How do you want to be remembered?
That”s one of the many messages West Point High School football coach Chris Chambless is delivering in the offseason.
His job title also makes him a de facto psychologist.
Chambless points out that West Point”s 2009 state championship rings state “2009.” The 2010 rings celebrate another season — “2010” — of success.
If the players on the 2011 squad, especially the seniors, wants to earn their rings, as well as the school”s third consecutive Class 5A state title, they will have to earn it out on the field.
Their success. Their legacy.
“The last couple of years,” Chambless said, “we had a great group of seniors who wanted it bad and led in a positive way. This year, the group of (rising) seniors saw what last year”s seniors did, and they want to do the same thing.”
Chambless already knows the Green Wave have the talent to make another state run, so his biggest task is to push the effort out the next group of guys and to find the right means to that end.
That will be a delicate balance because it”s easy for anyone who has been a part of two championship teams to get complacent, or to think the title belongs to them and that work is optional.
That isn”t the case, Chambless said. That”s why he and his coaches remind the players it”s a new year and a new season.
You guys haven”t accomplished anything yet. What are you going to do about it?
The 2011 championship trophy doesn”t belong to West Point any more than it does New Hope, Brookhaven, or Ridgeland — teams it defeated en route to last season”s crown.
The Green Wave will have to reload without some of the playmakers who were vital to the back-to-back state titles, including quarterback Justin Cox, who signed this winter with Mississippi State.
Overall, West Point will send at least nine from last season”s team to college to play football. That”s why the Green Wave return just two starters on offense and four on defense.
Time for the 2011 seniors to make their mark.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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