Why am I crying this much?
It’s not like he was my best friend.
He didn’t give me presents and money.
He didn’t shower me with compliments.
His greatest encouragement was “don’t stop just because you have a side stitch.”
So, why do we all love this man genuinely so much?
He made us run up and down Fort Myers Beach Bridge in the dark on Saturday mornings.
He made us start that 200 meter repeat workout over again more than once.
He made you run that 2nd “all-out” around the track at the end of that 10 x 400 meter workout with 60 seconds rest in between! And then he told you to do some push-ups.
He made you run 5 miles at 2pm in August in Estero, FL after you had eaten a public high school lunch which consisted of french fries, a cinnamon roll and some powerade (this was the year 2000 for me).
The truth is, he didn’t “make” us do any of it.
He really just “suggested” it,
and we each responded.
The truth is, we all love him because, by “merely suggesting” that we run with him each day all year, he unveiled to us our strength and what we are each made of and capable of for everything in life.
We don’t all have the same speed or endurance potential, but we all found that level that we were capable of moving beyond. And we all ran PRs because he wasn’t afraid of “suggesting” that we go just a little farther past our comfort zones.
The impact and power of the lessons we learned from Coach Sommer’s running “suggestions” are the most beneficial lessons any human can receive in life. To run all-out at the end of a workout will teach you all about not giving up when you think you can’t keep going in any life situation. I love Coach Sommer because he provided one million opportunities for me to choose whether or not to give up. It’s as simple as that.
He didn’t worry if you hated him in the middle of that workout. Because he knew if you chose not to give up, by the end of it, you’d come away loving him more than you will ever love most people who seek to influence your life with a water break, kind words, and impressive promises.
Why did, and why do, we all love Coach Jeff Sommer SO MUCH that we’re all staring at our iphones and laptops crying a river of tears over the news of his passing today?
It’s so simple. To him, he was just being himself as Coach Jeff Sommer at Estero High School…consistently…since 1988. The only promises he ever made us were that he would be there in the morning, and, if you chose to accept it, that Discipline, Desire, and Dedication would be the only goals of that practice. And he delivered EVERY TIME. And those that showed up and participated benefited from that simple promise every time.
We will greatly miss his influence on this planet. But we all know his influence doesn’t end with his last breath. It lives on in all of us that benefited from his simple lifelong passion for running and “suggesting” we run with him too. :) Thanks Coach!