1. Taylor Tankersley
Mrs. Lester
Advanced Grammar and Composition
5 March 2012
Senior Speech
Have you ever had a passion for something that has never changed throughout your life?
Ever since I can remember I have always had a passion for football. I can remember watching
the Clemson Tigers play on Saturday and the Broncos play on Sunday. In the fifth grade my
parents let me play on the football team for my school, but I barely made the weight limit by one
pound since I was the smallest one on the field from day one. However, my physical appearance
was actually to my advantage because I was the fastest runner and hardest hitter on the team. I
even started at quarterback and played defense as well. Every time I put on those football pads I
got an adrenaline rush and I knew I wanted to play in the NFL one day. I can remember one
game, in particular, when I was the game’s M.V.P. I was playing cornerback on defense and I
was supposed to cover the other team’s receiver. The other team only needed one more
touchdown to win, and the game would be over. When the quarterback said hike, I knew he was
going to run the ball to the outside, so I blitzed. He never expected a sixty-four pound kid to
knock him on his back. I had saved the game for my team and we won. Afterwards, the coach
came to me and said blitzing the quarterback was actually a smart decision. I explained to him
why I blitzed, and he told me I would make an excellent coach someday. At the time I did not
want to coach; I wanted to play the game, not stand on the sideline, so at the time, I didn’t think
very much of what my coach told me. However, as the years went on, the competition got harder
and the players got bigger. I realized that if I wanted to have anything to do with football when I
got older, it would most likely be in, or through, coaching. As a result, I started to create my own

2. play book and enjoyed the intellectual part of the game. Ever since then, I have pursued my
dream of becoming a football coach. Because of my love of sports and competitiveness, this
project gave me a little taste of what coaching may be like because I had to organize teams and
teach people how to play the game.
Because I would like to coach after college, I chose a project that helped me use my
coaching and sports skills. I have always loved playing Ultimate Frisbee with friends, so I
decided to host an Ultimate Frisbee fundraiser tournament.
During my research, I found that coaching in the current economy is a difficult career
path to follow because of the low pay and the time it requires. One has to have the passion to
coach and to teach kids. I believe I have both of those qualities. I have always had a love for the
game and I love teaching and instructing people.
Now I will tell you the steps I took to complete my senior project. First I had to find a
facilitator. I decided on Travis Hanenburg, a teacher and a coach at Cherokee Christian School. I
chose Travis because of his experience and expertise in the coaching field, which is exactly what
I would like to do some day. I found my facilitator through my church. He was one of the first
people I met when I moved to Georgia in 2009, and has continued to be a great family friend.
Mr. Hanenburg started the boys and girls soccer teams at Cherokee Christian High School and is
still the head coach.
First, I had to organize the steps for the Frisbee tournament. I had to establish meetings
with my facilitator. Many problems arose because my facilitator was a teacher and he had to
work after the regular school hours during the week. During the fall, I had football practice on
the weekends and couldn’t meet on Friday nights. We fixed these problems by meeting after
church on Sundays. The next step in my project was to find a field to use. One problem that

3. came up was most public fields cost at least a hundred dollars to reserve. It took us months to
finally find a good field to use. About three weeks before the tournament we reserved a field at
Calvary Baptist Church. My next step was to ask for prizes and donations from businesses.
However, many businesses’ regulations do not allow them to donate to anyone, unless they are
business partners. I went to Kroger and they were willing to donate water bottles to my
fundraiser tournament. One of the most important, and by far, most difficult things I did, was
organizing teams. Most people would not fully commit to coming to the tournament. People
would tell me they were interested, but never contacted me back. Another problem was
extracurricular activities that most students had on weekends. Because of these problems I had to
keep in contact with these people every day. I emailed them and called them to know who was
going to play in the tournament. After finally getting four teams together, I scheduled a date for
the tournament. It was February 11th. I woke up on the day of the tournament and looked outside.
To my dismay the trees in my front yard were swaying and bending beneath the powerful winds.
I knew I could not have a Frisbee tournament with those weather conditions, so I postponed it to
the next weekend. After this alteration, two teams dropped out of the tournament. Because of
winter break being the following week, people were already leaving for vacation. I had to come
up with something quick. The day of the tournament arrived and my quick thinking saved the
day from turning into a disaster. I split the players into three teams instead of four, because of the
lack of people that came. At the end of the day we had raised $110 that we donated to
Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian fundraising organization.
Even though many problems arose during my project, I learned how to manage a big
event, how to contend with unexpected situations, and how to speak with adults in the business
world. This experience has showed me that I am an achiever. I have learned that no matter what

4. surprises or problems arise, I work around them and plan for the worst. My work habits through
this project have been shown. One of my bad habits is procrastinating, but because of my hard
work ethic and organizational skills I finished what needed to be done. I also learned how to send
formal e-mails to churches and businesses. I had to talk face-to-face with business managers, as
well as over the phone. To organize teams I created flyers to hand out to those that were
interested. This project has confirmed my interest in coaching, and I plan to study sports
management at Samford University or Clemson University.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my project with you. If there are any
questions, I would be happy to answer them.