Rules

John F Kennedy cougar nation student section rules and regulations for playoffs.

1.       Come early, leave late.

If you don’t get there early, no spot can be guaranteed. And don’t leave until after we finish the celebration at the end.

2.       Keep your head on your shoulders.

That means no dumb stuff. No fights, nothing that could distract from the game. This is most easily done when sober, so please, don’t drink/get high before the game. Honestly I don’t care what you do on your own time but when you show up all messed up it reflects poorly on all of us.

3.       Follow the leader

Because it is the playoffs the student section leaders might want to try something special or something new. Please follow their instructions to the best of your ability and do not purposely sabotage them.

4.       Dress appropriately

This means that you should wear the color we tell you to wear. It also means that because it is October it tends to get a little chilly outside when it’s late, dress for the weather. Yes body paint looks cool but it won’t look cool when they are scrubbing it off your frostbitten fingers at the hospital. No one wants to see you dressed in rags and complaining about the weather.

5.       Cheer loud and long

It’s the playoffs. That means it is go time. We will be doing some sort of cheer nearly every play and often two per play. That may be tough but because the game is at the next level the team will need next level support. Scream you head off, who cares how you look or if you’re cool. Winning a state championship is more important than looking cool to your friends.

6.       Support your family

Just like the family of brothers on the field, we are a family in the stands. So help each other out. Treat each other well. If you see someone in the family not cheering, tell them to get into it. If you see someone in our family that is in need, try to fill that need. And always accept more people into your family. That includes parents, brothers, and sisters, anyone that is sitting on our side. The more people we have cheering, the better. So who cares who they are or where they come from?

7.       Respect the other team

I’m all in favor of a little jarring or booing. But never ever try to harm or seriously disrespect the other team or students. They are just like us and we wouldn’t like it. We should aim for a slightly less than friendly competition that is immediately forgiven before and after the game.

8.       Show your cougar pride

There is no better time than now to strut your stuff and show the whole world how much you love JFK. Cheer loud, get decked out, do whatever you want. Get your cougar freak on. There is no such thing as “Too much”.  I promise you that if you lose yourself in the game and cheers, it will be the best of your life.

Dreams

And so it begins.

Playoff football. The most incredible, beautiful, inspiring, crushing, vile thing to ever grace this earth. For one reason. Win to survive.

To the senior players, teammates, and brothers. THIS IS IT. This is everything you have ever worked for. Its every day in the weight room. Its every day at practice. It’s your freshman year when we first came together as a family. It’s every middle school practice you went through, weather you went to Harding, Taft, Roosevelt, or Franklin. It’s the dream team. Its metro football. It’s the first time you ever put on a helmet and shoulder pads. It’s your first flag football practice. It’s your dad taking you into the backyard to teach you about football. It is everything.

For most of you, this is your last year of football. For the others who will continue their careers next year, it is the last chance you have to be a cougar.

Myself, and most of my brothers on the football team, have been dreaming about this our whole lives. From the time we could understand what football is we knew we wanted to be a Kennedy Cougar. We wanted to strap up and go out under those lights and fight and play and win. That dream has come true. But there is another dream we have. The dream of perfection. The dream of a perfect season and being the best there is.

We’ve worked our whole lives for this. And the fear of loss is making me shake. Simply because, from here on, if we lose, it’s over. Everything you put in will come to an end. A lifetime of effort could end in the blink of an eye and the pure desire to continue to be a cougar and continue to play this game we love is the only thing that can save us.

At the very most, we have 5 games. That scares the living hell out of me.

1/3 of the state ended their football season tonight. On Wednesday, another 1/3 of the state. And each round will send half of the remaining teams home, except it’s not home, it’s an eviction from love and life. This will continue until there are two teams left.

Oh god I play we are one of those two. I’m scared. I don’t want this to end. I love this.

We get one shot at this. One shot and we are done. Please don’t miss. I’m not ready for this to be over any sooner than it has to be. I’m not ready to give up on my lifelong dream. I’m not ready to look back on everything I’ve done and say “It didn’t amount to much”.

