Loving and Learning through sports. Legendary LovePrints of Coach Red Jenkins

Great people make great coaches. Great coaches make great people.

Great coaches make great athletes. Great athletes make great coaches.

Legend.

An extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.

Any and all of those things apply to Paul "Red" Jenkins. I wont talk about the reason why a lot of people think of Coach Jenkins. I will start with what I think of when I think of this legend. 

Brilliant. 

That light that shines brighter, that smile than shines bigger, that laugh that booms louder, and the wisdom. That brilliant Red Jenkins wisdom. If you have spent one moment in a one on one conversation with the man, you understand that you can not leave it the same as before you had it. You can not feel smarter, taller, better. Coach Jenkins has the ability to make giants smaller, children taller, and adults childlike in their joy. He has the gift of being able to inform you without making you feel uninformed, and that you are now smarter than you really are. And better. You feel better. 

Not all humans have the ability to be legend and worth of it. Not all humans want it. I am pretty sure that he will disagree with my saying it, but that it ok. He knows exactly why it needs to be said. LovePrints is loving and learning through sports, and I can not think of any coach who exemplifies this more than Coach Jenkins. While he has a lineage of famous players who played for him, and successful seasons of winning behind him, it is the love that his players and students speak about when Coach Jenkins name is brought up. There is a glow that takes over, and it is from deep within. Anyone who knows how few coaches and teachers are authentically remembered, Red does not have that problem. He is remembered deeply, and freshly. And he is worthy. 

I first heard about Coach Jenkins as a very young man. I heard these tales of greatness about the Drill Sargent of a leader in Fairfax, Virginia. His drills were epic, his voice was familiar, and his ability to win was never questioned. His teams were well coached, well disciplined, and really tough to beat. His players became coaches, his opponents became fans, and everyone understood why this was the case. He was worthy. 

Later in life, as sports took me out of the area, I would often find love prints of Coach Jenkins out in the larger world. Some former player of his in Atlanta, some coaching buddy of his in Charlotte, some opponent of his teams in Utah, and a coaching protege in Houston. I would hear him in the voice of radio in DC, I would hear about his victories in California, and I would see him in Basketball documentaries on television. He was everywhere. His LovePrints were everywhere. 

My coaching life too me to the HOUSE THAT RED BUILT. WT Woodson High School in Virginia. The gymnasium carries his name. The banners carry his legend. And the community calls his name. 20 plus district titles, 600 plus wins, and enough love to fill Main Street. Honor, after honor, after honor. A basketball tournament in his name. And it may not be enough. 

Funny thing he would be an amazing baseball or football coach too. He is that kind of leader of young people. No matter what charge given, he would be perfectly out front and leading. He is an encyclopedia of local and national folk tales and facts. He can spin a story like no one else, and in each one is a lesson. In each one is a purpose. And in each one, there is a little bit of glory. A little bit of greatness. A little bit of Red. 

Coach Jenkins does not need for me to write about him. Not as a man, or a coach. I needed to. He has shared so much of himself to so many. I want to give some of it back to him. He deserves it. I am a better man because of him. I am a better coach because of him. I am a better human because of him. If you have ever met the man, you are as well. If you ever played for the coach, you are as well. If you ever loved the human, you are as well. 

We used to meet on Tuesdays and have coffee. As a lifetime talker, I was always impressed by those who got me to lean in, shut up, and listen. Coach Jenkins did that. And every Tuesday, I would shut up, lean in, and listen. And, I would love. Today, I love out loud. 

Thank you for your LovePrints Coach.

From all of us. 

Thank you for you. 

LovePrints. Pay attention to love.

LovePrints. Love happened.

LovePrints Education is love in action. Teaching is an action in love.

A great Ted Talks on public education, but also the value of actual love in a classroom. Students know when an adult cares, and that is a LovePrint in action. Young people can not resist love. They run to it. And they tell you when they are not getting love. They can not help it. Great teachers, great coaches, and great parents can make all of the difference in the world. They care. The love. They do so, out loud.

This is a great Ted Talks on education and love.

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LovePrints. Bullying, and how love can beat it.

Love in action. Action in love. Love out loud. The trending activity for our young people is not a good one. It is a fear and anger based action. It requires silence, inactivity, ignorance, and an obvious disconnect. It requires constantly choosing to not be present. It is an empty vacuum. It is a lack of light. It is a lack of vision. It is a lack of purpose. It is bullying.

