Sport teams are an important part of any school’s extracurricular offerings, with football being one of the most popular options among students. Sunlake’s football team is overseen by Coach John Fulmer, who has worked as a head coach for over 22 years. He is actually the fifth head coach at Sunlake in the last two years and has had to work diligently with his players to improve their skills.

A Rough Start

As mentioned, Coach Fulmer is the fifth head coach for the football team in the last two years and as such, there is quite a lot of work needed to get his players up to speed. “It’s been a building process; these kids have been through a lot and they’ve had to learn a lot.” Fulmer said as he commented on the process of building up Sunlake’s football team. “It’s a tough process and in the meantime, we’ve had a lot of transfers; a lot of kids that left here. Kids that would have been starters this year that played last year left and went to other schools.” Fulmer explained. He further mentioned that there is a noticeable gap between the strengths of Sunlake’s players and other team’s players. He explained that building up the strength of the current players on Sunlake’s team will be vital to the overall future success of the team.

The Plan for Improvement

“We’re 20,000 squats behind the teams that we’re playing, and that’s a lot. That’s a lot of weight room time and sprints behind the other teams,” Fulmer said, explaining that there is quite a bit of work needed to build up the team in preparation for future games. He explained how incredibly competitive the Pasco County School District is when it comes to sports and that it is therefore vital for teams to train hard in order to have a fighting chance against other teams. Fulmer explained that self improvement of each player is an important part of bettering the team as a whole, saying, “…we aren’t playing the scoreboard, we are playing ourselves. We are just trying to get better and if you concentrate on what that scoreboard says, it’ll make you quit.” Fulmer knows how vital it is to keep his players encouraged and focusing on oneself is an ingredient to persevering through challenging times. For example, during the Homecoming football game, Fulmer explained that “…the varsity game did not go well, we got behind early and we were trying to play catch-up the whole game, which has happened a lot. We just get down early in games and we’re trying to comeback throughout the rest of the game.” Despite the setbacks during the game, Fulmer shed some light on the process of improving their playing midgame, explaining that the team spends halftime in the locker room “…trying to make adjustments and get ready for the second half and figure out a plan to get through the second half.” Perseverance during hard games can improve the team’s overall performance, even after the fact. It tells players that they can work hard to beat strong rivals, even in the face of potential setbacks.

Perseverance Through Changes

Despite the number of hard changes that have taken hold of the team, Coach Fulmer is optimistic for the future. “I believe we will be a much better ball club next year. The beauty of them is you know they are gonna grow. They get older and stronger and we’re gonna be a lot more competitive next year which I’m excited about,” Fulmer said. Looking ahead, Fulmer explained that he is excited for what the future of Sunlake’s football team holds. He commented on how many players will be returning next year and how outcomes will be vastly improved through the training that has been taking place so far. Fulmer said that by watching how other teams play and ensuring that Sunlake players don’t get discouraged, he plans to keep the team on track and continuing to grow. “You’ve got to have amnesia when you play football because if you make a mistake and dwell on it, you are going to make the same mistake again,” Fulmer explained, stressing that it is vitally important for players to be able to recognize mistakes and move on from them, if they want to persevere.

Support Team Sunlake!

As the players of Sunlake’s football team work diligently to hone their skills, students can do their part by encouraging Sunlake players. Showing up to games can play a great role in showing the team that students care about the success of their team.