SOMETHING ABOUT Basic Training felt familiar to Chris Grooms but he couldn’t put his finger on it until he was speaking to a fellow soldier about playing football. “Basic Training is like two-a-days!” exclaimed the young recruit. Once he realized the correlation between the tough physical challenges, needing to work as a team with people from different backgrounds, and having consequences of even more physical labor as the result of some misdeed, Basic Training felt easier. Coach Grooms went on to serve in Afghanistan where he continued to see the correlations between football and the military.
Having your teammates back, and doing the best of your ability, and persevering regardless of what gets thrown at you, are just a few of his life lessons. His number one goal as a coach is to prepare his players for success after high school. Whether that means going to college on a football and academic scholarship or entering the military, the most important thing to Grooms is that his players are ready for what life gives them.
“Attitude and effort are the only two things you control in your life,” is something he is fond of telling his Community High School football team. “You can’t control what else happens and life will give you a little bit of everything, good and bad. What you can control is you and how much effort you put into your job and what your attitude is while you’re working.” He coaches his players to be the first to arrive and last to leave. Demonstrate leadership in the ways it matters most: in your actions.
Having a small roster between 20-30 players can be intimidating for his team, especially if they go up against a 50, 60, or even 80-person team. He reminds his players that the size of the other team doesn’t matter. It’s not any one heroic play that wins the game. Games are won by the accumulation of all the little things, often the things that spectators in the stand don’t see. Do they work as a team? Do they pay attention to their job? Do they give full effort?
With such a small roster, his players get used to doing some of the less desirable jobs on and off the field. There’s a life lesson there too. If you can attend to the details and do the thankless jobs to the best of your ability with a great attitude, you can win the game against a larger team. Many of his players have the opportunity to play both offense and defense which strengthens their understanding of what is needed in each position.
Most of Coach Grooms seniors carry a 3.3 GPA or higher. He wants his players eligible for recruitment to play football at schools with high academic expectations. That focus on excellence starts for incoming freshmen. Building high-character players who excel on and off the field requires the dedicated coach to focus on the whole person.
Coach Grooms invites all members of the area to come out and enjoy the four home games Community High School football has this season. Bring some friends, socialize, enjoy a snack from the concessions stand, and support the team. You don’t need to be a football fan to appreciate the work that Coach Grooms is doing to build men of character through the brotherhood of football.
Home games are on September 10, September 24, October 15, and October 29. Find more information on their website at communityhs.bedfordcountyk12tn.com -GN
