Players, coaches find comfort with sports

Athletes come together as one after recent violence in Dallas

COLLEGE STATION — The state 7-on-7 tournament progresses without a hitch. The world around it feels unhitched.

A most turbulent week hit Mesquite Poteet football coach Kody Groves and his players closer to home than most with the Dallas ambush police shootings Thursday. Mesquite is just east of downtown Dallas.

But Groves considers himself lucky. He’s standing right in the middle of the solution.

“I think locker rooms around America is where a lot of this stuff is going to be healed,” Groves said.

The divided world is nowhere to be found in the locker room. It’s arguably one of the more all-inclusive places available.

The divided world is nowhere to be found between the lines during the weekend’s game, even at the state 7-on-7 tournament, which serves as a precursor to the fall.

Nothing unifies the masses like sports and coaches and players will attest to that notion. The bond created from sports grows stronger and stronger with each passing generation.

It is the unifying bond through tragedy, heartbreak, obstacles and turbulence — much like what the country has seen last week and many times before. It breeds the next generation as agents of change.

Race, religion or any differences are not found on the court, on the diamond or in between the white lines.

That’s why Dickinson coach John Snelson said sports pays more dividends than most realize. What happens on those courts and fields affects those involved and indirectly affects the world.

“In my opinion, that is the first non-color barrier, non-status barrier and kids learn to trust each other,” Snelson said. “Kids learn to love each other. Kids learn to depend on each other.

“They start treating each other as their second family.”

Young adults have grown up in a completely different world than their parents and most certainly their grandparents did.

Differences in race and religion among the next generation aren’t even thought of.

Ridge Point junior tight end Mustapha Muhammad watched the week’s events around the country and wants to change the narrative.

Muhammad was raised in a di- verse setting and that includes the sports teams he’s played on. Naturally, he doesn’t give the differences between he and his peers a shred of thought.

“It’s great because at my school, it’s very diverse,” Muhammadsaid. “It’s not too much of one color. It’s all walks of life in the classroom. I’ve grown up like that. I’ve gotten used to it. There’s no racism.”

The common goal overshadows the differences between teammates and coach and player. So much so that the differences aren’t even brought up.

Instead, players go from teammates to brothers or sisters in no time.

“Every day you’re out there working with them until you get so close you trust them with your life,” said The Woodlands quarterback Eric Schmid.

Ridge Point coach Brett Sniffin sees it in the hallways of school, not just with his players on the field.

The harmony and unity that sports brings haven’t always existed, but today it matters more than ever and has its most profound impact.

“It doesn’t matter — race, religion,” Sniffin said. “All that stuff is put to the side and kids work together. I don’t know where we lose that along the lines sometimes, but we do.”

“But that’s the greatest thing about sports, especially in high school.”

Groves is serious when he said the solution is in the locker room. He said it can heal the hatred. It can bring people and even opponents together. There will be a winner and a loser but everyone has the same goal.

The Dallas ambush shootings affected Desoto, too. Coach Todd Peterman said sports creates an avenue for players to talk about events like these. It’s the place to vent to a second family.

“The number of players that have reached out to me that have graduated — because everybody is looking for guidance during these times,” Peterman said. “Cool heads. Obviously, we’re mixed — coaching staff and kids. We just talk about it.”

The proof is found on the field. It was evident at the state 7-on-7 tournament and will be evident again in the fall.

“You just saw all the kids out here today and there’s lot of different makeups of teams and different ethnicities,” The Woodlands coach Mark Schmid said. “They’re all playing together and they’re competing across the line from each other. And they’re doing it within the confines of the game. There are no issues.

“That’s the beautiful thing about what we do with sports.”