Brothers, friends, teammates, fans, family; fight for this. Fight like your life depended on it. Don’t stop for anything and don’t look back until you’ve made history, and your dreams, come true. I love you, each and every one and I grew up with you. YOU are the group. YOU are the guys. YOU earned this.

Now all you have to do is go and get it.

I wrote this because when I left Waterloo tonight I took 1-380 south. A little while before you get to Cedar Rapids you pass by a small town called Center Point. 

In forth grade my parents drove me to and from this small town 5 days a week. It was Metro Youth my first year of tackle football. That was when I fell in love with this sport. 

Just driving by made me think of how fast its gone and how much of my life has been devoted to this game, and about all of my brothers who went through the same thing and are now facing a do or die situation. Sometimes looking into your own past can provide inspiration for the present and the future.

Look at where you've come from and use that to determine where you are going.

I normally end my posts by saying “Roll cougs”, but I feel a more fitting thing to say is this:

Roll into the history books with pride and love my cougar family.

Seniority

A response to a comment.

Someone asked for my perspective on seniority, and considering that I’m running out of ideas for topics, I’ll give this one a try.

In short, seniority is very important and very valid. But it’s important to look at the word “seniority”. It doesn’t say “classority”, just “seniority”.

Sorry juniors, you are upperclassmen but you aren’t seniors. The difference one year makes is huge. In my opinion, seniors should get privileges but all the other classes should adjust based on merit.

The reason for this is because it is our last year. Our last opportunity. As seniors we are going through our final experiences, as a result we expect good treatment. For the other classes it’s just another year, another game.

When you think about it, we aren’t asking for much. A guaranteed spot in the front row, a chance to lead, closer relations with staff and administrators that allows us to get away with more, and a few other small things. That’s not all that much. Besides that, most of what we get has to do with experience.

In an ideal world, the front of the section would be filled with all seniors who are willing to scream their heads off. Behind that is the loudest mix of people from all classes with the quiet people standing in the back.

If a freshman will go harder than a junior, they should get a better spot with more perks. That just makes sense. But if a junior goes harder than a senior, the senior takes priority. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.

That being said, seeing seniors in the front row display behavior that should put them in the back row is frustrating. I do believe that at a certain point it shouldn’t matter what grade you’re in, if you suck, you suck. It’s as simple as that. I don’t care who you are, if you’re drunk off your ass and don’t want to stand up and cheer for the game, you can get the hell out.

There should be consequences to being a crappy senior, and I think a loss of the privileges that come with being a senior would be adequate.

If you are a senior, you deserve seniority. But you should still act like you are trying to prove something. If you aren’t a senor, you do have to earn it. But don’t worry, if you can’t earn it your time will come. Possibly sooner than you want.  

Life sneaks up on you. Make the most of it and respect your elders.

Roll Cougs

Senior

I really don’t know if I want to write about this for my blog. My class can see it and this post is a little personal so I don’t know if I want all of them to see it. But I am out of ideas for posts so I am going to do it anyway.

It’s my senior year. And this past Friday I had some… issues, at the game.

We had the day off of school that day. I went on a college visit. That means the whole day consisted of me being anxious about my future and what would happen in a few months when I get out of school.

I arrived back in town with plenty of time to get to the game. I did some chores and other things around the house and even took a bit of a nap. As soon as I woke up, that’s when the trouble started.

A panic attack. It happens sometimes, it’s actually a pretty common thing for teenagers nowadays. Eventually the attack subsided and I tried to prepare for the game.

Every time I did anything, I would freeze. My heart would sink. My stomach would get tied into knots. I could hardly breathe. Every step of the way I got side tracked. Every time I tried to find a shirt, or make a run to the store for something I need. Or putting on my clothes for the game.

It was plaguing me, and making me late, which only made it worse.

All my problems can be boiled down to two simple facts.

1.       It was senior night

2.       I was in the stands and not on the track

I love football. I would’ve died for it. I will never play it again.

