Bill Belichick had some great advice for football players at his former high school

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh2VMcyAVKc

Bill Belichick recently returned to his Maryland roots.

The New England Patriots head coach stopped by his former high school in Annapolis to say hello to the high school football team. Belichick was greeted with a round of applause following his introduction, as he shouted, “Fighting Panthers, right? Fighting Panthers!”

He addressed the group: “It’s really an honor for me to come back to my home town and my home school and to be able to see you guys.”

As a token of celebration for New England’s recent Super Bowl victory, the 65-year-old presented a pair golden footballs to the school and two of the team’s coaches. However, he made sure to acknowledge that he’s won five championships despite only bringing two mementos.

In high school, Belichick played center for head coach Al Laramore’s squad and was a part of the school’s first racially integrated class. He recounted that experience in the NBC Sports segment that aired prior to the NFL kickoff game on Thursday:

One thing about Al, Al was not about color. Football was football. Sports were sports. He didn’t care who you were, and we all got together and got along great. Athletics helped bring the school together because we were all cool together so a lot of other people fell in line with that.

Belichick also took the time to give the current high schoolers some advice:

What you want is to trust each one of your teammates, the guy sitting next to you, the guy sitting behind you, the guy sitting across from you. So how do you get that?

Do you talk about it? No. You earn it. Nobody can give it to you. You can’t buy it. You can’t talk about it. You gotta go out there and earn it.

It’s a process. And it’s day after day after day after day.

After his remarks, one of the coaches presented him with a football helmet. Belichick promptly put it on and raised his fist in pride.