Great players make great people. Great people make great players. Love in Action. Action in love. Love out loud.

As a coach, we are given a great responsibilities. Be worth following. Have something of value to say. Be worthy of each young mans future and potential. Be the quality of person that they should aspire to be. Be there for them, in the present and in the future. Love them as your own.

Our wishes as coaches generally run from love of themselves, love of others, respect for them both, and the ability to recognize the value of this. We wish for health, happiness, joy, wisdom, and love. We wish for their best, their opportunities, and their future. We hope that they know that we care, that they should care, and to show them how.

Every once in a while, life hands us a living breathing example of why we do what we do. A young person physically grows, emotionally aspires, mentally pursues, and lovingly achieves some of the things on our wish list. They reach, they grab, they acquire. They gather, stand, and extend. And, they love. Out loud.

When a young person takes the time to reach out and share a piece of themselves, you have reached them. It is not always easy for them, comfortable for them, or a part of their nature. When they do, stop what you are doing, pay attention, and listen. Something real is about to be said.

This letter is wind for the sails. It is a reminder that seeds planted with love, grow in love. It is a reminder that sharing strength makes us all stronger. It is a reminder that sharing weaknesses does not make us all weaker. It makes us stronger. It is a reminder that the seeds grow and blossom, even if they are not in sight, they are in spirit. This letter is why we do this.

I get to cheer on my young people as they fall in life, stumble in life, trip in life, and scar themselves. I also get to cheer them on as they gather themselves, stand up, right themselves, and move on, forward and up.

This letter belongs in praise. What God can do for our loved ones, and for us. This letter is a statement of the power of love, the depth of love, and the strength of connection. I am thanking God for his hands on this young man and his family. I am applauding his heart, soul, and spirit. I am thanking him for thanking me. What God did, I am thankful for. What he has planned for this young man has got to be some kind of wonderful.

He is thanking me. I am thanking him. We are both thanking God.

Say your thank you's out loud. Say them often. Say them freely. They are powerful. They are good. They are love, and loved.