Coronado
Aldridge Elementary School
50 degrees, calm, a beautiful morning to have some fun
PAX: Convoy, Cadbury, Super Tasty, Patton, Muffs, Macanudo, Room Service, Summer Catch, Devito, Johnny Five, Sweet Sweet, Lemu, Papa Smurf, Jenni Bravo, Thor, Jukebox, Alcatraz, Kill Switch,
Q: The Big One and The Roadhouse
About a month ago I was looking at the Q schedule to see if there were any openings for me. I found a couple that looked good on me. The Mess Hall, Wolf Den, Beverly Hills… All quality sites with great leadership. Then I saw an opening that really spoke to me. Coronado. November 6th. OPEN.
It smelled like an opportunity. It smelled like potential. It smelled like the Big One. I pulled out my phone and texted Big One. “You want to Q with me at Coronado on Nov 6th?”. His response was simple, “Damn straight.” It was on like Donkey Kong baby!
The next few weeks went by and I didn’t think much about it but as the day got closer, I started to get excited. The only thing I loved more than Qing was Qing with a buddy! I called him up to brainstorm the beatdown and we threw out some ideas. We laughed, we cried, we came up with a plan.
The night before, I texted him and asked if he wanted to meet there early to walk through things. He texted back. “Great idea! 5 am?” Now if you know the Big One like I do, 5 am felt like a stretch. I would be lucky if he was there at 5:30. But… we would see.
I arrived at Aldridge at 4:50 AM. There was a group getting ready for a prerun. I greeted the PAX and let them know there would be no run for me this morning. I needed to come up with a plan. The clock was approaching 5 and no sight of my partner. Then as the clock struck 5, there he was… calling my phone.
He let me know he was on the way and would be a few minutes late. To his credit, he was there by 5:05. I am really proud of you brother!
We grabbed some gear and walked the grounds. He knew what we wanted to do but we weren’t sure where we wanted to do it. The plan was three stations. One basketball station. One football station. One whiffle ball station. We were going to play some games this morning.
We walked over to the hoop first. This was the easy one. The game would be knockout. Then we scoped out an area for football. The game here would be route running. We found a good place with good light. Finally we needed the whiffle ball spot. We found a good spot on the East side of the playground with some good lighting. I picked up the bat and recommended we test it out. Big One got into position and started throwing some pitches. The first four were garbage. Nothing hittable. He was clearly scared. My reputation must have preceded me…
Then he threw pitch number five. As soon as it left his hand, I instinctually uttered the words, “there it is…” The ball looked as big as a watermelon as it got closer. I effortlessly swung the bat and connected with the ball. As it soared into the dark, morning sky, I couldn’t help but smile. It felt as good as anything I have done it quite some time. Now I knew how the batters in the Missouri Valley felt from 2000-2003.
We finalized our plan and headed to the shovel flags. By 5:30 AM there were 20 of us. I great mix of new and veteran. Young and older. Handsome and even more handsome. We stumbled through the intro. The 3 Fs. The five core principles. No mission statement. No credo. We let the guys know if they were looking for a tough workout today, they were in the wrong spot. And with that, we moseyed to the lot across the street for Warm-a-rama.
WARM-A-RAMA:
SSHs
Imperial Walkers
Big Ones
Deep Stretches
Pickle Pushers
Sun Gods
The energy and the mumblechatter were great already. There was already a lot of laughter during WAR. After we finished there, we headed towards the North wall of the school. It was time for the pre-thang.
THE PRE-THANG:
Buttkicks
High Knees
Lunges
Super Marios
Suicides
After the pre-thang we explained the Thang. We counted off into three groups and we walked through what would happen after each station. Station one was Knockout. No explanation needed. At station two, I would be all time QB and the PAX would take turns running routes and catching touchdowns. Station three would be a real treat for the group. They would have the opportunity face a real life college pitcher with a whiffle ball bat. Big One would be all time pitcher.
And with that, we started playing. I am not sure what happened at the Knockout station but I did see some shocking and appalling shooting form. I love you Patton…
At station two, I was slinging the pigskin all over the yard. And the guys were making catches. Of course, it is hard not to catch it when it is consistently placed right in your bread basket. The options were a short route, medium route and deep route. I don’t want to get too personal, but I went deep. A lot. By the end of the workout there were several butts asleep.
I glanced over at station three quite a few times and what I saw every time was the PAX taking Big One deep. Line drives, deep drives, frozen ropes. The whiffle balls were flying. I started to worry about Big One’s neck as he continuously watched the balls fly by him.
THE THANG:
3 Stations:
- Knockout at the Basketball Hoop
- Route running and touchdown catching – Roadhouse all time QB
- Whiffle Ball at the Medical Offices – Big One all time pitcher
Exercises while you wait:
Merkins
LBCS
Air Squats
The Thang was simply one word; FUN! It was loose and guys were smiling and laughing. I am not sure how good a workout it was but fuck, we had a good time!
At 6:05, Omaha was called. We met back in the middle for some Mary.
Mary:
Freddy Mercurys
Flutter Kicks
Heels to Heaven
Dying Cockroaches
Hammers- Rancid Style
And with that, we were done. We had played and we had played together.
Name-o-rama:
NOR was smooth, lots of laughs.
Announcements:
Nemo is signing with NW Missouri State Bearcats this week to run for them! So proud of that Kid!
Friday is the Marine Corps birthday. Patton is hosting a party at the Spike. Hooah!
Prayers:
Yodel and his mother
Alcatraz for an important meeting today
Mr. Hanky’s family dealing with war in Middle East.
COT:
Life can be pretty heavy. Between work and family and life, things can be hard and difficult to navigate. This morning was a reminder to take some time to play some games. Be a kid. Have fun. Get silly and laugh and play. I have a five year son who reminds me of this everyday.
Big One added that at Wait Time’s Q last weekend he made a free throw and it was the best moment he has had in a long time. Games can be rewarding. Games can be stress relievers. Games can be fun!
F3 can be a place to play. To get silly and to have some fun. It is a safe place.
So don’t take life too seriously, have some fun and if you need help with that, come to one of our Qs.
We love you guys.
Big One and Roadhouse, CLB.