Coaching Football in a Small Town

As the high school football season is coming to an end, I have been thinking about how lucky I am to have an opportunity to coach high school football. To take it one step further, how lucky I am to coach high school football in the small town where I grew up. This realization came to me a few weeks ago as we were making our way to Allentown to play in the District Championship game.  

As our bus began to depart, I noticed a bunch of police cars and fire trucks getting ready to send us off and escort us out of town. The lights were flashing and horns were sounding! This alone would have made it special but then it got better. We started passing families on the street waving and cheering us on our way. The street lights that we drove by all had signs wishing us luck. We made a right hand turn onto Main Street and something special happened. Friends, families, business owners, and residents of Hellertown were out cheering us on. I saw families I knew and old friends from school that I haven't seen in ages lined up in the streets showing us some love. This elicited some serious emotion. It was a moment I will never forget. I felt proud to be a from this town and proud to coach its football team.  

As a high school player and when I first began coaching, I never realized the kind of impact you can make (or maybe I am a few years older and appreciate things a little). It is not only the players that you impact, but also the community. Everyone in this town has their own life to worry about. Everyone has their own individual story. Some of us could be going through some tough times while others may not. Some may work a job laboring all day, every day and others could have a cushy office job. But for a few short hours on a Friday night, none of that really matters. All the fans are brought together to support one cause and that is Saucon Valley football. This is one of the beautiful things about athletics. It brings EVERYONE together!

To be part of something that could give everyone in this town some joy  for a few hours each week is pretty darn cool. I want to thank the town and community for supporting us this past year. It was an amazing ride!

Chris Fluck