LovePrints. Stoneman Douglas High School Bracelets. A thank you...

Thank you.

Any action in love is thanks worthy. Any love in action deserves praise.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Watching the students and staff of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida go through the horrific shooting, my heart was aching. My spirit was suffering, and I needed to rally. I needed to go to the one thing and place that heals and strengthens me. I went to love.

I did not want to have the same discussions and debates. They do not accomplish anything. I needed to act, and I needed to act in love. One of the constants of LovePrints is “action in love, love in action.” I wanted to do something. I needed to do something. What to do? What to do?

“A heart is love. Hands are action. Separately, love without action does not accomplish much, and action without love does not accomplish good at all. Together, they can accomplish anything and everything grand.”

My brain and heart searched collectively for something that would matter. I wanted it to be inclusive. There was a second of fear that no one else would care, but since I choose to chase fear away with love, that did not last long. I decided to send hugs. I decided to send love. I decided to send a reminder to the people of Stoneman Douglas that would say that people care. We care.

We have never met the people of Stoneman Douglas High School, but we know them. We are them. We never let those we care about stand alone. We never let them feel like no one cares. I decided to reach out to my friends to see what they thought. What I found out was amazing.

They cared.

Grand empowering comes from love and unity. Go! Let’s! Yes!

They also understood. They also wanted to send love and hugs. They also wanted to act in love. They decided to love out loud.

I started a GofundMe account to pay for the creation of LovePrints bracelets with the school name on it. There are 3000 students and 500 teachers, staffs, and other. I wanted to send each of them a bracelet. Each bracelet serves as a hug, as love, and as a reminder. They matter. We care. They are loved. We love.

4000 bracelets are on their way to Stoneman Douglas High School. The Principal and his assistants will make sure that each person affiliated with the school receives one. Inside the box is a note that simply says “You are strong. You are loved.”

To every person who donated, thank you. No matter how much, it matters. It is a beautiful statement that no one is alone. It is a powerful thing to act in love. I am in tears typing this because each of you restores my faith that we are the decent and loving souls that we say that we are. We are strong. We are loving. We are good.

Your love is powerful. Your action is strong. Your love in action is a LovePrint that for one day will cover the people of Stoneman Douglas High School in love. You did that. You covered them in love!

Thank you!

LovePrints. Thank you. YOU!

Great sports are great people. Great people are great sports. Thank you makes it all better.

The idea of LovePrints is the covering of the planet in love. One person at a time. One act at a time. Love in action. Action in love. Love out loud. A constant message is loving and learning through sports. The games we play are a mirror to life away from the field, away from the court, away from the water, away from the net, away from the sticks, and away from the whistle. If we get this right, we can make them all better. We must.

It all starts at home. The parents and the family. The nuts and bolts to it all. The games do not matter without the core values of family. Love should start at home, be carried into the community, into the schools, into the places of faith, into the events, and into relationships. Teams are an accumulation of parents and families united, connected, and missioned. They mirror the people who work to get them in place, and if actioned in love, make a proud statement of who they all are. The parents and family should be the standard for love so that the athletes know what love is, know how to identify it and seek it out. It also gives them protection from the other thing. To the parents who work, cheer, show up, support, rally, lift, and love, THANK YOU.

It is passed on in love to the schools, communities, and teams. If done properly, there is a coach there in place who respects the love mission, and adds more love. The coach is there to cosign the family’s love, and enhance it, shine a light on it, and help it shine more brightly. The coach is there to cover the team in so much love that the players lift the family, lift up the school, lift up the team, and lift up the players themselves. The players should be so covered in love that nothing else can stick. The coach can do that, should do that, and must do that. As the love is shared, victories are won. Losses are learning experiences, and accomplishments are given value. Purpose is recognized. To all the coaches who put in the work, lift, elevate, effort, achieve, and love, THANK YOU.

The athletes must love what they do, why they do it, and how they do it. If love is the why, the how and what become irrelevant. Love of self, love of others, and love of the game can move the family and community forward and up. That should be the basis for all actions in the game. Does it take you forward, and up. That is where love is. Forward and up. If the athlete is loved at home, loved in the community, loved as a teammate, it is much easier for them to love themselves. Again, if they are so covered in love, nothing else can stick. Nothing else will stick. Nothing else will matter. To all of the athletes out there who love, and are loved, THANK YOU.

Community has the ability to make the athlete, the family, the team, and the planet a more loving place. It can make love the why, it can make love the how, it can make love the what, and it can make love the who. If the community is a place of love, love occupies the vacuum, and nothing else can. Community is the vacuum, and if we spend each day, each opportunity, loving, nothing else will stick. We may not be able to make the other thing exist, but we can make love the louder thing, the prouder thing, the more constant thing. We can make love the objective, and in that, we can direct love to and for everyone, including ourselves. To each of us in the community who love, purposefully, constantly, loudly, and continually, THANK YOU.

If you officiate the games, cheer at the games, clean up after the games, set up before the games, take care of the players during the games, work during the game, secure the games, announce the games, cover the games, watch the games, financially support the games, wear the colors at the game, nurse them back to health after the game, feed them for the games, direct traffic at the games, or simply applaud the games themselves, THANK YOU.

If no one has said thank you, I just did.

If you have not said thank you, do so now.

I say this…LOVE IN ACTION. ACTION IN LOVE. LOVE OUT LOUD.

GO!

LovePrints-Letters from a player. Thank you.

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.