ball into lala-land but review the play and learn how to react next time, understand that when two teams play one goes home a winner and one goes home a winner that just didn't execute as good and I could go on.
The expectations the parents and fans have really haven't changed much either. Ask Coach Pitts if he didn't go home many a night feeling the heat or the hair on his neck standing straight out. Ask him how many parents he talked to over the years that weren't happy with calls he made in discipline or in plays on the field. I don't think it's much different. People just have a new media that allows them the opportunity to tear people down while they let out their own pent up anger and animosity.
To the parents: please allow these coaches to do what they are expected to do. Lead, guide and direct your kids so they can learn discipline, respect and honor. If you are so dissatisfied with the job the coaches are doing then pull your kid off the team. It might just be the best thing that ever happened. You need to teach him to be tolerant and not a quitter! He needs to learn how to handle it, how to get up after making a mistake he knows he should not have made and shake it off. Let me tell you – if you are teaching him to be perfect and that anything less is not acceptable – you are in BIG trouble. There is only one man who ever walked this Earth that was perfect! Don’t expect your kid to be! Imagine what your kid is thinking - he wants to make you happy and proud of him; he also wants to be successful on the field, he also wants to work hard for the coaches and make them proud - but he's gotta listen to you gripe and complain about every little thing and then you expect him to go to practice the next day and be absolutely perfect making NO mistakes? You set him up for failure because he is human and he is going to make mistakes! He's out there hanging on every negative word you fed him about the coaches or the other players. Sure he's out there sweating with the best of them and he may not be getting the same amount of field time and sure it hurts his feelings, but he's a big boy Mama! And he certainly doesn’t need you to remind of him of it by complaining all the time. Don't you even get it? Don't you see what you are doing to him? You should be encouraging him to learn as much as he can and to stay committed and focused and to show respect at all times. That is what sports are all about. They are not about WINNING! Playing the game is about learning lessons that will stay with you forever!
To the fans who boo'd the team last week - you better just stay at home this week because we don't need you there! You should be ashamed of yourselves.
To the fans who are truly loyal and love the Bulldogs - yell your hearts out and don't give up. When those boys hear you screaming and hollering for them with SUPPORT, LOVE and PASSION it motivates them to do better for YOU, for their coaches and for themselves. If you shout out negativity you may as well be throwing eggs! Criticism can be given in a respectful constructive manner at an appropriate time which is not during the game on Friday night.
And finally to the coaches: you guys gotta keep it together! Coach Walker you are responsible for keeping your coaching staff in tact and holding them accountable. You set the level of expectation and standards. You are in control! Are you? Each one of you guys have a responsibility to lead, guide and direct our boys and to do it with honesty and integrity and with a spirit of caring and pride. Lift them up and don't beat them down. Hold them all equally accountable because on a TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More! Please remember why you are doing this and stay focused. There was a coach “back in the day” that made a difference in your life and you still remember him. You remember because he taught you basic fundamental life lessons that helped build who you are today, your character. You play such an important role in these kids’ lives and you have so much influence over them. The influence you have on one player may not be the same as the lessons you are teaching another player. Each player is different. But they are all looking at you and how you act to them and to the others. They all deserve the opportunity for you to have a life long impact on their lives. Each one of them needs to be able to look back on this day and say they learned something from you. What will it be? What are you teaching them? Please don’t let the disgruntled fans or parents distract you and take you off course. You know what you have to do!
One last statement, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
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