I'll start with saying that I've been here with my wife for almost two months and am just now doing my first blog. I wrote this blog entry in MS Word a couple weeks after arriving here, and after facing many hurdles in receiving internet I am finally posting it. I will talk about the internet debacle I've been facing later. For now we'll focus on Football, American Football, and how great it was making me feel about a month ago. Today (a month ago) I’m feeling a satisfying sense of excitement after having finished my first football practice as a running back coach. I started going to practice with the Ege Dolphins as a means to work out. Our ministry team was undecided on exactly which team here in Turkey we would coach but knew we could train with the Dolphins. It wasn't until the team manager personally asked us to coach there that our group realized that coaching there for good would be a good move.
After we warmed up I was told that I would be coaching the running backs. I was told that I had to start from the very beginning, so I started with the huddle. From there I explained and demonstrated the different types of stances a running back could have. At that point it was confirmed; these guys needed a lot of work. After they did what I thought was as well as they could do, we went on to blocking, then to hand-offs, then the passes. At this point I felt like a dance choregrapher who basically does the dance that everyone needs to know full speed, and the dancers have to sink or swim. I didn’t quite let the guys sink, but some guys looked like Michael Phelps, other guys looked the fat kid in the pool (whom I hate to judge but in my sinful ways I've thought it!). The good news is I came to notice that the guys were very open to coaching. This was a gratifying moment as I saw guys listening to instruction and trying their best; they really wanted to get it. I went back and forth between the Turkish coaches about how much time we had left; and I would develop drills accordingly. We spent a lot of time doing hand-offs, reading the tackler, and making cuts; it went a lot better than I expected. As practice went on I could see the guys getting…better! I went over how to hold the ball, which arm to use, when, and for what; and reading blocks. Things that are very simple in the US but are extremely important to be a great player. Oh yeah, and I don’t want these guys to be good players, I want them to be great players.
These guys live in a culture where any expectation to create change is unrealistic. The way things are when you’re born are the way things are going to be. But I told them that they’re play as a running back actually has a huge impact on how the game will go. Now, at least on the football field, they know that they can make a difference. As I walked home, I spoke with the other American football coaches, guys who have said that they already made it clear to a lot of people in Turkey that they’re Christian with no negative backlash. This made an already encouraging evening even more encouraging. Someday soon, these guys will know they can make difference and they will know how much of a difference they can make through the power of Jesus. I look foward to sharing the gospel and explaining just how much the power of the Holy Spirit will allow them to swim through life like Michael Phelps.