I know that this is not new. I know that bullying is as old has nature itself. I do not care if you call it, the thinning of the herd, the thickening of skin, the toughening of the clan, or any of the other thing, it happened before this generation, and will sadly happen in the next. Some of it is code speak for conquer now, consider later. Some of it is based on the idea that the weaker need to move out of the way of the stronger, faster, richer, smarter, and often, meaner. It is mental laziness.

Here’s where I stand on this. As a parent, my forehead wrinkles up at any kid being bullied. If I was not present and my child is bullied, I would hope and pray that the young people involved have been covered in enough love to know that this is not love. It is my hope that at least one of them have some love to spare, some love to give, and some clue that whatever is going on is not a good thing. I hope that at least one other person present recognizes pain, seeks to end it, avoid it, or make it better. I hope. I pray.

As an adult, I stand up, stand in, and am heard. I simply do not have it in me to stand silently and watch pain happen. I also refuse to put another thing in with the pain. It does not matter if it is an animal in pain, a child in pain, a woman in pain, or a brother in pain. If I can do something to make the situation better, I should do so. I would do so. In the age of grabbing a camera and hitting record as the pain happens, I am still in the family of standing up, speaking out, and ending the pain. That is what I hope. I pray.

As a husband, I simply believe that my first task each day, and last task each day, is love. It is my mission and goal to keep the home pain free, especially by me. It is a daily choice to love out loud, action in love, and be love in action. That keeps it simple for me. A home should be pain free. It should be covered in love. When my wife leaves the house, she has enough love to carry her through her day until she returns home. She has enough love to add to any situation. When the day has drained her of love, LOVE LIVES HERE. That is what I hope. I pray.

As a coach, I am tasked with covering other people’s young ones in love. How awesome is that? Pretty amazing, right? That is why I coach. I get to love more, and if I do it right, loved more. When I see a player in pain, I cover them in love. When there is an act out in pain, I cover them in love. Every player that I have ever coach knows that I love them, and I hope that they love themselves as well. I make a point to have my players action in love away from the game. Away from the team. Away from their family. They should be covered in love, from within, and from those they share themselves with. I pray that they get so much love at home, at school, at practice and games, and in the neighborhood, they should have plenty to share with others. They should have enough to ease the pain of anyone around them. They should recognize love, and with that, are able to recognize the other when they see it, hear it, feel it. They should know that the right thing is to ease the other persons pain with an act of love. They should know that action can be a smile, a hug, and kind word, or just listening. I hope. I pray.

I mention home, school, and neighborhood because if a love vacuum exists in any of those places, it needs to be filled by love from somewhere. Whether it’s a teacher, a faith leader, a mentor, a neighbor, or a coach, that vacuum can be filled with love so that nothing else can occupy it. This is how bullying can be defeated.  Bullying can not live where love is. Love wins. Bullying is defeated.

Did I say defeated? That’s the coach in me. When confronted with an opponent, I plan to defeat it. I find its weakness, and capitalize. I try to understand its strength, and find a way to make that a weakness. I try to know why the opponent is being successful and strip them of it. That’s how my brain and heart works.

I know where bullying starts. It can be at home, where pain can be louder than love. It can be in the words and actions of the adults that live there. It can be on the school bus, at the school. In the hallways, in the classrooms, in the locker rooms, or in hallways where no one is watching. No one is there who can act in love. It can be on social media. It can be the words that they read by adults who say that its ok to berate, its ok to be mean, its ok to gang up by power in numbers. It can be in the private text messages, group chats, or face to face when no one else is around. It requires a disconnect. It requires darkness. It requires forgetting that love is why. Love has to be why.

What I know is that love and fear cannot occupy the same space. Where love is, fear can not be. Where love is, hate can not be. Fear is a lie, and a prison. The strength required to love is experiencing it, knowing what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like. We know what love is, and what it is not. Given a choice of love and the other, most, most, would choose to be love. If they are aware of it, how great it feels, how powerful it is, and how it multiplies, it will be the constant and consistent choice.

Mind your words, your actions, and your heart. Make sure that the message that you are handing to your young people is one of love. Allow young people to stay connected to you. If connected, when a young person goes off course, the connection pulls at you and says “I am going left, help me.” If connected, we know natural movements, good movements, and the other.

Be the place where love lives. Be constantly in action of love. Be constantly love in action. Cover your young people so much in love that nothing else can stick. That’s how we will make fewer bullies, young and old. Love. Out loud. I hope that we do. I pray.

Love out loud people.

Go.