About two years ago, I shared a life epiphany of sorts here. Looking back, it was a rather muddled attempt to promote certain aspects of my experience. Since then, my focus has shifted. Life and purpose have become much better understood. At least for now.
That voice I referred to remains. Now, I just hear Him better and actually listen to what is being said. And now more importantly, how the message is being shared. I no longer avoid the truth being spoken. Humility is a good thing.
While it turned out to be a very long and scenic way to discern this truth, football has remained instrumental in both finding and better defining my mission. Not so much the pomp and circumstance of the game. But what the game was ultimately all about for me.
Intention.
Selflessness,
Faith.
Fellowship.
Having spent my football “career” on the line of scrimmage, I gained a keen insight into the essence of that role and how it now plays into my game of life.
I may have taken off the pads for the last time forty some years ago, but I remain to this day an O-lineman. It is what I was made to be. One who embraces the weight granted. One who doesn’t desire the spotlight. One who embraces his role. One who paves the way for others to succeed.
That is precisely how I still coach the game of football.
Over time, I have come to a better understanding about this game.
To me, it is a mission that needs to be centered upon developing the individual that resides within the player. One capable of true authenticity and selflessness, girded by a faith in what can ultimately be accomplished together in true fellowship.
The student of life within the athlete.
Only then can all facets of the individual act to positively impact the athlete.
Class is not held solely on the field or the weight room. It is in the right here and now, with each other. Together you get to learn, grow and develop in ways many others cannot or will never be able to in their entire lives.
But by no means does that place you above anyone.
It is purely a gift to be embraced as such, and held with an attitude of gratitude.
Within this gift is the opportunity to create and build something much bigger than yourself.
By yourself, I take that as two iterations. First, you as an individual get to. And then, you together as a team gets to. The makings of a genuine fellowship.
As such, you get to be a part of many, many lives and families, embrace diverse backgrounds and cultures all while building true friendships that can literally last a lifetime.
You get to represent a heralded college and every player that first strapped it on as a Green Knight in 1931 – as well as everyone that ever attended as a student, taught as a professor or administered to the needs of operating a college.
If you can open yourself up fully and honestly to see this as such, that you get to be a part of this, then you will be in a position to fully invest yourself in making the most of it.
All of which is contingent on how much you are willing to open yourself up, draw others in close to one another and then grow together. For some, this will be a task ten-fold more challenging than two-a-days. I get it. But like two-a-days, it is meant to be a test. Determined to reveal something you never thought was in you. I can assure you, from experience, there is strength to be found in vulnerability. And when all is said and done, you will wonder what took you so long to just let it happen.
Some time ago, I happened upon a German adverb that defines this level of connection perfectly.
Ineinander.
Meaning “into each other, into one another. Or, interlocking.” To me, it is choosing to become woven together. Creating something together that has the ability to withstand all of the tension, twists and turns of all adversity while remaining unified, unfrayed and unbreakable.
In preparation for sharing this gift with all of you, I collaborated with a teammate of yours. We talked some and came up with some thoughts and reflections about what we all need to be able to be. What we need to ask of ourselves and each other, in an honest and transparent manner.
I hope I don’t let you down with what is to follow, buddy.
So after some contemplation about what he and I shared and my presence within the game these many years, I arrived at four tenets of development that I believe will serve us all well.
So for our time remaining now, it is going to be more so about opening up and revealing some holes than it is about x’s and o’s.
So take advantage of the opportunities to reflect.
This is just the start in many respects.
I sincerely hope there will be more beginnings than endings as you continue on this journey forward together.
Good evening, I am Mark J. Hahn. I am honored to be here with you tonight.
Just wanted to share a little about me to provide some perspective.
I got to play high school ball.
Then my parents helped me to pick a school where I could play for four more years.
As my kids were growing up, I got to coach them in baseball, soccer, softball and football.
I got to be involved in the community youth football program and coach my sons and many others. Then got the opportunity to coach high school, a year of college ball and then back to high school, where I am coaching today.
Along the way and in between, I created motivational newsletters and social media, spoke at high school team dinners and WFCA conferences.
All told, 32 years – and counting – I got to be involved in the greatest game ever invented.
Maybe you noticed I say “got to” a lot.
It is because these opportunities were given to me.
Gifts.
And for that reason, it is my intention to give them back throughout the time I have remaining.
Beyond the gridiron 