The Fishburne-Capital Area Football Conference Relationship
Fishburne Military School is a member of the Capital Area Football Conference along with Avalon School, Fredericksburg Christian School, Hyde Leadership School, Massanutten Military Academy, and Model Secondary School for the Deaf. The CAFC has been gradually expanding as we carefully consider requests for membership of schools that will be a good fit for our conference. Some requests have been rejected. It is important to understand a little background to this conference affiliation to better appreciate the rationale for our initial and continued membership.
Up until 2003, FMS played football against nearby schools such as STAB, Covenant, LCA, North Cross, and VES, getting blasted regularly and quite frankly, embarrassed. I was often there and it was humiliating, and I’ll leave it at that. The ripple effects these blowouts had on our school, our cadets and supporters were palpable. Losing games is an acceptable part of the learning experience. Not being competitive is simply a punishment and leads to cadets quitting the team, poor morale, and a general malaise within the corps. I’ll admit the travel portion of the deal was agreeable, but nevertheless a change had to be made, and there was no “easy” button to push. Either we were going to have to become road warriors or maintain the status quo, the latter of which was untenable.
The CAFC provides an overall competitive environment for our football team along with the benefits of conference affiliation, including a championship game and opportunity for our better athletes to make an all-conference team. Perhaps most importantly we have a chance to win perhaps not all, but most of our ball games. With an 8-game regular season schedule, we are eligible for the state playoffs and are thus still a legitimate football program in the eyes of others. Players want to at least have the chance to play for something at the end of the season. We provide that opportunity, and I believe it’s essential to continue to do so.
But there are some challenges in such an arrangement.
Ted Moroney, our Board of Trustees President, initially approached me about looking for opponents outside of the local area to improve our competitiveness, even if the travel time might be 3-plus hours. I was hesitant at first because of the many extra hours involved on the road, and the resulting fatigue exacted on the coaches. It is very tiring to teach all day, followed by practices, and then a long road trip and game to conclude the week. When such a game occurs on a Friday night or Saturday, the recuperative time is almost negligible. Keep in mind that Coach Gochenour, perhaps with assistance from another coach or two (or not), work long hours on weekends to wash uniforms, organize equipment, straighten up a bit, review game film, etc., and prepare for a new week just around the corner. When we play a Saturday game, their turnaround time to get ready for the next week is practically nonexistent. Time must also be set aside somewhere to prepare for classes, never mind catching one’s breath and recharging spent batteries.
Our football team normally makes three trips per season to the Northern Virginia and Washington, DC area. Getting to Hyde or Model can take up to four hours one way depending on traffic. From a weather perspective, it is often uncomfortably warm in September.
Fortunately, we have been able to procure the use of a coach bus for such trips, thanks to Mrs. Johnson, our Deputy Superintendent, spearheading the effort along with support from our superintendent and donations from supporters. While not inexpensive at roughly $1500 per trip, or $4500 annually, I believe use of a coach bus helps our school in the following ways:
1) Facilitates rest and readiness for the team before and after a game by lessening travel fatigue. (Our un-air conditioned school bus is perhaps adequate for short trips up to 1 to 1.5 hours, for which it was designed, but wholly unsuitable for longer journeys. It is also slow and has difficulty attaining interstate speeds or handling any sort of incline.)
2) Encourages retention of coaches and athletes—a top priority for the school and athletic program.
3) Shows the team we care about them as individuals and appreciate their efforts, while mitigating wear and tear on players and coaches.
I strongly believe the investment in this limited coach bus transportation is returned with interest several times over from the perspective of retention, and we can continue playing competitive, challenging opponents with at least a fighting chance to win some of those games. In the process, FMS also enjoys the stability from being in a viable football conference.
Our goal is to develop our young men in to well-rounded leaders in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the barracks. From a football perspective, being members of the CAFC provides the best opportunity to achieve our goals, by teaching our cadets that we have an opportunity to compete and win by giving maximum effort each and every day, working as a unit with one another, and representing themselves, their families, and their school in a professional manner regardless of the outcome on the scoreboard.
Sincerely,
Mike Anson
