High School Football Coaches Go Viral With Teaching Life Skills In Their Inspirational 'Manly Monday' Classes

May 24, 2019

A couple of Alabama high school football coaches have gone viral with their school's “Manly Monday” classes.

Cody Gross is a football coach for Athens High School. Over the course of time, he couldn't help but notice that his mechanically inclined assistant coach Steve Carter always seemed to be fixing other people's cars, lawn mowers, and other technical gadgets. So he came up with a brilliant idea:

Why shouldn't Carter teach his team useful skills like these on a special weekly event named "Manly Monday" - and thus make an impression on their lives that extends beyond what goes on the football field?

Soon, Gross posted a video about Carter teaching his players how to fix a flat tire - and quickly was shocked to find out that his Twitter story was actually going viral online. It wasn't long before it had more than four million views!

The actual goal of these lessons, however, goes even further than acquiring handy everyday skills. As Assistant coach Carter said, as reported by Al.com:

“We’re trying to teach them life lessons. It’s not just about coaching football. Any sport teaches you about life, but I don’t think any sport teaches you the hard knocks of life more than football. You get knocked down. You get back up. It’s a great lesson, but there is more to it than the winning and losing and coaching a kid how to play football.”

Carter's students have been taught how to check oil and transmission fluid in a car, how to change a tire, and how to cut PVC pipes using string and twine. Students learned general plumbing skills, how to use jumper cables to jump a dead battery, and how to magnetize a piece of metal or screwdriver.

What makes these classes even more special though is that they aren’t just about mechanics and home improvement jobs. Coach Carter also teaches his students the proper way to address a person.

He shows them how to give a firm handshake and emphasizes that they always need to look other people in the eyes when talking to them. Carter wants to make sure his students know how important it is to know such basic rules of human conduct.

Although it might not seem obviously "manly" at first, Carter also makes sure that his team is aware of the importance of Mother’s Day.

He talks to them about the proper way how to treat the women in their lives during a particular "Manly Monday" class. He has frequently made jewelry for his wife and mother before, so he decided to have his students make necklaces for their mothers.

It wasn’t just about jewelry making. It was about being creative and doing nice things for the important people in your life.

The assistant coach made sure to point out how happy he was to have the support of the whole school system. He said that everyone is very supportive of “Manly Mondays”  and went on to say that this particular school district is probably the very best that he has worked for.

What did you think of this amazing idea? Don't you think it's great that these coaches not only want to make their students better players but better human beings? Leave us a comment and then make sure to pass this story along!