At one point during the season, Coach Kris Hogan saw an opportunity to teach his team something much more important than how to win a football game. The Lions were preparing to play against Gainesville State, which was a maximum-security juvenile detention facility housing kids who had been convicted of everything from drugs to armed assault, and whose parents had long ago disowned them. Every game played by the Gainesville State Tornadoes ended with uniformed officers escorting the players to their bus in groups of five, handcuffs at the ready. Before the game, Coach Hogan sent an email asking his team and their friends and family to do something unusual: he asked for half the Faith Christian fans to “switch sides” and to cheer for the other team’s players, by name. When asked by his own team members why he was making this surprising request, Hogan responded, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”
What do You think about A Nation Like No Other (2011)?
