Sacrifice

Summer heat was pounding down onto his strengthened dark toned body as he took a mount right before game time. You could see his forehead glistening as his mouth hung open to make himself more comfortable. As soon as his velvet fingertips touched the block, a roar of high pitched cheering started pouring out from the far end of the water. Several dozen three-foot human beings had a job to fulfill, and cheering on their head coach was a mission in itself. The corners of his lips curled into a respected and recognizable grin as the loud speaker drowned out the seagulls on the sidelines. For many months, he had been sacrificing precious time and worldly items, but little did he know, he was changing the lives of dozens of families, as well as gain a new found respect for himself.

Several children would travel short distances to the local pool in order to gain confidence and new skills for their precious lives ahead of them. Parents of infants, young children, pre-teens, and actual teenagers made a solemn effort to insure that their kids would be ready for the upcoming summer of unpleasant man-made Georgia lakes. As the kids entered the deck, young children held on to adult figures hesitant to take their next step towards the instructors, while some of the older children would be trying to free the grasp of their smothering mothers all too impatient to play splashing games and water races. As the head coach made his way onto the deck, he took a careful look at what he was about to attempt for the next 8 weeks of a southern summer. He could see potential, and many of the young swimmers were return athletes ready to find new challenges.

A young boy shouted, “Coach Casey, Coach Casey!” as he pulled at the Hawaiian printed swim shorts of the head coach, frantically trying to make an impression on one of his childhood heroes. Coach was standing with a seriousness factor of hard work, diligence, and patience, placing his hands on his sides, back straight, and eyes full of animation. He looked down to see which little boy he would meet first this season, and could only answer him with an energized smile. This was Coach’s first season as head coach for this neighborhood; in previous years he had been assistant coach as well as been swimming on this team for over a decade, but making a difference was a choice he decided to make for himself.

“Alright, kids,” addressed Coach, “let’s see what we can accomplish this season. Get in the water!” Coach was in charge of the 11 through 18 year-olds this season, and he was able to swim along with that team. In order to advance the team forward, you have to be able to give them that first push. According to Casey, “there were a few kids that if the pool was one degree too cold they refused to get in, but I said, ‘too bad, you’re getting the water’ and I made them swim. If I was there they’d swim. Sometimes they’d get out because of cramps and I’d say you’ve got 5 minutes to get back in the water.” It’s also important to become one with your team. Casey continued, “I would run the practice but they couldn’t complain because I always did the practice with them. They would ask ‘why don’t you come in here and do it too?’ I did it too. I always tried to be the first one done to work harder to be that example and set the standard.”

Casey has been swimming competitively for about 14 years, along with playing hockey, basketball, and snowboarding. Growing up at the pool, there were a lot of challenges that he had to face and unfortunately many of them had to do with misunderstanding about temporal things. “Because my boss didn’t trust me with the paperwork [after one time] she put it on Sarah, the other head coach. She didn’t care for me after that. We had different ways of doing things.” Along with coaching kids, the responsibility of organizing swim meets is a job that has to be done. Casey shared, “I think the most annoying struggle was coordinating meets… It has to fit right so everyone can swim, it flows smoothly, nobody gets left out, no two people are swimming in the same lane, etc. So that was the epitome of my coaching experience.” Although there were rough patches, Coach continued to come back every year he could to coach: “Half way through the season I told my parents I wanted to quit and that I just couldn’t stand my boss, but I always went back. And I’m glad I did because I would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t.” In the eyes of his kids and their parents, he gained a respect that very few people receive in their lifetimes. By gaining the respect of the parents, Casey was able to learn from them as well as the kids. Many inspiring experiences crossed his way.

One summer afternoon during practice, a little eleven year old boy showed up to the pool deck. He had an expression of determination and peace on his face as his younger brother followed right behind him. The younger brother was very cautious to leaving his big brother’s side but held a concentration as he stared at the images of others reflecting off the pool’s transparent, swirling surface. These boys had returned year after year only to improve times and character each year. “Let’s see what you’ve got for me this year,” Coach stated, “let’s get in the water.” As the brothers started to make their ways to the water, Coach stopped the younger brother only to tell him that his practice had been earlier in the day.

“Coach Casey, I want to swim with my brother.” Coach paused for a moment as those innocently piercing eyes showed Coach how devoted this boy was to his sport.

“Alright, Parker,” answered Coach, “but I want to see some hard work out there.”

Practices came and went, and Coach was very pleased with how the kids were progressing. Freestyle, butterfly, and breast strokes were becoming stronger, swifter, and overall easier for the kids as they shed tenths of seconds off of their times.

