91猫先生

From the desk of Wally Dawkins, Athletic Director:

鈥淣ew York, New York鈥�.

I love the song.聽 Especially when Frank Sinatra sings it. And I love the place.聽 New York is a special place. I love sightseeing, going to Broadway Musicals, and I love all the different foods. My favorite restaurant is a place called O鈥橪unney鈥檚 on West 45^th. You have to get the Shepard鈥檚 Pie!

For the past couple of weeks, my articles have been geared towards encouraging our athlete鈥檚 to work hard this summer, and to not be afraid to lay it all on the line in an attempt to realize their potential. I want to continue that theme one more week.

Many of you have heard me say that our girl鈥檚 athletic teams are a high priority for me. There is one main reason for this. My daughter.

My daughter Dru played basketball when she was younger and high jumped in track.聽 She has played flag football, plays a little golf, and currently has been caught up in the Adult League Kickball craze that is sweeping the Metroplex. Her real sport however is dance.聽 She practiced for years learning jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, ballet鈥�you name it, and she could do it exceptionally well.聽 She was a member of The Whitehouse First Ladies Drill Team for 3 years and Captain her Junior and Senior year.聽 She went on to be a member of The Kilgore College Rangerettes where she was elected Freshman Sergeant and Captain of The Rangerettes her sophomore year. After being a member of the North Texas Dance Team, Dru graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but is now pursuing her first love鈥�which is dance.聽 She just completed her second year as the Dance and Drill Team Teacher at Parish Episcopal High School in Dallas. She still dances herself, and is truly an athlete.

Dru has one huge goal she has yet to achieve.聽 She would like to be a New York Radio City Rockette. For the past two years, she has been going to New York, trying to break into that prestigious group. She is in New York as we speak, again making every effort to achieve the goal of being a Rockette.

Recently, I had the chance to visit with her regarding this quest, and I told her how proud I was of her for having the courage to try. She gave me a somewhat quizzical look and said, 鈥淒addy, I鈥檓 afraid not to try鈥�!

What she said didn鈥檛 resonate with me at first, and I had to kind of step back and digest what she said. After thinking of what her response was I thought 鈥渢hat鈥檚 it, that鈥檚 the way it should be.聽 Afraid not to try鈥�.

Many athletes take the opposite approach.聽 They don鈥檛 try because they have fears in broadening their horizons, or stretching themselves into what could be unfamiliar territory. Participating in athletics, especially multiple sports, broadens an athlete鈥檚 perspective.聽 It also challenges an athlete to use all of his or her gifts.聽 Sometimes actually discovering gifts they never knew they had! My experience is that sometimes athletes hesitate to try a sport or participate in an activity because they don鈥檛 think they will have success.

You can鈥檛 be afraid to try.聽 To quote Dru Dawkins-Stine, 鈥淵ou have to be afraid not to try鈥�.

Our 91猫先生 Coaching Staff does a great job of supporting all of our athletes鈥�male and female, in everything they choose to do.聽 We want our athletes to not only use the gifts God gave them, but to discover all the gifts they have been blessed with that they have yet to recognize. At 91猫先生, we want to encourage our student athletes to discover, recognize, and honor the God who is the 91猫先生r of all good things, by utilizing the gifts He has blessed us with.

I want to encourage our athletes, male and female, to challenge themselves and embrace the idea of being afraid not to try.

And seriously鈥�you have to go to O鈥檒unneys on West 45th, order the Shepard鈥檚 Pie, 聽and tell Emmett that Wally sent you!

And that鈥檚 another reason to be 鈥淎LL ORANGE鈥�All The Time鈥�!