This is my senior year and I had to watch my friends and teammates walk across that track and get their names read with all their information. It sounds egotistic but that should be me.

I put in the work. Years and years of work. I started when I was in 1^st grade and didn’t stop until last year. And I don’t get a single piece of the payoff.

It hurts. Deep down inside.

I just want to play football.

And I never will again. I will never play at Kingston stadium again in the rest of my life and that hurts. It hurts because for my entire life I have wanted to play football for Kennedy high school under the lights at Kingston. I wanted to be a part of the team that wins the state championship.

And I never will be.

It’s like chasing you dream for your whole life and watching it slip through your fingers only to be picked up by everyone you know and love.

Victory

Success is one of the best things a team can have. Rolling in win after win is incredibly fun, and in high school it is the making of memories you won’t ever forget.

My team is 8-0. It’s the best record in school history. District champions and we will go into the playoffs with the highest seed our school has ever seen. There is talk of championships. It’s my senior year and everything is going great. It’s like magic.

For my state, the top 4 teams in each district get into the playoffs. The first three rounds are played in regular stadiums throughout the state. The better seeded team will always play at their home stadium. My team will play the first three games at home.

It’s the next two rounds that make a difference. We play these games in the dome. The dome is the nickname of a state college’s football stadium. It’s indoors and massive.

The first round in the dome consists of two games in each division. A game for the east side of the state, and a game for the west side of the state. The two winners get to duke it out for the championship.

Why not us? We are third ranked in the state. We are as good as any other team out there, so we might as well just win the damn thing. Bring home that big trophy and put it in our case. It will be the first one of its kind and it will remain there for the rest of the existence of our school.

We have to win it. I don’t know how to describe it but it’s a necessity. It is pure desperation that drives us. Even for something as simple as playing. For many on our team there is no football after high school. And winning a game guarantees us another one.

That is the driving force behind it. Win or go home, and the players on our team want nothing more than to play this game until the day they die. So they will play, and fight, and give it their all because the love this sport. They would die for it.

The team I love is going to keep winning. And they are going to do this for one very simple reason. They are scared. They are hopelessly terrified of what will happen if they lose. Because that Is the void.

A loss in the playoffs is the first step into the void for a high school football player. It is worse than death. It is the first thing they love that they will lose forever and never get back.

Fear and love will keep my team alive. 

Lost

“You know Larry, there’s good days in racing, and there’s bad days. Ricky Bobby just had himself a bad day.”

This past Friday our football team traveled across town to play a team that is somewhat a rival of ours. The team won. The student section lost.

We couldn’t put a cheer together to save our lives. People were leaving early. It was ugly.

There are times when you can expect a bad day. For example, when you travel halfway across the state your student section won’t be very great. But it only takes 20 minutes to get to this school, and it was an important game. It secured our spot as the city champions.

Part of this lack of success can be attributed to the incredible success of our team. They are 6-0, 4^th in the state, and 4^th in power rankings. We were facing a subpar team and it was their homecoming so they had a huge crowd. Victory came easy for our boys. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cheer.

Our lack of spirit really ate at me. The day after the game was my 18^th birthday. It sucked. All I could think about was how crappy we were.

I lost my voice before the end of the first half because I had to scream the whole time. Everyone was on their phones, talking to people, turning around and not even facing the game. It was appalling.

I gotta just get over it. Move on to the next one and work harder to make it great. It’s tough to shake the feeling though. Sometimes flushing a loss is tough. The biggest issue is that I can’t figure out where it went wrong. What was different? How can I prevent it? Was it something I didn’t see? The questions float around in my head.

Off days happen. In sports, lifting, running, and everything else there are days when you just don’t do well. Sometimes its fatigue, after all, we have been cheering our guts out for 5 games, they could just be tired. Sometimes its lack of perfection, its just god reminding us that no matter what we do, something will always happen to keep it from being just right.

