Coach’s Lessons

Re “Coach Benched After Team Drinking Incident,” Sept. 9, describing consequences of a July football tournament in Santa Ynez at which 18 members of the Oak Park High School team drank alcohol.

The occurrences at Santa Ynez are only a memory for the Oak Park football team. We made some mistakes that we truly regret and now we have to pay the price. But rather than letting this get us down, we have tried to use it to our advantage.

We have grown as individuals, we have grown as a team, and we hope that the example we set from here on out will help Oak Park grow as a community.

Since the incident at Santa Ynez, we have always tried to maintain a positive attitude. However, we were extremely upset when we learned that our coach was to face an even harsher penalty than the one the team received.

Even more upsetting was that it was our decisions that placed Coach [Dick] Billingsley in this position. The bottom line is that we are responsible for our own actions and that none of the coaches should in any way be held responsible for our decisions.

Coach Billingsley and his staff have always done their best to help us make the right decisions. This was evident at Santa Ynez, where they warned us against exactly what ended up happening. We made some bad choices. However, it shows extreme character on their part to stand by us even after we let them down.

It is sad that our poor decisions led to the suspension of our coach, but these decisions and eventually the suspensions will be put behind us. The one thing that we want everyone to remember from this incident is that Coach Billingsley and his staff have been behind us 100%. They have become positive role models for us and have set an example that we hope to follow as members of this community.

Because of the Oak Park coaching staff, our hope for a successful season is still alive. We owe it to them to play our hearts out on the field and to exhibit the qualities they have instilled in us off the field. Because of the example he has set for us and the camaraderie and loyalty he has displayed, we dedicate this season to Coach Dick Billingsley. We will forever look upon him with the utmost love and respect for what he has taught us on the field and in life.

JACOB COLSON

and EVAN WILLIAMS

Team Captains

and 35 Team Members