 Whether you've been opponents or whether you're one of the belfry upon crewed nation as we like to refer to ourselves I thank you for coming and I just want to share a few thoughts with you and I have to do it and a half time talk so we can get out here all the time. The only difference at half time I have somebody at the door telling me five minutes three minutes you know we've got to get back on the field. When I came to belfry 32 years ago I had no idea the blessings I was going to receive by living in the Palm Creek community. I have been tremendously blessed. We've had so many great players hard-working players we don't have a bunch of D1 guys as most people know we may have one or two every eight or ten years but most of the time we just got blue collar guys hard working players that believe in what we do. I had so many great coaches that are just fantastic because you certainly can't do what we're able to do by yourself. We've got great support with our coaching staff I love them dearly they've been fantastic over the years. A great school, great administrators, great teachers and just people who have mentored me over the years that have helped me grow and a great community just fantastic people to be associated with. So I feel like one of the most fortunate people in the world to be a part of this community this belfry community that part of it. And I just want to share a few thoughts about that with you having a chance to speak in some places over the last few years in Kentucky and some other places as well. One of the questions that I get frequently is what makes belfry so special and I'm gonna tell you that's a hard question to answer because belfry is one of the most unique places I think in America not just in our locale but in anywhere it's a rural community. We don't really have a city that we build around or anything like that and it's kind of centered around the school and so what our school does is very important to that community regardless of where you live and people rally around that and that's so important to a small rural area is the success of our school and even though I'm talking about football I'm going to say that there's a spirit that runs through that community and it manifests itself in times of tragedy and disaster and happiness and joy when someone succeeds at our school regardless of the sport and we have a lot of success in a lot of different areas. Our academics are always real strong many of you've gone to school there you know the kind of academics we have. When one person succeeds we all succeed but for whatever reason this same spirit runs through Pong Creek on Friday night in a very special way and I don't have a good answer for that but I've tried to explain that a couple times so I'll give you my thoughts on it. I feel like that the blue collar to work at of our football program reflects the blue collar mentality of our community. Now I know that some of you may not be in the blue collar mold today that you may have advanced past that but at the same time your heritage and blue collar your roots are there and many times that's what we do and we reflect that mentality and people seem to like that and this took place long before I came to Belferty and it'll be there after I'm gone. It's just kind of the way it is and people have always come out and supported our program on Friday nights it's kind of a big thing that someone said there's not a whole lot to do over there he is right. So people that's kind of happening on a Friday night but it's something that's really a special unique kind of thing and not everyone has that and it's something that we need to cherish because it's very important. I was talking with Andrew Joyce on a radio program actually and he made this comment and I wasn't aware of this but it kind of says a little bit about what Belferty football is and it explained it to me pretty good. He said our biggest radio program of the year is by far Friday night Belferty football. He said you wouldn't believe how many hits we have on Friday night. He said it's not in the hundreds it's in the thousands. He said it's not just local it's Kentucky. He said it's the United States and it's global. He said people will call and do the internet thing all that's done I'm not all up to date on everything. But they're checking our score from all over the world to see how the Belferty Pirates are doing on Friday night. He said no other program we have anywhere close to what takes place when a Belferty football game is on the radio or being aired late on the delays and I wasn't even aware of that. I knew there was a lot of people out there but I didn't. There was kind of proof that that many people were checking in on us. I want to share three thoughts about our program. One is that we ask our players to do the right thing. That sounds pretty easy. Do the right thing. That means be in the right place at the right time. Do the right thing. Well they're teenagers. That's hard for adults to do but we want them to do the right thing and if we can concentrate on that give them guidance help them along the way help them become better citizens then we've helped and it's not just coaches it's not just teachers it's parents or grandparents it's the community that raises the child. So all of us together help them become the citizens that we want them to become later on. Second thing that we stress is treat others as you would like to be treated. That's biblical. Jesus made that statement. In the football locker room I think is the one place and maybe there's others. Maybe I'm a little biased. But I think it's one place that there aren't any barriers. Race is not a factor. Ethnicity is not a factor. It doesn't matter what size your pocketbook is because all those things are gone. It's all based on if you've done what everybody else has done to get to the point where you're able to wear that uniform and be a part of this program. That's what welfare football is. No other factors involved. Yes some players have more talent than others but everybody can contribute and that's what we try to get our players to understand. To treat each other as equals with dignity honor and respect because you're a part of the total program and hopefully that carries over to the other parts of their life and school, family and obviously later on. The third thing is doing the best that you can do. Another thing that sounds easy. We live in a society with young people and quite a few old people, older people. That we do enough to get back or we reach a goal and then we coast. But our goal is to do a little better each day. Take the talents and gifts that God has given us to become as good as we can be on a daily basis to maximize our potential. And our definition of success doesn't have anything to do with wins or championships. It has simply this. Doing the best that you can do with the abilities that God has given you. Now if you could do that on a daily basis, physically, mentally and spiritually, look where you could be a month from now. Look where you can be six months from now. Look where you can be five years from now. But it takes focus, it takes self-discipline, it takes people constantly reminding them of these three things. It's my prayer, my hope that Belfry football will continue to prosper. But more so, it's my prayer that these seeds that we plant in these young men every year, that they will continue to grow and grow into fruition as they get older. So that one day they can fulfill their God given destiny. It's their purpose in life. Well I'm not gonna stop till I challenge you to do something great. And the only way you can do anything great is to be passionate about what you're doing.