Seeds of Victory

“On the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, on other days, on other fields, will bear the fruits of victory.” — General Douglas MacArthur

There may be no better description of the value of a preseason football scrimmage.

A scrimmage is not a championship game. There is no trophy awarded at the end of the day. The score, if there even is one, will not appear in the standings. Weeks from now, no one will remember who “won” the scrimmage.

And that is precisely the point.

The purpose of a preseason scrimmage is not to prove what we are. It is to discover what we need to become.

For the first time, players have an opportunity to test themselves against someone wearing a different uniform. Coaches get to see how their team responds when the opponent doesn’t know the script, doesn’t run the defense we practiced against, and is trying to win every rep.

That is where the seeds are sown.

The opponent in a preseason scrimmage is not the enemy. In many ways, they are helping us prepare for the battles ahead. They provide something our own scout team cannot completely replicate: unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and genuine competition.

They force us to react rather than simply rehearse.

That is the meaning of friendly strife.

We compete. We play hard. We challenge one another physically and mentally. But when the day is over, both teams should leave better than when they arrived.

The scrimmage gives us something every team needs before the season begins: an honest assessment of where we are.

Did we tackle?

Did we communicate?

Did we align correctly and make the right reads?

Did we play with discipline?

Did we handle adversity?

Did we finish plays?

Did we play with the energy, effort, and enthusiasm our program demands?

Those are the questions that matter.

The video from a preseason scrimmage can be one of the most valuable teaching tools of the season because it gives us a truthful picture of where we are—not where we hope to be.

Every rep is information. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn. Every correction is a chance to improve. Every difficult moment is an opportunity to grow.

But identifying the lesson is not enough.

On the fields of friendly strife, we sow the seeds. What we do next determines whether they ever bear fruit.

Our job is to return to work. Make the corrections. Fix the technique. Improve the communication. Raise the standard. Get better every day.

Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for supporting this blog and joining our conversations, and as always, thanks for your time!