Lessons From The Locker Room

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Football is a sport that’s all about teamwork, love, and comradery.

An atmosphere that many coaches think our every day world could learn from.

Some of the top high school coaches in the state set out to create an environment that reflects those beliefs.

“We have a great locker room,” Starkville head football coach Chris Jones said.

“We don’t just have black kids. We have white kids, but we don’t hear friction and all that stuff because we treat everybody like that’s my brother. We don’t treat him like that’s my ‘white brother’ or that’s my ‘black brother.’ No, that’s my brother.”

Jones and Tupelo head coach Ty Hardin are both leaders of some of the biggest locker rooms in the state.

Both believe it’s important to practice what you preach.

“The whole saying actions speak louder than words,” Hardin said.

“I think that’s what culture is. It’s what you do everyday and what people see. One thing about 13 to 18 year old young men, they can see through anything. They’re the smartest people on Earth. They can see if someone is real and somebody is.”

Athletes across the country are using their voice when it comes to societal issues, including high school athletes.

Coaches know that, and are taking out the time to listen, and have conversations to better understand their athlete’s thoughts.

“The first day we were together as a team…that was the first thing I wanted to address because it’s something that you need to and have to,” Hardin said.

“Most of it is listening, to be honest with you,” said Jones, “To kind of get their opinion on it because I don’t want to jump to conclusions and tell them this is how you should feel. I can’t tell you how you should feel. I want to know how you’re feeling first and let me think about it and figure out how I can reach you and help you understand what’s going on and understand your pain.”

Wins and championships are always the goal when a team steps foot on the gridiron, but that’s not the end all, be all.

The same messages coaches are telling their players to get the win on Friday night are the same messages they believe the young men they’re molding will carry with them the rest of their lives.

“You can’t deny that you’re black and you’re white, but what you also can’t deny is a person’s heart,” Jones said.

“It’s bigger than just your world or your culture. To me, that helps you understand this kid who didn’t grow up the way you grew up. Who might not have a meal tomorrow, but you sympathize with that kid because you’re in the locker room with that kid and know kids that go hungry because my best friend used to be that way. Whatever the case may be versus your circle. All of y’all are rich. All of y’all have money. Y’all don’t understand what it means to not have. Versus yeah I’m rich or whatever the case may be, but I play with some guys who don’t have. It hurts me to see that they don’t have.”

“We want to sympathize and understand each other when people need to be understood sometimes,” Jones continued. “I think that’s the culture I want to create. Hopefully, when the guys leave me, they’re 19, 20, 30 years old, you can have that same effect on you wife. Your kids. And guess what they’re going to do? They’ll have that effect on another family and another family and another family.”

In order to reach the athletes they see every day, both coaches know there’s one important key to send their message.

“We have to adapt because y’all are the future,” Jones said.

“Y’all got some bright ideas. Sometimes we’re so set in our old ways and we don’t get a chance to truly open up and see ‘Okay, you might have a point.”

“If you’re not able to adapt and get with the times going on, you’ll get left,” Hardin said.

“You’re not going to reach the people that are out here. You’re not going to connect with them because you got to adapt to them and you have to do what’s right by them. If not, they’ll see right through it, and they won’t lock arms with you at the end of the day.”

Once the stadium lights turn off, the bleachers are empty, and the game is over, Hardin holds firm to this belief about the world…

“This generation of young adults are going to be the people that change it.”