Friday Flush -- Stay in Your Lane

“Stay in Your Lane”

I didn’t play special teams much when I played football, but we still occasionally practiced for if I ever had to step in and play during a kickoff/punt.  My job was to run down the field and tackle the guy with the ball.  Sounds easy.  There were 10 other guys trying to do the same thing with me…how hard could it be? 

The problem was this.  The guy catching the ball…well he is really fast….I mean way faster than me…he also really doesn’t want to be tackled.  Oh, and then he has 10 guys that know which way he is running that are bigger than me….and they don’t want me to get near him.  Ok, so not as easy as it sounds. 

I can still hear coaches yelling for us to “stay in your lane” as we are running down the field.   After doing enough wind sprints after practice, I finally learned what that meant.  We were “drawn” to the ball and the player carrying the ball….if all 11 of us ran directly to the ball, then that leaves a whole side of the field open.  Since he is faster, he could change directions and score easily .  But, if we stay in our lane, we create a “net” that moves down the field…no matter where he jukes or runs, there is a team mate there to stop him.  This works, but it can be very difficult.  When I was on the far right side of the field and the ball was kicked to the left side of the field, it was very hard to run straight with nothing in front of you.  It seems that I was missing out on the action….it felt like I wasn’t being helpful….but it was exactly where I needed to be.

How does that have ANYTHING to do with us as educators besides fitting with our football theme?  I am sure you are starting to see some ways.

Here are some I thought of:

·         We often get caught off guard paying attention to something out of our lane.  When we are drawn to that, we are pulled away from our mission.

·         We don’t help our team, when we don’t do our job.  The “net” only works when everyone does what they said they were going to do.

·         We often “get burned” when we try to take a shortcut.  It seems easier to chase the action, but once we are out of our lane, we create a hole in our team.

·         Together we can do something that none of us can do individually.  

·         We serve a purpose even though sometimes it may not feel like it.

·         We need others.

·         I think we become weaker as a team when we focus on what others have or do, what gossip is out there, what things we don’t like, etc.  Staying in our lane means keeping our head up and looking at OUR responsibility, not that of others. 

Thank you for being on our team….I hope that we all have a great weekend.  Thank you for how you “stay in your lane.” 

Happy Friday!