“If you don’t go full go in football, you won’t go full go in anything else in your life,” is what my sophomore Football coach, Tom Kaider would tell our team when he thought someone wasn’t trying enough. Tom is a friendly, yet very tough person in different aspects of his personality. Tom has a large build, medium length blond hair, and he’s always dressed in our school's football apparel in his silver wheelchair. Because of a fight with his brother, Tom has been been paralyzed from his chest down since his early twenties. Through watching him talk about his experience and accident it has shown me that it only has made him stronger, and more tough as a person. As someone listening to him talk, I can tell by the way his eyes light up when he’s talking that he really means what he's saying when he is giving a lesson on life in the middle of football practice. Tom Kaider is a great football coach to me; however, after just one year of knowing him, he is an even better life coach in how he inspires and motivates me, and everyone around him.

Tom Kaider, is by no means an ordinary coach in any way. He is someone people always want to be around because they never know when he’ll surprise everyone with another lesson on life or another story about his life. He always finds a way to connect football to what you’ll have to do later in life. He’ll say “ You quit now, and you’ll always quit in your life. You show up late to practice, you’ll show up late to work. You f*** around in practice, and you’ll be stuck at minimum wage your whole life because you don’t know how to work for anything.” No one is ever bored when Tom is talking. He never holds back from saying what he feels. Part of the reason I respect him so much, is that he is 100% honest and real in all that he says and if it offends anyone, they can go deal with it. He often brings our team closer together with his life stories and experiences that he shares with us to have us learn the lessons he had to learn the hard way. When someone complains at practice, he’ll say “ You know what, I can’t feel half of my body. I have to deal with not being able to move my legs and you’re complaining about being tired from running? I would kill to be able to sprint my ass off so hard that I can’t breath.” Quotes like that would motivate us that we can get through what ever obstacles we’re placed with, just like he did. One of his most talked about topics, was the idea of having courage on and off the field. He would often say “Courage is running into a burning building no matter how scared you are, even though you don’t know the outcome. It doesn’t matter if you’re confident, all that matters is that you have the courage to do it.” Even though football season is long over, I still think about that metaphor when dealing with challenges outside of sports because of Tom.

Tom will always do whatever he feels is necessary to prove a point or get the best out of someone at practice. That is my favorite trait about tom because he is truly one crazy guy, and its awesome. Tom isn't afraid to get in someones face so hard that he’ll take a punch to the face in order to get them fired up before a play. The craziest memory I have of Tom is when he didn’t think I was tough and mean enough to really hit my opponent hard. Tom stopped the whole practice and had everyone gather into a circle on one knee. Then he rolled right up to me in his shiny silver wheelchair and said “You know what jay i don’t think you have the guts to come up to me and push me out of this damn wheelchair!” Everyone who heard that froze because no one would ever expect someone to say that. I couldn’t even believe he said that. He kept repeating it and threw in a couple swears until I got so pissed that I actually hit him. I had hit him so hard, that he flew back and out of his wheelchair. Everyone on the field including me was in shock as he flew back and smacked the ground. Two seconds later a big smile came across his face and he began to laugh and pat me on the shoulder as I thought I had just made the worst mistake of my entire life. Tom went through that just to get the best out of me and to get me to earn his and the teams respect, and that is also why I admire him so much as a person. At times when I didn’t want to try at practice, the thought of disappointing Tom Kaider was the only reason I went “full go every rep,” as he would often say.

My coach, Tom Kaider, is one of the most inspiring people I know. He motivates me on and off the field and that is more than a great coach. He uses what he’s been through, to help and inspire others and that is one of my favorite traits about him. Most importantly, he is someone you can depend on for more than just help with the sport. Tom Kaider, the crazy guy in the wheelchair, is one of the best people I’ve known in my entire life.