04/30/14 Hump Day Hero – Coach Sommer

This week we revere a man who has the discipline, desire and dedication to wake up every morning at 4 AM and head to the track. He has done this for over 25 years.  Known as just Coach, he greets his runners with a smile and then…IT’S ON.  Grueling 1-1.5 hour, 4:45AM practices that turn regular kids in to champions.  This is a guy who understands the only way to be great is to put in the hours…and does he ever put in the hours.

Not just the XC and track Coach at Estero High School, he is also the Athletic Director, which means he is in charge of all athletics, clubs and special events at the school.  On top of that he is constantly making sure he helps everyone in the building with whatever they need.  If he ever feels burned out, he absolutely NEVER shows it.  

Most athletic coaches will understand this when we say, you are lucky to get one state championship in a high school coaching career.  Coach has 8 team state championships and numerous individual state champs under his belt.  And they didn’t come easy.  

His3D running program, which stands for discipline, desire and dedication – three words this man lives every day – is the best program in the state and arguably the very best in the country.  And he does’t do it with fancy equipment and money.  Most days you will see the kids running and dragging heavy ropes behind them.  Sludge hammers, tires and sandpits are his “high-tech” equipment.  He works side by side with his runners, runs every split with them and swings every sludge hammer with them.  This gets him mad respect among his team and his colleagues.  

The guy is an animal but one that truly cares about kids.  His dedication to student athletes has gotten some of the most economically disadvantaged students scholarships to go to amazing 4-year universities.  He cares…a lot.  And he cares just as much about his female athletes as he does his male athletes; that attribute alone makes him awesome.  

For working harder than anyone else we know, walking the walk and not just talking the talk, Coach Sommer, you are ConversationED’s Hump Day Hero.  Congrats!!