Coach made the thirty-five minute drive back home every evening, only to start to feel the pressure of the season growing on his mind like excess weight. His boss was starting to put the landmass of a responsibility on his shoulders for the upcoming meet, in where planning everything from lane assignments to timing had to be perfect. Pulling into his driveway, Coach kills the engine but remains in the car. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and covers his face reflecting on all of the duties he has for the upcoming weekend meet. His parents meet him inside and he releases the fragile emotions of stress onto their minds. For the next several hours, he locks himself in his room and starts plugging away information so the kids get their shot at personal success.

The summer started to ripen with the aroma of sun screen, fruit, and chlorine, as the athletes back at the pool sensed with full anticipation. It was competition day and the pool deck was filled with kids of every age dressed down, hoping to win against their personal best time. Coach had a clipboard full of thick meet papers and was calmly flipping through several pages to answer questions for all of the kids who had to second guess at their meet events. The younger brother, Parker, was seen pulling at Coach’s shorts yet again shouting, “Coach Casey, Coach Casey!” At this point, Coach flipped back to the main page of his paperwork, set the clipboard down on the concrete deck, squatted to become eye level with Parker, and put either hand on both of his shoulders.

Coach evenly asked, “What’s going on, Parker?”

Parker replied all too ecstatically, “My daddy is here! Come meet my daddy!”

Coach popped back up to his feet to turn to his co-worker. “Hey Sarah, I’ll be right back. Here’s the paperwork for the kids,” he stated handing the clipboard to Sarah.

Coach followed Parker away from the pool over to the cool, rock-hard bleachers. He saw several pairs and single parents with cameras, towels, hand bags full of lunch items, and sunglasses on their slightly pink faces. Coach received several comments similar to “Good luck, Coach!”

Parker climbed up to the second row of bleacher seats only to be engulfed in the arms of a very gentle man. Coach greeted the father with a friendly grin extending his hand to meet the all too ecstatic little boy’s father.

“Hi Coach, I’m Parker’s father. It’s very nice to finally meet you,” he said.

“Hello, Mr. Marshall. It’s nice to meet you too. Parker has been working hard out there,” replied Coach.

“Oh, I definitely agree with you. He comes home every evening to tell the family a new technique you teach him or just to rave about you. He’s quite fond of you, you know.”

Coach humbly grins as he looks down to make eye contact with Parker. He flashed him a smile and looks back in Mr. Marshall’s direction. Mr. Marshall continues, “For the past few years, I’ve been keeping track of Parker and his brother’s performances in the pool. I, myself, was quite a swimming jock back in the day. I like to have them look back to see how they’re improving.” Mr. Marshall bends down to pick up a golden folder full of organized papers with several different lap times over the past few years. He hands them to Coach as to share his passion for his children and his sport. As Coach looks over the carefully prepared papers for the present meet, he can see how much effort this father put into his children just to make sure they have something to look back on and remember. It was a moment to be remembered and he was making sure his children knew how important they were to the neighborhood, the team, and him.

Parker is up for his final event of the meet. He stands behind the block hopping quickly, loosening up his arms, legs, and mind. Coach shouts from the sideline, “You’ve got this, Parker, show them what you’re made of!”

“Take your marks,” the loudspeaker announces. Parker steps up onto the block, leans forward with toes and fingers touching the front of the block, close enough to the edge that a gentle breeze would knock him head first into the pool.

The bell rings obnoxiously for all to hear, but Parker is already half way into the water. Coach runs alongside him on the deck giving him positive reinforcement. Coach never leaves Parker’s side for the fast-paced race.

Parker finishes second for his race and age group. He removes his goggles from his face, and looks for the comforting stare of his father. He finds this as his father runs to the side of the pool with an exaggerated smile with eyes full of a caring sense of how proud he is of his son. Parker used the hand hold from under the starting block to lift himself out of the pool to make body contact with his father. Mr. Marshall falls to his knees, embraces Parker and tells him, “I’m so proud of you. You’ve improved so much!”

Parker replies, “Coach Casey helped me with my swimming, Daddy!”

Mr. Marshall loosens his grip from around his son letting him fall carefully onto the concrete deck while still kneeling to keep his head at Parker’s level. Coach has been watching this touching moment and makes eye contact with Mr. Marshall. At that instant, Mr. Marshall mouths the words “Thank you” to Coach.

“It was really inspiring when [the parents] told me ‘thank you so much for everything you did for my child, they talk about you all the time,’” Casey shares with me during our interview. As I continued to speak to Casey, he began to realize how much his coaching experience had changed him and how much of a difference he truly made in those kids’ lives. When I asked him how he feels about the experience as a whole now, he replied, “I’d still sacrifice anything for my team.”