My interest in football has been strictly with the Canadian game until one of my favourites, Montreal Alouettes’ head coach Marc Trestman, decided to head south this fall to take the helm of the Chicago Bears.
Trestman is much more than a great coach. He is a teacher, a role model, a visionary, and a man of compassion.
“Our job is to use football to grow men,” says Trestman. “That’s what it’s for. Football teaches us to be a part of a community, to be selfless, to be interested in the whole more than yourself. People really want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Football is a great platform to do that…They don’t want to be alone. They want to be with others doing something that fulfills them. The only way they can is by working to fulfill others, to serve others.”
Powerful words that both motivate and encourage.
A brief story in last weekend’s paper gives an illustration of how Trestman puts these words into action. A Bears’ defensive tackle blew out his knee ligament in the team’s third game of the season. It was Trestman who made sure the player got home safely that day and who spent the next morning with the player and his family awaiting the grim news that the injury would be a season ending one.
“It wouldn’t matter if he was the first player on the team or the 53rd. He had a significant injury and was hurting,” explained the 57 year old Trestman.
If a hero is someone who inspires you try a bit harder every day, then Marc Trestman most assuredly is my American idol.
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