For the last several years I have had the privilege and pleasure of coaching my son's flag football team.  

We play with Neighborhood Sports, in the NFL Flag Football league here in Cedar Park, TX.  For the first time in several years our team had to endure a "win-less" season, finishing with a dismal record of 0 and 6.  

Along the way I was diligent to remind the parents and assistant coaches and kids, we are in this for the FUN and I knew that some of us were getting a little discouraged.  As the Head Coach, I have to admit I was attached to the outcome myself and not feeling so good about the lack of W's in the win-loss column.  

Still the interesting thing was that every week my kids came back with a better attitude than the week before.  "We can turn things around I encouraged them". 

While we were getting closer and closer to winning some games, we had no luck and regardless of the situation, the play-offs were upon us.  The teams were bracketed into divisions based on the stats and team records.  We would be pitted against teams that all had a much better record than ours.  Our job was cut out for us and it was not likely based on the standings, that we would do anything but lose another game.
  
The kids could have given up, not shown up, or been afraid of loosing again, but it was not the case.  They were ready to go!  Something had happened during the season, their attitude was infectious, their confidence had grown since the first few games.  

Everyone was ready to give it their all and that's exactly what they did!  We won three games straight and went on to be the Champs for our Bracket! 

Several players had touch-down plays.  Each and everyone of them made a significant contribution to our victories.  I had players scoring and playing better defense than they did all year!  I mean these guys and girls STEPPED up!  

As the games progressed, we won the first one, their confidence was growing more.  We won two and they were looking real tough out there!  By the third game there was no stopping them, I knew were were going to go all the way!  It came down to a pressure situation in overtime and on the last play of the game our guys pulled it out! They were ecstatic, cheering and yelling, hugging, and celebrating like they had not done all year!  They did it !   "WE DID IT" they proudly Cheered!  It was Awesome!

What happened that day and this season has been the best lesson ever for the kids and it was even better for me than anything I could have imagined!  Now they all know the difference between victory and defeat.  Success came to us in a way we never would have been able to "taste" without going through the bitterness of loss! Success came to us for our efforts, we hung in there, we kept trying and went for it until the end. 

I enjoyed this team as much or more than any of the "winning teams" in the past, we had TONS of FUN and they came away rewarded as  Champions in their bracket!  

Congratulations to our Fall 2013 NFL Flag Football Winning Raiders- Led by Ryan and Natalee our team went on to 3 straight play-off wins Defeating the Eagles, Chargers, and Texans for the title of Super Bowl Champs in our Bracket. Way to go Raiders!