From 0-34 to championship contenders

As with all levels of sport, in high school athletics everybody loves a winner. That includes the parents, the student body, the administration and the media. Justin Fowler is the head football coach at Selma High School, where, at the time he was hired, the program was on its way to a 34-game losing streak. Fowler remembers when this Division 4 school in Selma, California, was a winner. “Back in the ’80s I played at a high school near here, and Selma High School had a very good football program and their stadium was always packed,” says Fowler.

“Selma’s past success was something I always talked about to our players when I took over as head coach. I wanted them to restore the roar – the roar of the fans, the roar of the community and the roar of our players.” Fowler says that getting athletes to believe in themselves is key to turning around a losing football program, because in many games they’d had a chance to win. “There were several games during that losing streak where we were actually leading, but we lost in the last few minutes of the games.” To develop confidence in his players, Fowler instilled a plan that was NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 designed to create leadership within the team.

The first step was to get the athletes to accept responsibility for their success.

Investing in Success “I taught our players that you don’t get anything in life without investing time and hard work,” says Fowler. One of many examples he used with his players is that if a kid were given a fully loaded Corvette as a gift, they might abuse it – racing over speed bumps and not taking care of it. “But if you had to get a job and pay for that Corvette out of your own pocket, you’re going to take care of it.” And, he says, the same goes with football: “If you invest in yourself by working hard in the off-season, you’re going to play harder and are more likely to achieve success.”

One of the first things Fowler did was to start a leadership program in the off-season with 12 players. He helped instill a positive attitude in these players, and then he told them that each of them was going to be responsible for creating a positive attitude in three other players. “So we went from having 12 players with a positive attitude to 48 – it was peer pressure, but used in a positive way to get everyone on the team on the same page.” As a physical component of his formula for success, Fowler installed the BFS program and found that it helped keep the athletes focused on achieving success.

“I like the way the BFS program is structured to make improvements year-round, in season and out of season, and that it is conducive to all athletes with its ability to add auxiliary lifts. The way the program varies sets and reps is great.”

Finally, Fowler says, he adopted the perspective of valuing the small victories, not just judging the players’ success by whether they won or lost. “I talked to my players about their success, and the parents and school administration understood what I was trying to accomplish. And I was stubborn enough to stick with it, because I knew the joy I was going to feel when I saw the faces of those kids when they won their first game – that was going to be more valuable than my coaching stipend. So that’s how we began to look at things, and we got better, every game, every week.” Just how much better?

After a string of 34 straight losses, the Bears came back in 2007 and won six games and played for the league championships. “This was our first playoff game in a decade, and we broke a series of records in the process.” And this year, at the time of this writing, Selma High School is again enjoying an amazing season with a 5-1 record. For Coach Justin Fowler, what his players have learned about overcoming adversity by investing in themselves is the most valuable lesson others can take away from the success of the Selma High School football team.

“Developing a positive attitude and taking responsibility for your success – those are the life skills that will benefit these players long after they are done playing the game.”

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From BFS Magazine — November/December 2008. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).