20 Ways You Know You're A Grassroot Coach

You think you know, but you have no idea. This is the real life of a Grassroot Project coach. Peace UP, AIDS Down.

1. All your Grassroot friends know you by your nick name, and honestly many of them probably don't know or remember your "real name." Not to mention the awkward moment when your professor asks the class who signed their exam as "Mac'N Cheese"...

2. You are so scared of ‘Diva’ yelling at you because you lost your Coach’s Guide that you have no shame in stealing one from another athlete on your team.

3. You take competition seriously, whether it’s on the court of for social good.

Getting a little over heated – the point here is supposed to be to show each other how to play the game, not to get in a brawl over who wins the teachback.

4. You’ve done some serious coaching to make sure your Team Handball team is fit for life but also fit to make the winning play.

Plotting for a tie-breaking play at Shaw/Garnett Patterson middle school.

5. You know that even the smallest kids can make a big play.

Georgetown linebacker about to get tackled by an 11 year old girl at Jelleff Boys and Girls Club!

That's what we are all about.

6. You know that if you miss a meeting with students, they have no problem telling you exactly how you should feel about it.

7. You have painfully (and humorously) had to admit to a middle school student that, while well-intended, their attempt at forging a Grassrots permission slip and their parent’s signature just aint gonna fly.

We wish we could accept this, though.

8. You’re so hardcore about Grassroots that you’ve even got your Grandma working late-nite to make sure the office is comfortable for athlete meetings.

9. You’ve learned all of life’s key lessons from Meridian PCS’s ‘Mr Rob’ in between Grassroots sessions with his 8th grade boys and girls.

10. You love what you do…you know that the bonds you build and the lives you are touching are worth far more than the extra tiredness you feel by adding Grassroots on top of class and practice.

11. When someone asks you to recite your "ABC's" you automatically say, "Abstain, Be Mutually Faithful, and Condomize."

12. You give "Shoutout's" during practice and on the way to class (sometimes even during class).

No one is safe from the Shoutout; anytime, anywhere.

13. Grassroots program day is your "cheat day." There's no way you can resist the constant supply of candy/pizza.

14. Your friends think your job largely involves acting like a child....and they're not entirely wrong.

15. Your weekend always starts with asking your friends if Friday night is going to be a High Risk/Low Risk/No Risk kind of night.

Let's just say you live on the edge.

16. You get lost/confused in every day life without your Coaches Guide telling you exactly what to say or do.

17. You have a different color Grassroot shirt for every day of the week, hence none of your friends think you do laundry.

It's cool though, you save AT LEAST $1.50 a week on washing your clothes.

18. Not only is Squirt ALWAYS the kids favorite energizer, but let's be honest you can't deny that the moment you are challenged to a game your competitive side comes out.

Even if this means you lose far too often to 11 year old children.

19. At the end of the day, this is the kind of stuff that keeps you going.

20. WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO.

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