It’s hard to believe it’s been three weeks since our big trip to the Flathead to play Glacier-Kalispell. Like many of our coaches, I’ve been laid up the last two weeks with a wicked illness that TKO’d me for Thanksgiving break. Tonight’s, our midnight madness practice and sleepover with the Gallatin Boys’ Basketball Team (yep, I’m back at it) and I’m on the ragged edge, still recovering, but I wanted to give a final update from a special run with the Raptor Football Team this season.
If you’ve been following this journey on Instagram, you’ll know that I’ve been working as the Mental Performance and Mindset Coach with one of Montana’s powerhouse high school football programs. I can’t sing the praises of Coach Hunter Chandler enough–he’s wise beyond his years and his peers. He come from the White Clay band of Assiniboine People, grew up in Bozeman, Montana, playing for Gallatin High’s crosstown rivals, and was named the head coach of the Raptor Football program when the new 2A school in Bozeman opened its doors in 2020. After a rough and rocky start, he, his staff and his boys’ kept chipping away, getting better each season. This year they came in as a favorite for a run at state.
In December of 2022, Coach Chandler asked me for a coffee shop meeting. We sat for three hours, talking coaching, psychology, mindset, philosophy and by the time we were done, he told me he wanted to be the first high school athletic program in the state of Montana with their own in house Mental Performance Coach, and asked me to be that guy.
It’s been a special run. In the midst of some really challenging times this fall, working with this team has been strong medicine. Monday’s I meet one-on-one with players that need or want the support. Sometimes it’s a one and done thing, and other times, with the really dedicated athlete’s like our #1 QB, we meet every week for fifty minutes to debrief and our on his mental game. Thursday nights are always special for this football program as they gather with parents and a few boosters for Thursday night dinners, following a big week of practice and preparing for their Friday night lights showdowns.
Part of my process and project with this team has been our series of Thursday night talks. Every Thursday night, after they break bread and the coaches give out their awards from the prior week, Coach Flynn or Chandler re-introduce me and make sure the kids are locked in and ready to focus. For twenty to twenty-five minutes, I present to the team, building on the week before, revisiting the tools and mental skills we’ve already developed, while introducing relatively easy to grasp concepts that can help them focus and be their best selves on and off the field.
Everything about our prep leading up to the game was spot on—Coach Chandler had it all dialed and the boys were ready to rumble against the powerhouse from the west side of the divide. It was a cold and clear evening in the Flathead Valley and we came to play.
The night before the big game, in a conference room at a hotel in Missoula, I addressed the team for a big one—talk twelve, week twelve, of our Thursday night presentations. I had a flow going, the energy was strong and the response was palpable. Coach Chandler gave me a bear of a hug and said, “That was the best one yet.” The boys were focused, locked in, and ready to play Raptor Football. It was a long day leading up to the big game, but walk-through went well and our pre-game talks, breathing, and mindfulness had the boys ready to do what they do—fly around, hit like a hammer, and compete with the five elements: energy, effort, enthusiasm, passion and intensity.
We fell a little short that Friday night and our season ended at Legends Kalispell Stadium against a big, rugged and really good team. Led by Coach Chandler, we took it on the chin, and walked off the field with our heads up, eyes forward and feet moving.
We were one game away from playing for the state championship, so the pain of the loss was real, and the group of seniors on this team is flat out special, which added to the heartache. But being three weeks removed now, it’s hard not to look back at that two-day trip and thirteen week journey, and not be grateful for the big blue wave we rode to the end.
I’m so grateful to be able to add value, make a contribution to this cause and to help these boys become more effective and resilient, while becoming their strongest and truest selves.
Go RAPTORS!!