“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
Over the past two seasons, the Cistercian football team has hit a bit of a rough patch, but that does not mean it is any less important to continue supporting the Hawks with your participation and enthusiasm. While football games are primarily a chance for the Hawks to utterly destroy whoever is foolish enough to step onto the field against them, whenever the team is unable to accomplish this, it does not mean that the stands should empty. In fact, it means the exact opposite—if you wish to experience the utter jubilation of devastating opposing teams, the football team needs you now more than ever. Football is an invaluable part of Cistercian culture, and there are two ways you can help revitalize this critically important program—your presence on the team or your enthusiasm for the team.
First, the best way to support Cistercian football is to join the team. If you have ever thought about playing football, especially if you will be a senior next year, why not come out in the spring so that you can at least understand what a practice looks like? If you played football before, why not try summer strength and conditioning with the team? If you want to understand the amount of time and effort the team puts into the season, why not come to the August practices? Even if you don’t end up sticking with football, you’ll be in better shape for other sports you play, you’ll be more united with the players on the football field, and you’ll better understand how hard the players work. But for many, getting a taste of the football team’s camaraderie and passion will ultimately lead to joining the team for Fall 2025. Our hope is to gain enough new players next year that we can restart the JV team, and return to the glory days of Cistercian football. Cistercian students have enough athletic talent, grit, and intelligence that we should be able to dominate our opponents once more of you guys join the program.
Even if football isn’t for you, Cistercian still needs you at the games, cheering loudly with other Hawks fans. On top of being a chance for Cistercian to display its athletic dominance, football games provide an opportunity for developing the sense of community at Cistercian that we all love. Parents get the opportunity to chat with teachers and Form Masters, while students have a place to release all their pent-up energy from the school by cheering together for their fearsome Hawks. And younger students, in addition to blowing off steam by playing on the baseball field, get to watch older students both on and off the field, giving them a picture of who they could be someday. On top of that, the pep rallies that go along with some of the home games help build school spirit. That school spirit not only helps empower the football team to perform at their highest level, but also extends to other sports and activities at Cistercian.
If you want to keep the benefits that football games provide to Cistercian, please show up to games either in a uniform or in the stands. It would mean a lot to the players on the team, to the younger guys coming behind us, and to the community as a whole. As Henry Ford said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
