Week 11 Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from our game at Cowboys Stadium. What a great memory that will be for our team and for your sons and family for many years to come. I would really encourage you to look at Keller Pix and see if there are any memories that you would like to have. These are great pictures and they capture some amazing moments and scenes from our football season.

Enjoy the photos and I will be posting more after the holidays. Keep checking the blog for important information about our football program, and have a great end of the week.

Go Blue!

Kevin Atkinson

2009 Wrap Up 2

The end of a season is similar to death. It happens so fast and without very much warning and then all of a sudden it is over. No work on Sunday, no film Monday morning, no practice, no planning. It is just over. The week after football season is the week I dislike the most for the entire year. This week does not fit into the routine at all.

Our final game tradition is great in my opinion. It provides closure and an opportunity to say thank you and to pass the torch. Underclassmen thank the seniors, seniors give encouragement, and coaches, players, fans and family have a chance to say goodbye to a football player. To describe it as emotional would be a very bad understatement. Young men are saying goodbye to something that they have poured years of their short lives in to. It is an ending of a chapter of their life and transition into their next phase of life. I am grateful to be able to share these moments with them.

Some of your sons cry. Some of them bawl. Some hugs last longer than others. Some coaches share special words and give encouragement and guidance for the future. Some laugh and crack jokes. Parents and siblings hold on longer and linger in the hall way. Even at 1:30 in the morning it is tough for them to walk out the door and leave football behind. These emotions and tears remind me that we teach more than just football here. We are teaching life to these boys and that is our main goal. Football teams will come and go. The real success comes in the future years when your sons use the lessons from our football program to make decisions. To have Courage, or to be Humble. To Believe, to Love, to Unite and to Encourage. To have Empathy. To Overcome Adversity. To Finish what is difficult. To Win, to have Passion, to Overachieve. We wanted your sons to be great at football and to have a positive experience in athletics. But more important to us is that your sons become strong young men, who become faithful husbands and loving fathers. Those are the successes that we are working toward. We do what we do in football to help raise your sons to be the best they can be. It is our privilege to do this and we are grateful for the opportunity.

Go Blue!

Kevin Atkinson

2009 Wrap Up 1

It was a great season and I was very pleased with the effort and desire that your sons gave at last night's game. We played hard, caused Coppell to turn the ball over and moved the ball down the field but in the end we were unable to capitalize on some of their mistakes and came up on the short end. I am very please that we played well and fought the entire evening. I was so happy for our team to be able to experience Texas Stadium and have that memory.

The evening ended with our traditional receiving line for the seniors. It was a late night, early morning, but well worth it and the Indian Football Family benefits from those final moments in the locker room. I will share more about that event later on when my thoughts are more gathered and I get more than 4 hours of sleep.

Thank you for your time and support this year. The parents and football community at Keller High is special and the love and unity that is here at Keller is unlike any school I have been at before. Have a great Sunday, love on your sons and I will post again later.

Thank you again.

Go Blue.

Kevin Atkinson

The Night Before the Night Before

We are close. We are getting ready. We are almost there, but we are still waiting for our time. I remind the team often that we do not need to be ready to play until it is time to play. Being ready now does not make us ready at kickoff. I ended practice today encouraging your sons to mentally prepare for the next 48 hours. The physical preparation is almost finished. We will still do some practicing and have another walk through, but the mental side of the game is what they need to be working on now. Seeing their reads, their blocks, their gap, their fit, their route, their running lane, their throw and catch and their victory. Being physically prepared is only part of the game. We must be ready to execute and win mentally.

Now let me tell you that that has been a great week of practice. The tempo is high, the energy is contagious and the mood is positive. Your sons have done everything we have asked them to do this week and we are nearly ready to play.

Saturday night will be life long memory and we want to make the most of it. I hope you are prepared for a great evening in an amazing stadium. Let me encourage you to enjoy these moments because they come and go quickly. Enjoy every second and talk to your sons about what they are experiencing. Have them tell you about practice and the locker room and the bus ride over to Texas Stadium, and the tunnel leading to the field and the feeling they have when they first enter that magnificent place. Your boys are experiencing something that only a handful of high school athletes will get to experience. Help them enjoy and remember these days.

