At the beginning of each season, Erik teaches his team about an acronym he learned about just as he began his coaching career: F.A.M.I.L.Y.™ which means Forget About Me. I love You™. Using this acronym, he teaches his players about what it means to be part of a football family. He talks about the importance of how they treat each other, sacrifice for each other, and resist the urge to act selfishly, especially when things get hard. He loves his players and helps them learn to love each other. He teaches them that their love for each other will help them endure difficult adversity—that their success is related to their love for each other. 

 

Erik also regularly reminds them to focus on what they can control. Players on other teams might be bigger, stronger, or faster; but football families have an immediate and direct control over their commitment to each other—they decide whether they will be a band of brothers unified by their love for each other. Erik teaches his players that, when things get difficult (and things always get difficult), that their love for each other is their secret weapon.

 

Erik connects the F.A.M.I.L.Y. concept with a beautiful example found in nature. The Redwood tree is the tallest tree on Earth. It can grow to be over 300 feet tall and can live for thousands of years. With this massive growth and expansive lifespan, you might assume that such a tree would have a singular taproot that burrows deep into the ground. But, they don’t: their roots are typically only 6 to 12 feet deep. Redwood trees find their strength and stability, not by a singular root that grow downward, but by interconnected lateral roots that extend outward. The roots intertwine and connect with other redwood tree roots and support each other, sometimes extending 100 feet from the trunk. When a redwood tree is sick or in need of water, the other redwood trees around it send it what it needs through this vast connection of interwoven roots.

 

When Erik refers to his players as “my redwood trees”, they know exactly what he means: they reach out to each other. They work together to stand a little taller and stand a little stronger. Right now, we have a chance to band together and support Erik in a similar manner. Erik needs our help to stand a little taller and to stand a little stronger. We can help him by giving what we are in a position to give, encouraging others to do the same, and sharing stories about how his influence has helped us when we needed it the very most.  

 

Thank you for being an important part of Erik’s F.A.M.I.L.Y.