Give Your All

Believe it or not, football and family have a lot in common. Maybe the most important similarity is this: half-hearted effort isn’t good enough. Both require you to give your all.

During my freshman year of high school, I hoped to play quarterback for our football team, but I had a lot of growing up to do. I wasn’t lazy, and I had all the physical abilities, but my broken childhood had led me to believe I wasn’t good enough. So, like many people do, I ran away from challenges. I didn’t give it my all. That way, if I failed, I’d have an excuse.

But that’s when my coach, Paul Moro, stepped in. One afternoon at practice he caught me half-heartedly jogging through our wind sprints. He grabbed me by the facemask and glared into my eyes. “Listen!” he yelled. “If you’re going to be the quarterback of this team, you gotta lead it!”

That was a turning point for me. Not only did Coach Moro’s challenge alter my trajectory on the team, it also altered my trajectory through life.

A lot of husbands and fathers could use someone like Coach Moro in their lives – someone who will grab their facemask and tell them to get their head in the game. In that spirit, from one man, husband, and father to another, let me challenge every man reading this: when it comes to loving your wife and kids, give it your all! Nothing else will do.