Hopefully it was a one-time deal. Next week will be different, I know it. It’ll go back to being great again. If not, the week after. I won’t give up. Our family is strong and our teams are successful and will continue to be so.

Its flushed. Roll cougs.

Choices

Running a student section can be a full time job, and in order to finance that section it can sometimes cost the wages of a full time job.

What do you do when you have to work and there is a game? For me, the answer is very very easy. I have a limited opportunity to be a student, to enjoy games, to stand next to my friends and cheer on my brothers. You only get 4 years of your life to do that. You’re going to work for the rest of your life. A job can wait and you can, need be, find another job.

If you miss the once in a lifetime opportunity you could regret it for the rest of your life. I know that money can be tight, and everyone is worried about paying for college. Everyone has a different situation but life is about experiences, not money or personal objects.

I am at my happiest in that student section. I’d rather be screaming my lungs out at some game than have money. You see, the thing about money is, they print more of it every single day, and the world won’t run out of it. But time, and people, are scarce resources. All the money in the world can’t buy your way back into school. It can’t bring back all the people you’ve grown up with.

I could be wrong. Maybe keeping a good job and making money is the proper thing to do. In the end, none of this really matters. Even if your team wins the state championship you are still going to have to live your life. Graduation will come and everyone will separate. Nothing you do can make that big of a difference.

But deep down. I don’t give a damn, I love my school and anyone who tells me that I should have different priorities can suck it. I will do what makes me happy.

Living poor but happy. I spend all my money to make the student section amazing as possible. I know it has consequences but I really don’t care. I feel like the richest man in the world.

Do what makes you happy and you’ll never be poor in your life. Take my advice, cheering your team on will make you happy. That’s the get rich quick scheme. Go to the game and cheer your heart out. Your job can wait. Life can wait.

Ive got one year left, then life will start. But for now im just going to pretend that the only thing I need is the Cougar Nation.

Voice

If you are cheering right, it’s likely that you will lose your voice.  I personally struggle with this issue. My school has a volleyball game on Tuesday and a football game on Friday. As a result I sound like a pack-a-day smoker for about 4 days of the week. On another personal note, my sophomore year for a playoff game against our rival I yelled so hard I lost my voice before the end of the first quarter.

Keeping your voice throughout a game and getting your voice back as soon as possible after you lose it is very difficult but it is possible.

To keep your voice the biggest tip I can offer is to shut up. Unless you are cheering, keep your mouth shut. Pointless chit chat with other people will hurt your voice and it will distract you from the game.

There are other benefits to less talking too. For example, cheers will sound louder in contrast to silence than to a dull roar.

Next way to keep your voice: yell low. If you make a high pitched squeal you will lose your voice faster than a low yell. It also sounds better. If your student section sounds like a bunch of middle school girls around Justin Beiber no one will take you seriously. If you sound like a hoard of Vikings about to attack people might just listen in.

My next tip is to stay hydrated. Water works best to keep you going. Pop and other drinks can hurt more than they help. Carry a bottle full with you and take a drink after each cheer. You’ll be amazed how long you can last when you aren’t thirsty.

The very best way to keep your voice for the whole game is to get other people involved. One person yelling at the top of their lungs isn’t as loud as two people yelling fairly loud. The more people cheer the louder it will be and the less you’ll have to exert yourself to stay loud.

Getting your voice back after losing it can be tough. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do. The best treatment is time. But if you don’t have time, there are a few things you can do.

Speak softly, not silently. It’s best to talk a little bit. Not loud and not excessively but using your voice will help it recover. I don’t know the science behind it I just know that it works for me, so it might work for you.

Another thing you can do is drink water. Same principle as before. I know it sounds repetitive but water is good for you so you should drink is as much as you can anyway.

Cough drops can help. This isn’t what they were designed for but they do have medicine that reduces some of the pain/soreness that makes you talk strange. Do not over use these. They are medicine and its never a great idea to use medicine when you aren’t sick. But if you have to give a speech or some other public speaking and you don’t want to sound like you have gravel in your throat you could suck on one and it will help.