MSG Mike Anson Delivers Stroehmann Award Speech at CYB Dinner
*Speech was written and delivered by Fishburne Teacher & Athletic Director, MSG Mike Anson, USAF (RET), upon receiving this year’s Stroehmann Award at the Colonel Young Brigade dinner on Thursday, April 22nd.
We had our first track meet in five years earlier this month at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg. A lot of young guys on the team—7th, 8th, 9th graders—a little bit tentative and apprehensive about participating in their first high school track meet. We have this one kid, a 7th grader, Lozie Goolsby (great name, isn’t it). He couldn’t sleep much the night before the meet, so at 6 a.m. he decided to round up some other runners on the team and run a couple of miles. When I found out I asked him, “What were you thinking?” He said, “Coach, we were just warming up a little bit to get ready for the meet.” I didn’t want to get too upset about that because I admired the initiative, but I let Lozie and the others know that running the morning of a meet is not the best idea they ever had. Any other day of the week was fine. On certain days they aren’t always terribly enthusiastic about practice, so I guess you just don’t know what you’re going to get sometimes, but I did appreciate the enthusiasm. That’s what makes coaching interesting—the surprises, the unpredictability. For example…
On the way to Model Secondary School in Washington for a football game, I got hopelessly lost. Couldn’t find my GPS so it was the proverbial “up a creek without a paddle” type of situation. So I resorted to yelling out the window asking for directions, which didn’t work out to well. Then, Colonel Zinser calls and says a parent was trying to find the school, so could he give them my cell phone number so I could help out. For some reason I said, “Sure, have them call me. Fortunately, the parent didn’t call me because I would’ve only made things worse for them, and somehow I eventually stumbled upon Model Secondary School.
And then there’s the track shorts. I thought it would be a “good idea” to buy Olympic style singlets and shorts; you know, the same type of attire worn by world-class runners, like this… I was wrong. Almost all of the kids wanted to wear shorts down to their knees, or maybe even longer. My response was, “This isn’t basketball!” Live and learn, I guess. Appearance is very important to our athletes, so the coaches place a fair amount of emphasis on making sure we look sharp on the field and courts. But… it looks like we’ll need to consider some longer track shorts in the near future.
I took a group of runners to Richmond a couple weeks ago to run a 5K race. It was a lot of fun and we had a good experience. Colin Turnnidge, an all-state cross country runner and a 9th grader, finished second overall. Travis Knapp finished in the top 10. I was really proud of the sprinters we took along with us, like Gary Nelson, Bevan Morrison-Rodgers, and once again, Lozie Goolsby. These runners weren’t at all prepared to run a 3.1 mile race, but they volunteered to participate, got up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning, had a great attitude, and never complained.
For the past four years we have been part of the Capital Area Football Conference, or CAFC, in football only, while remaining in the Virginia Independent Conference for all other sports. This seems to be the best of both worlds and I believe in the best interests for Fishburne cadet-athletes. This arrangement is not, however, free of challenges. Since most of the CAFC is centered in northern Virginia, it means we have to travel to the Washington DC area about three times per year, and maybe four times including a playoff game. Depending upon traffic, this trip can take 3.5 to 4 hours; fortunately, due to the generosity of donors and athletic boosters, we have been able to procure the rental of a coach bus for these trips, at an expense of about $1300 per trip.
The benefits are two-fold: First, athletes and coaches are more rested and ready to play a football game, and secondly, procuring a coach bus helps us toward encouraging cadet-athletes to return to Fishburne and endure such trips in the future. Our large school bus is fine for local trips up to an hour, but it is not the ideal environment for having a team ready to play upon arrival, nor in influencing cadet athletes to return to Fishburne to play football and endue such trips in the future. I know the coaches, athletes, and myself are grateful to the those that have given us the opportunity to use a coach bus for a few trips per year. This investment is unquestionably worthwhile as far as retention is concerned.
The coaches have had an ongoing discussion about improving our athletic programs, including traditions and rituals, and we’ve made substantial progress in this regard. Sometimes I hear that we don’t have traditions. Well, we do! For example, we have senior recognition day at halftime of the parent’s weekend football game, and we do it in our own unique way. We’ve recently implemented a football pre-game ritual for home games, in which both teams, led by the coaching staffs, greet each other at midfield before the games begin, and we expect to expand this practice to other sports. Nobody else does this except for Fishburne. We’ve implemented a home varsity basketball tournament—the Caissons Classic—and a home cross country invitational in the past few years. A PG basketball tournament is likely next year. One thing worth considering is firing the cannon when the team comes on the field before the game. (Maybe fire the rifle when we score a touchdown?) We’re also considering other ideas.
The emphasis in our athletic program—and you can check this out on our website—is essentially sportsmanship, “winning the right way,” and the key word—RESPECT—for our coaches, our teammates, our school, and just as important, the opponent. I tell the kids that win or lose, you can always earn respect by doing your best and refusing to give up. By and large, I think we are succeeding in these areas, but we’re not perfect, we have some setbacks which we’re keenly and even painfully aware of. It’s always a work in progress. Regardless, sportsmanship and respect will continue to be a strong area of emphasis in Fishburne sports. Our coaches push this aspect relentlessly.
Everyone here can have a real impact on the Fishburne athletic program by steering athletes in our direction, particularly in situations where they are not reaching their potential—academically or athletically—in their current school situation. Fishburne has a solid track record helping student-athletes that were once struggling in a public school setting, and the alumni can be a huge asset in getting the word out as to what Fishburne can offer.
My hat is off to our coaching staff for the long hours and hard work they put in, day after day, and they do a tremendous job getting the best out of the athletes they have available, which can change significantly from year to year. Football head coach Val Gochenour runs a strength and conditioning program in the winter and spring, and we have about 20-25 athletes taking advantage of that opportunity. To maximize the potential for the football team, a strength and conditioning program is absolutely vital, and we are fortunate to have someone of Coach Gochenour’s ability to run the program. I don’t know if you can find a viable football team that does not have off-season strength and conditioning, so I’m thankful to Coach Gochenour and his efforts.
I would like to conclude by briefly recapping some of the positive developments over the past year. Coach Chiarolanzio’s wrestling team finished fourth in the Virginia Independent Conference, the best finish in over ten years, and Coach Crabill once again took the basketball team to the state tournament. Both coaches are well respected by their peers in the coaching community. Cross country also had their best results in over a decade, finishing 13th in the state. And of course the football team, with their first conference championship. Coach Huckaby with the PG basketball program had a winning inaugural season. We’ve had successes we can build upon, and, frankly some areas that need to improve, such as retaining, or keeping quality athletes and coaches at Fishburne. The ongoing challenge is not only to bring in good athletes, but to encourage athletes to continue their athletic careers at Fishburne. I have confidence that through the efforts of our coaching staff, the backing of the school administration, faculty, and staff, and the crucial support of the alumni, that we can keep moving forward and provide all of us with what we want, and that is teams that we can be proud of, and that are good ambassadors for Fishburne Military School.
Thank you.
