By Training camp. Diego's last camp at Eldorado Prep. He came out of the first day of contact looking the way a player looks when they've been waiting all summer for this specific thing: lit up. The contact is what he loves. The full speed, the actual game rather than its rehearsal. I've watched this kid go from the kid on the first JV camp who wore number 24 because he wanted it, to this: a complete football player who walks through his last training camp at the school I coach with the authority of someone who belongs completely to what he's doing.
The team rallied around him this summer in a way that doesn't happen by accident. The returning players — the juniors and sophomores who will be here next year without him — have been watching him lead and taking notes. This is program continuity: you let the best player be fully the best player so the next generation can see what full looks like. Diego doesn't teach by talking about it. He teaches by being it every day.
DeShawn Willis is at Alabama this fall — I saw a photo of him in training camp gear from a college outlet that covers the program. He looks like himself but larger, with the focused calm he's always had. I texted him. He texted back within the hour: "Camp is harder than anything, Coach. Ready for it." Yes. Of course he is. He was always going to be ready for the hard thing.
Lisa and I stayed up late Wednesday after camp. Kids were asleep. We sat on the back porch with the late-August warmth and talked about Diego going to college. Not practically — the practical is handled. We talked about the feeling of it: what it means to have done this thing together, raised this kid, and sent him toward a life. She cried a little. I put my arm around her. We stayed outside until midnight. It's been twenty-four years. It still feels like the right choice, every night, at midnight on a back porch in August.
We weren’t planning to stay out that late, but the night had that quality where neither of us wanted to be the one to say it was time to go in. At some point I went inside and came back with two mugs of hot cider — something warm to hold, something to make the porch feel like it was worth staying on. It was the right call. A good drink won’t make a hard conversation easier, but it gives your hands something to do while your heart does the work.
Hot Cider
Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 cups apple cider
- 2 cups water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6 whole cloves
- 4 whole allspice berries
- 1 orange, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Combine. Add the apple cider and water to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, orange slices, brown sugar, and nutmeg.
- Simmer. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer — do not boil. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes, allowing the spices to infuse fully.
- Strain and serve. Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the cider into mugs, discarding the whole spices. Garnish with a fresh cinnamon stick or orange slice if desired. Serve warm.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 130 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 20mg