There is more than one way to band a team together.
There’s adversity.
A team coming together after a trying time. Sometimes it’s a trying time on the field. Other time’s it’s something that happens in the team’s shared personal life. That’s a favorite among sports movies.
Often times it’s much simpler than that. A team comes together through repetitive actions together such as practice and games.
On Wednesday, the Great Bend High School football team decided to do another action that can bring together a team — giving back to the community.
“We went to Wal-Mart and (the United Way) was Packing the Bus,” GBHS head coach Tony Crough said. “Each player took a dollar or two and went and bought school supplies. Then we helped pack the bus.
“We followed the bus to the United Way and we helped them unload it. We just formed an assembly line and got the supplies packed away.”
Crough brought his varsity and junior varsity, meaning over 60 players helped move school supplies for the United Way.
The opportunity was brought to Crough by a mother of a player.
“We just started to do it this year,” Crough said. “We had a mom call and say that United Way might need help and it seemed like a good idea.
“We wanted to take the kids out and how them about helping the community.”
Crough said that he feels it’s important for the kids to give back to the community that supports them.
“We want to make sure our football players know realize that playing football is only going to be part of their lives for a short time,” Crough said. “Being civic leaders, helping the community, is important.”