Robert W Burnett

All the Way Down: Changing Hearts and Minds Robert W Burnett

Derrick entered the door with a big grin. He was wearing a Mickey Mouse pullover shirt that stopped at his knees. His surfer shorts stopped at about his ankles, and he looked even more outlandish with his low-cut blue sneakers and blue and green sweat socks. My first reaction was to send him back to change his clothes. After further thought, I decided to give him a lecture and let him be his individual self. Again, George rapidly hit the door leading the players down the hall with his usual, "Lets do this fella's" The bus loaded up with Colleen handing me a Hall's cough drop as I sat down. The cheerleader advisor knew I had been losing my voice due to yelling so much. Dave handed me an antacid tablet for later, and Lee's wife jumped on the bus to hand the players carrots. All the rituals had been completed, and the big bus moved out for the 55 mile trip to Pittsburgh. The time that I had always wanted to experience as a kid, was finally at hand. It was a chance to coach at the University of Pittsburgh floor. It was a chance to win a gold medal. The most important thing though, I thought, was for a lot of people to change their attitude's about delinquent kids. I wanted people to know that these kids were not all bad if you gave them a chance, and many would and could succeed. As the bus lurched down Interstate-79, I thought, that no matter what, win or lose--these kids had already succeeded.