by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach
Moving on from last Friday, we are now onto preparation for our game this Friday with Shallowater, a perennial powerhouse team in West Texas.
Shallowater is looking for these first win of the year, as they have played a loaded schedule, just like the Westerners have. So, it will be a battle for the first “W” this week over in Mustang Country.
Shallowater has great tradition. I really respect that. It should be a packed house over there. This is essentially a “home” game for us. Shallowater is just 15 minutes away, so it will not be our customary two-hour bus trip for us through West Texas. This is part of the reason why this game was appealing for me to schedule it.
We rolling towards Friday. There is nothing better than football Friday’s in Texas. This will be a great matchup this week!
Tuesday Radio Show
Chois Woodman co-host’s Strunky’s weekly radio show
Every Tuesday I get a chance to talk Westerner football over at Double-T 97.3. For six years I have had my own radio show, called The Westerner Fan Zone. The three other coaches in the Lubbock Independent School District also have their own show as well. It’s a neat deal.
The host is Chois Woodman. I have know Chois for about five years. We are softball teammates (lots of good stories to go with that). He is a great guy. It’s a lot of fun doing the show with him on a weekly basis.
Doing this on a weekly basis gives me a chance to talk about LHS and the good things we have going over here. This is truly one of the great perks with being in Texas. There are so many opportunities for us to talk about our kids on a large platform.
Hopefully, we keep this going for another six years. Chois and I have a great time doing this together.
Mental Health Tip
Who says you can’t have fun on the weekend during football season?
Growing-up coaching, you learn that the weekends are basically devoted to endless hours of film watching and game planning. It is was you are trained to do. It becomes ingrained on your fabric.
Well, if you read this blog, you know I am very different and not afraid to change things up. I pride myself on working smarter, not harder. This year we have changed up our weekend workload, putting more emphasis on having productive Saturday’s.
This move is really paying off!
Last weekend we worked a full day Saturday. This is what I wanted to do. Get everything done on Saturday. Why? So my guys could have Sunday off. It was needed!
I worked for two hours on Sunday and I called it a day myself. The entire staff came over to my house at noon and we watched the Steelers-Bengals game and the Cowboy-Redskins game. I ordered 200 wings and had ten pizzas for food. The coaches and their wives brought chips and all that good stuff.
We spent Sunday clearing our minds and enjoying a day with family. We did this together. We continued building our relationships and adding to an already tremendous chemistry amongst our guys. It was a lot of fun!
We came out on Monday feeling fresh, mentally and physically. We have had two really good practices. I may be onto something here.
So the mental tip? Do not be afraid to change your weekend workload. It is okay to let loose and recharge the batteries. It was much needed. We all need an escape. Working your brains into the ground on the weekend is doing you no good.
Take a step back. It’s okay. It really is.
Randomness
-College football scores are becoming more ridiculous by the week. It used to fun. Now all the scoring is turning into a snooze fest. Where is the defense?
-Louisville and Ohio State looked really good last weekend.
-Baseball pennant races are heating up. Always a fun time of year.
-The National Anthem protests have run their course. It’s a yawn. The media can choose something else to latch onto. Please, by all means, do so.
-Gary Sanchez, the Yankees rookie catcher, is awesome.
-The Cubs will win the World Series. The curse is over.
-NHL will be starting up soon. Can’t wait.
-Hey, college guys. When you score a TD, make sure you cross the goal line with the ball in your hand. Thats kind of how you score TD’s. Dropping the ball doesn’t make you look like you are some “bad dude”. Maybe flip the ball to the ref and celebrate with teammates? Or is that too selfless of a thing to do in today’s sports world?
That’s it.
FIO.
