Goals and Touchdowns
Life is happening now. Yet, we live with the awareness that there is a distant future possibility—an actualization still to come if we work for it and wait—something that we hold in our imagination that gives us hope. We call them goals.
In a small, rural community in Palm Beach County, Florida, more closely identified with the southern, agricultural heartland of the state than its more affluent urban cities, a particular type of goal prevails; those made on the football field. The towns that comprise the Glades, including Belle Glade, South Bay, Pahokee, and Clewiston, are well known both for their farming exports like sugar, and the high number of professional football players who grow up there.
The Glades community evolved in a farming era when migrant workers harvested crops by hand, and many residents today have family members who worked in that industry before modern farming technology evolved, making the process of picking crops less arduous and time consuming. Friends who live there tell me the community is neighborly and small-town oriented; families know one another, and many people garden and share fresh produce. There are values instilled through the generational lessons of working in difficult conditions and creating a future that allows more choice through hard work and perseverance.
The Belle of the [Foot]Ball
Palm Beach County is home to over 1.5 million people. The eastern parts of the county, including West Palm Beach, are urban, and central and western communities are suburban and rural, particularly the areas known as the Glades. Neighbors there attend community events together and enjoy a small-town lifestyle. Residents readily highlight the two largest pastimes of their towns as agriculture and football.
Local lore has it that the name of the largest town in the area, Belle Glade, was chosen by vote, with residents christening it “the belle of the glades.” (A History of Belle Glade, Belle Glade Chamber of Commerce.) A combination of land development, including draining swampland near Lake Okeechobee, and fertile soil brought more residents to the area in the early 20th century.
Like many inspiring stories, the Glades has its share of sadness in its history, including a 1928 hurricane that devastated the area. The predominance of itinerant farming also impacted the local economy, resulting in widespread job loss when modern technology replaced human industry. Average household income in Belle Glade is $42, 314, with 32.5% of residents living in poverty. (U.S. Census).
Year after year, football provides a major motivation and attainable aim for local players who want to compete at the high school, college, and professional levels. Glades Central and Pahokee High schools play in an annual, unofficial state championship football game known as the “Muck Bowl.” The moniker comes from the swampy land where sugarcane grows, the muck. It is more than a game; it is a major local event.
“The football field here has served as a symbol of pride for people such as Penn State running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and others who have suited up on Friday nights. It’s true for the entire community that files into Effie C. Grear Field to watch the Glades Central Raiders. When the Raiders are on the road, the longstanding joke has been the last person out of town needs to turn the lights out.
‘Every Friday night, that’s where all the kids run to,’ said former NFL first-round draft pick Reidel Anthony, who lived and breathed football in this community, playing receiver for the Raiders in the mid-1990s before starring at Florida and spending five seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He returned to coach at Glades Central after retiring from the NFL.
‘They head to the stands for the first quarter, and maybe the second quarter they’re along the fence and then the third or fourth quarter they’re behind the bleachers playing a pick-up game. That’s how it goes down there,’ Anthony continued. ‘Everybody grows up wanting to play professional football, and in their mind they’re going to make it. That’s their mindset, that’s what drives them and that’s what pretty much was instilled in us growing up that we’re going to be great at football.'”
Snyder, Audrey, “From Muck City to Happy Valley, Ja’Juan Seider will never forget his roots.” N.Y. Times, 8/12/2019.
Family Values
As the wife of a professional athlete, I wish more people understood the sacrifice and tenacity that underscore athletes’ success. The player must always keep his or her goal at the front of mind, while working to achieve it in incremental steps. Elite athletes are among the hardest workers in the world. Significantly, the skills needed to succeed in sports—patience, resilience, grit, attention to detail, openness to learning new things—are the same set required for leaders in all fields.
Sports values are family values, and whether playing football, studying, or pursuing any other goal, the importance of an ability to set an aim, work toward it in small, measurable steps, while holding faith and community support, is immeasurable. We want that for ourselves. We want that for our families. And, in communities like the Glades and everywhere, football is one way to provide it.