We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday evening. You are a vital part of the Keller Indian Football Family and we as a coaching staff would like to again express our appreciation for all of the sacrifices you have made for our team to be here. Enjoy you Friday.

Go BLUE !!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin Atkinson

Pictures

Here is the latest sample of pictures from Keller Pix. The rest of the album is great and I would really like to encourage you to check out all of the great shots that Robert gets of our players and football family.

We had a great weekend of work and are confidently planning our game plan for Week 11. It is great to be in the playoffs again, but we are not satisfied with just getting here. We want to make the most of every minute we have in the post season and we will be preparing your sons to play fast and with confidence. This is just the beginning.

Have a great week and we will see you at Texas Stadium.

Go BLUE !!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin Atkinson

Week 11 Sounds Great

It is a wonderful thing to say that we are heading to the playoffs. If adds to the excitement and joy when we get to play our first playoff game in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. What a great event for our players, coaches, families and community to get to enjoy. I can't wait until Saturday night at 8:30 when the Indians of Keller High take the field. I hope you will all be able to come and support our team.

I will have information on tickets, playoff T-shirts and other items that you will want to be informed of in the first part of the week. As details get finalized I will pass on information to the community using this blog and the cyber-sport email. Be looking for information and share any news you get with the Indian Community.

Friday was a special game and the players did do most of things we asked them to do. They did fulfill their end of the bargain by meeting the goals that we set for our team back in May. We are the Keller City Champs in football for 2009 and that is something to be very proud of. We are going to the playoffs and no other Keller I.S.D. football team is doing that this year. That is also something to be proud of. Now we will work to fulfill the other goals as they come within reach and encourage our team to do everything they can for their team and for our community.

I would like to share some difficult news at this time. Most of you have received my emails but for those who have not I would like to inform you that we had two J.V. football players sustain injuries in Thursday nights games that required medical attention.

Tyler: He has a lacerated Spleen. He is in the hospital in Fort Worth. As of now they do not think surgery will be necessary. He has been in ICU, but should be in a regular room by tomorrow...hopefully the spleen will heel and will not need to be removed.

Jordan: He was injured during the JV Blue game after a big hit. On Friday he was still feeling a little numbness in his arms. He then went to his primary care physician where x-rays were taken. He was then sent to Harris Methodist in Fort Worth because he had a broken neck. Jordan had extensive surgery today that lasted well over 8 hours. After talking to his parents, everything went very well...and we are hoping and praying for a full recovery.

Some of our coaches have visited these two young men and our hearts and prayers go out to them and to their families. Please keep these boys and their parents in your prayers. We have a great Indian Family and I believe there is nothing more powerful than the power of prayer. I will keep everyone updated during the next few days.

Pictures of the win against Fossil will be here soon and I will post them the minute I get them. Have a great weekend and start making your plans for Saturday. It will be a great day.

Go Blue!!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin Atkinson

Tough Loss # 2

We have had two this season that could have and should have gone our way. Little mistakes have kept us from wins against GHS and CHHS, but we cannot dwell on those games. The most important game of the year is this Friday, and it will be great atmosphere. Our playoff hopes rest in the outcome of our game with Fossil Ridge and we are doing everything possible to prepare our team for victory. The goal of the week is to be our BEST. We are asking for each player to give their BEST this week so we can be our BEST as a team this Friday.

On a different note we are celebrating the end of the 9 week grading cycle with stickers for "A's". For each "A" that a varsity player gets he is rewarded with a Golden Tomahawk for his helmet. I will have a complete total of the number of "A's" that our program has achieved, but many of our athletes will earn 5 and 6 Golden Tomahawks. It is a tribute the the quality of student athlete that we have at Keller High.

I have received pictures from the previous weeks from our hard working photographers. They are behind schedule and they are aware of that, but you should know that they take roughly 2000 pictures per weekend for our football program and finding the best ones to keep is a difficult process. Here are some of the latest and I really encourage you to visit Keller Pix and save some of memories that your sons have created this year.

Have a great week and I will communicate again before Friday.

Go BLUE !!!!!!!!!

Kevin Atkinson