10/1/2010....Football Memories

Ok, I am just gonna have to take this page and talk about some old football memories and go back into time..

Let me start by saying that I attended Sheridan High School and played football for Larry "Bud" Wright(the greatest coach in high school football history)...And this past month the Class of 1990(year I graduated) celebrated it's 20 year reunion...So the memories this year have just come flooding back to me and every time I go to a Sheridan Football game I can see myself back on that field...And I have started coaching football again at Clinton Central...So again the memories have flooded back....

Ok so here it goes...I moved into the Sheridan School District when I was a 7th grader and I had no idea that Sheridan was a football school(see I am originally from the Beech Grove Area and had never heard of Sheridan)...I made some friends that summer before school started and had told some of them that I was going to try out for football that year...And they just laughed at me and said I would never make it because I was a move in and didn't have the NAME to play for Sheridan....Well I just laughed it off and said I would do the best I could do and we will see what happens!! 

Now it comes time for football practice to start..The thing was it was high school practice and not junior high(remember I am a 7th grader)...So I show up to the high school football practice(on my moped, ohhh by the way I was 6 ft tall and 220 pounds or so as a 7th grader so I looked older) and I walk out onto the field and asked who the coach was...They pointed me in the direction of this little man on the field...I kind of thought to myself this little man is the coach?? OOOoookkkkk....So I walked over to the coach and I introduced myself to him and told him I wanted to play football...He then asked me if I was a freshman and I said no and his eyes just about popped out of his eye sockets...He said son your practice actually starts tonight and I will be there to talk to you....I think I made his day telling him I was a 7th grader...

So that night I showed up for practice and so started my quest to be a Sheridan Football Player...It did not take me long to figure out that Sheridan had a rich history in football and I was apart of something special!!  Anyways, that first night of practice was very eye opening to me...I don't think I had ever been worked so hard or yelled at so much...I thought for sure I had gotten in way over my head and that I had joined the military!!  We did push ups...Up-Downs....Sit-ups....And ran our butts off....I also learned that day respect..We were never allowed to talk during practice, cross our arms or ever back talk a coach or anyone older than us...You see football is more than just a sport..It should teach a child discipline and respect!!

Anyways, my 7th and 8th grade year of football was alot of fun and very educational for me..It taught me that hard work and dedication pay off...That we should always respect our elders and those in a position of authority and finally it taught me how to control my temper and how to channel it to use it to my advantage...My junior high years were alot of fun and a time for growing up...Thank you Coach Good, Coach Brimberry, Coach May and all of my other junior high coaches for your tough love during some of the most important times of a young man's life!!

My freshman year was an interesting year for me...It was actually a great growing year for me...My freshman year I was a pretty big boy...I was about 6'3 and if I remember right somewhere around 250 pounds..So I was just as big if not bigger than some of the seniors...I soon found out that this year was going to be a growing year for me...Not in size and weight but in maturity...This year I played on both the freshman team and also played once in a while on the varsity team...On the freshman team I was a fullback but during the week I practiced with the varsity as a lineman..It was a good thing I knew both positions!! LOL..It was really tough being a freshman and wanting to make a name for myself and wanting to make the varsity squad as something more than just a practice dummy...I soon learned that what I was doing was just as important as those who were playing and that what I was doing was going to make me a better football player and make those around me a better football player....

It is now my sophomore year and I am now a starter on the Varsity Football Squad...I played and started on both the offensive and defensive line(I played tackle).  I must admit, I loved playing on the line..I loved the fact that I was in the trenches and it was a battle every down..It was up to me weather or not that running back was going to make yards or if the quarterback was going to make that perfect throw..Yes, it is the linemen who are the unsung heroes of the game..I was a very intense player and always loved the challenge of trying to out think the other players...This was a great year for me...We lost two games that year(Hamilton Southeastern and Zionsville) but still went on to win the state championship in Class A Football...Ohhh by the way HSE and Zionsville both went on to win in their classes that year also.

Now is my junior year and what a year it was...This is the year Sheridan made National Headlines and we were breaking National Records as a team and we went undefeated for the year...My junior year was amazing and the team that year played really well together and was probably the most fun I had during my years of football....It is probably the one year I would live all over again if I could!!

It is now my senior year, my final year of high school and to find out later my final year of football...My senior year was a bitter-sweet year...We should have been the first 3peat team from Sheridan to win the state 3 years in a row but we had some turmoil on the team and i think by the end of the season everyone was tired and ready to give it up...My senior year we lost 2 games...We lost to Western Boone our very first game of the year and we also lost to Lafayette Catholic Central in the play-offs....I will never forget that feeling of knowing that my high school football career had come to an end...But in the end, this year still had it's lessons and I learned that nothing in life is promised and that we should always have other plans ahead of us..That we need to always look for other avenues just in case!!

Well my football career end after high school..There was to be no college football..You see I had cracked my spine in high school and had a tumor grow into the crack..I graduated in June of 90 and in December of 90 I was under the knife...I now have 4 rods in my back but at least I can walk...God had different plans for me and I must say those plans have been fun and interesting along the way...And even sometimes I wounder why I have done some of the things I have done...But it is not my plan, it is God's so I will just go with the flow!! But my love of football has never went away and through the years I have been involved with football in many different ways but I must say that my favorite is coaching....Today(just very recently) I am an assistant coach on the Junior High team at Clinton Central and I look forward to sharing my passion for football with them..I hope that I teach them as much as my Coaches had taught me during my years!!

Football is a great sport and it makes the boys work together as a team and to learn respect and discipline which is something they can carry with them the rest of their lives!!

So my football career was a good one...As a player I won 2 state championships, player of the week, offensive an defensive linemen of the year...All Conference...All State...All State Small Schools and many other achievements...I tell you this not to boost but to show you that I do not care what people tell you, if you really want to make a team and you work hard at it....You will make it and you will do great at it!! Never let anyone tell you that you CAN"T!!!

Randy "Shrek" Weaver