Chapter 12: Prelude - A Time of Peace

The rest of the football season was better than Coach Strom had initially expected, but not as good as he had hoped after the first game. The rest of the teams in their conference took Prescott's first game as a wake-up call, and brought their 'A' game to all future confrontations. Prescott ended the season with eight wins and two losses. It was enough to get into the conference playoff, but their subsequent loss prevented them from advancing to play in the Arizona State Championship playoff. The football team's record was still better than it had been in over twelve years. The students and the team's community supporters were very happy with their record.

Coach Strom was looking forward to the following year because most of his players were Juniors and would be returning. On Sean's suggestion, the coach started grooming replacements for the few seniors that he would be losing. Sean also decided to find and recruit additional students to play football, to broaden the pool the coach had to draw from. That proved to be more of a problem than Sean expected.

Sean couldn't tell Coach Strom how to treat his players because, despite being promoted from kid to Flynn during the first football game of the season, he was still a kid in the coach's eyes. So, Sean started grooming the Coach in other ways. He started tweaking the Coach's emotions to wean him from the management style he had learned over the years. It isn't that the Coach was a mean person. He thought that he needed to act like a complete tyrant during practice and on the football field to accomplish the goal of molding and directing the best team possible.

Sean believed that yelling was a valuable tool to be used during the management of subordinates. But, like a knife, it was a tool that became dulled after repeated use. Also, if that knife was used too often in its dulled state, it could cut the user at least as badly as its target. He developed that belief primarily from watching and listening to Seth. One way that Sean believed the coach had been 'cut' by yelling so much was some students, who would like to play football, wouldn't stand for the verbal abuse. Sean started using the Coach's emotions to guide him after he tried to explain to the Coach how difficult his yelling was making recruitment. The Coach yelled at Sean.

So, Sean tweaked the Coach's guilt emotions when he started yelling in an abusive way. He fed the Coach calm and satisfaction in his accomplishments when the Coach approached managing the team in a calmer way.

Of course, Sean talked to Seth before he tried to change the Coach's style with negative and positive feedback. Seth explained about boot camp in the Marine Corps. He explained how and why the drill instructors yelled at the recruits.

"Drill instructors have a very short amount of time to get a lot done," Seth had explained. "They need to meld a group of young adults, from all walks of life, and many different life experiences, into a cohesive, motivated team. While doing that, the drill instructors also need to teach certain skills that the recruits will need for the rest of their time in the Marines. Yelling, and mentally breaking them down quickly so they can start rebuilding quickly, is really the only way that could be done. After boot camp, most Marines don't get yelled at all the time like they do in boot camp. For most Marines, their training and jobs after boot camp are very similar to some of the jobs they would have in civilian jobs."

"Okay," Sean said thoughtfully. "How does that relate to playing high school football?"

"Well, it's pretty close to the same concept," Seth had replied, taking his time to phrase his answer so Sean would get the most out of it. "The coach needs to break the team down at the beginning of the season and then integrate them, and build them back up, as a team. The better their teamwork, the better their chance of winning games."

"So, leadership is knowing when to yell at people?" Sean asked, understanding the concept Seth was trying to convey, but not particularly liking it.

"Not at all," Seth laughed. "We're talking about management styles, and how the different styles achieve specific results. Leadership is a whole different subject."

"Well, what is leadership then?" Sean asked, feeling a little frustrated.

"Sean, explaining what leadership is could take weeks," Seth said, feeling a little frustration himself for not being able to make this subject clearer for his son. "The Marines have courses on leadership at every level of command. But, it's easy enough to explain the difference between a leader and leadership and a manager and management style."

At Sean's nod, Seth continued. "Anyone with power over someone else can make that person do something. A manager of a plant can make his workers run the plant a certain way. A football coach can make his players learn certain plays and play a certain way. A teacher in a class can make their students do certain assignments. They can make their subordinates do something because they can inflict a penalty if that subordinate doesn't comply," Seth said.

"Okay, so, that's what management is," Sean said thoughtfully, to confirm his understanding. "Management is the ability to compel a certain action under threat of a penalty if the action isn't taken."

Seth nodded in agreement and said, "Leadership is a skill. Leadership is the ability to make someone want to do something, with no penalty involved. Training Marines in leadership is the real key to the Marine Corps success. A leader can accomplish much more than a manager can, because the team they are working with are more motivated to accomplish the goal. That applies to the Marines, a factory, a classroom, or a football team. You have learned leadership. That's why AJ and Scott follow you. They've learned leadership too. Think about how naturally they've fit into leadership roles in the football team. It wasn't because they are tough. It's because they are leaders. But, don't forget that a good leader also needs management skills. A leader that wants long term results must be able to manage the needs of the team in an effective manner. Leadership and management are complementary skills. You can have one without the other, but the most effective leaders have a balance between the two."

"Balance!" Sean said, shaking his head. "No matter the subject, it always comes back to balance."

Sean wrote a paper on management vs. leadership, and left it on Coach Strom's desk after the last game. He hoped the Coach would read it and use it in future seasons because Sean wouldn't be there to help him. Sean liked the coach, despite his rough exterior. The coach did read the paper, and he did apply it to his teams in the future. The following year the Prescott football team went to the state playoffs.

The self defense classes were more successful in meeting everyone's expectations. Thirty-two students signed up for the classes. Twenty-six students stayed in the classes until the classes stopped in March, 1993.

Eight students had been suspended when the investigation was completed into the bullying incident. Five returned to classes within a week and adapted well to the new reality of high school life. The district had tried to expel Bob Clancy and his cohorts, Tim Laughlin and Hugh Simmons. The combination of some very expensive lawyers, some out of court settlements (think high dollar payoffs to not testify), and a couple of friends on the Prescott School Board prevented the expulsion. The three did receive probation and were banned from all school sports. They would be allowed to graduate from the Prescott High School, but their extracurricular activities were severely curtailed. They returned to school after six weeks in a juvenile detention facility. They even stayed out of trouble ... for a few weeks.

The senior class sponsored a dance for the entire student body on October, 30th, 1992. The dance was themed with Halloween decorations, and awards were given in several categories for the most original costume that was not store bought. The dance committee agreed that manufactured costumes could deteriorate into a 'who could afford the most' competition.

The school and the student body seemed to be more cohesive since the spot light had been shined on the cancer of bullying. Students were more apt to support one another and that support manifested itself in many different ways. Leveling the costume competition was only one of the manifestations of that support. It was demonstrated in another way during the closing moments of the dance.

Steve Madison, the small nerd that had impressed Sean, had worked up the nerve to ask a girl to the dance. He had watched Ruth Solberg from afar the previous year. The change in the student body attitude, and his own improved self confidence from the self defense classes that he was taking, gave him the courage to ask Ruth to the dance. It helped that Ruth was in the self defense classes with him. It gave them something in common, and a safe subject that Steve could talk about. Girls were very hard to talk to, in his opinion.