Friday night was one of those nights. It’s a night I will remember years down the road and still be able to recall every detail…the chill in the air, being soaked through from sitting in the rain for two hours, and those words.  The words I am referring to are what one of the players leaned in and told me as we were all down there on the field celebrating with the team. Being the seniors’ final game it was very emotional. There were a lot of tears from everybody and as I hugged this player and told him good job he leaned in and said “I gave it all I had”.  Six simple little words but it meant much more here, and I knew that he had in fact given it all he had.

This blog is not at all to discuss what went down at Central Davidson over the past few days. I would rather tell you what has gone down over the last few years because that is the REAL story. It’s the story of a team of dedicated athletes who showed what a commitment to training can do.

Three summers ago I was first asked to get involved with the Central Davidson football team as a whole. I had already been working with several players training them in the offseason and because of these associations I ended up working with the whole team during the summer building up their speed, agility and conditioning.

That first summer they probably didn’t know what they were getting into.  Many of them chose to come and train with me after the summer camp was over. We got bigger, we got stronger. Summer number 2 went by and now things were starting to click. Many returning players who had done my camp the first year were now showing promise. They were beginning to understand how to move, how to react and how to apply speed to the game of football.

Now this past summer was the best one yet as now we had a large group that “got it” and they worked hard. Even more players than the previous two years were coming to the gym and training over and above football training and my speed training camp. I had for three summers both on the field at Central Davidson and at my gym preached about hard work. And that's an all-encompassing term to me. You have to work hard in school; you have to work hard in the weight room and on the field. You have to be both mentally and physically tough.

During this past summer multiple individual PRs and gym records were set by some of these football players. And as much as we celebrated their lifting success and posted videos to show off their accomplishments on youtube, it was always known that its success on the field we were after.  As a trainer that's what you want, for the athletes to be able to see their work pay off where it counts, on the field. The feeling they get from experiencing that is what makes my job worthwhile.

We worked hard. I personally worked hard, giving up time away from the gym in order to run the camp at Central each summer. I invested a lot of energy into my time with the team both at Central and when the players were at my gym. I believed in my training, I believed in what we were doing and I committed to the guys that it would pay off.  And it did pay off.  In fact I would think it’s safe to say this season it paid off BIG.

This years’ Spartans…my boys… had the best football season in many years, more than most people around here can remember.  They were bigger, stronger, more explosive, faster and better conditioned than just about any team in the county. The offense was explosive and in some games unstoppable.  Central finished the season with over 3,500 yards of offense, the rushing of the top three for Central was almost 1,000 more than the next closet team. They took wins over Thomasville and Lexington, two teams they were not expected to beat. In fact as far as conference goes they only lost to one team, the defending 2A state champions Salisbury.

What is says on paper will NEVER matter in the long run. A forfeited game means giving back a win… it DOESN’T mean the win never happened. And everybody in the stadium on those nights will remember, just like I will, that those WERE WINS.

So I want to say congratulations and job well done to the entire Spartans football team. And specifically to seniors Jake Smith, Nick and Alex Gallaher, and Matt Meadows I would like to say I am proud of all of you. You are winners, you are champions and I want you to know that I appreciate all the work you put in and I hope that you feel like I “gave you my all” for you guys just like you gave it your all on the field.