The Art of Improvement Throughout a Football Season
Grae Zedlitz, Sports Editor
Improvement. That’s what we strive for. Day to day, week to week. We want to be better at things. Whether it’s improving grades, personal improvement, or improving skills, it’s an inherent theme in life. But when it comes to athletics, it’s not a theme. It’s a necessity. You have to be improving to stay in the race. Where you don’t improve, others will. The true mark of a team is not how they handle greatness, but how they handle adversity. When you get knocked down, beaten up, and counted out, how do you respond? You improve. Get back up, and try again. That was the theme of this year’s Football team. Ending last season with a lackluster 5-5 record, they handled the lows, improved their flaws, and came out stronger because of it, finishing this season at 7-2.
Leadership is a major theme in a journey of improvement. Talent is an extremely raw quality. It takes good leaders to hone that talent into what it can be. Payton Mitchell-Johnson (‘24) is one of the many people charged with leading the team and making them the best they can be. “When it comes to being a leader, I did what I could,” Payton commented. “Most of the stuff I did Junior year was keeping the team active, getting them excited, getting us pumped up. Transitioning to this year was some of the same role, celebrating my teammates, but the only change was that my grade was leading the team.”
Many other seniors agreed with Payton’s strategy. “Football is a fun game,” Connor Phelps (‘24) said. “I’m just trying to get them excited to play.” Being a leader can mean different things to different people. But not everyone relies on their status as an upperclassman to lead. “I never play the ‘upperclassmen’ card,”
Jackson Stewart (‘24) remarked. “I just wanted to make everyone play as a team, it was never pulling seniority. I treated everyone like they were part of the team, not like they were a freshman or a sophomore. We had a lot of underclassmen playing, so it was important to help them learn the system and be the best versions of themselves they could be.” The Senior leadership of this team was a major strength, and it laid the foundation for the classes to come.
Experience is key to improvement. After all, practice makes perfect. For many student-athletes at Casady, this might mean continuing a sport from seventh grade all the way to senior year. “I’ve played football since my seventh-grade year, and I’ve started every year other than my freshman year,” Jackson recalled. “I made myself gain 50 pounds my sophomore year so I wouldn't be so little, but I was still kind of a little guy for a linebacker. The best thing I did for myself was commit to the weight room and conditioning, and I feel like that prepared me the best for anything.” This was a common theme among players. “My transition from freshman to senior year I’ve gotten a lot bigger,”
Connor agreed. “I’ve gotten a lot bigger, faster, and stronger so that obviously helps on the physical side of the game, and it leads to confidence on the field.” But improving as a whole can mean more than just getting into a weight room. The cognitive aspect of the game, being familiar with the play calling system, can mean just as much as the physical side of it. “I think we really just needed to figure out what our system was,”
Jackson continued. “Last year we had a lot of playmakers, but we didn’t know how to best utilize them. I think this year, even though we lost a lot of really talented players, we were able to put our team together more than individual players.” Improving can be as simple as spending more time watching film, or taking the minute to meet with coaches after practice. Dedication and habits are where true improvement is found within a team, no matter the talent.
Improvement is a simple thing, objectively. Pick a goal, and stick to it. Many would agree that it’s easier said than done, and they’d be right. Winners are remembered for winning, but what makes them is how they got there. They improved. They took blows and got up, refusing to back down until they were victorious. That is the mindset of next year’s football team. Absorb the blows, and hit them back harder. Get better as a team. Improve as players, teammates, and people. With leaders to shape talent and a sky-high work ethic, they are poised to be a lethal force for years to come in the OSSAA.
