Offseason leadership course has Kearney Catholic ready for rebound season

KEARNEY, Neb. — The Kearney Catholic football team has put in work on the practice field in preparation for the 2023 season. But it’s work done in the classroom that might bring the Stars back to prominence.

“You know, it’s just mental development, mental growth," head coach Rashawn Harvey said. "I think we’ve got the physical part. They did a great job with summer strength and conditioning, but we’ve grown mentally compared to a year ago.”

The growth was triggered by a spring leadership course. 19 players met with coaches for 45 minutes before school, three times a week. The group read John Maxwell’s Leadership 101 and discussed its principals.

“You might not play on Friday nights, but you have influence," senior Carson Murphy said. "Whether you use that positively or negatively, it’s up to you. You can bring good or bad to your team.”

“People are reciting things for the book, they’re like, ‘hey, you’ve got influence. You can’t be doing that.’ Like someone would be jacking around in class and someone would go, ‘hey dude, look over there, you’ve got people to influence. There’s freshmen in the corner looking at you.’ We’re reciting things from the book and we’re taking some of our leadership and actually applying it,” senior Eli Arlt said.

At times, the coaches stepped back and let the players lead the course.

“They had to get in groups, we call it think, pair and share," Harvey said. "They had to do that and talk because you just sit there and you just listen to me talk, we’re not going to accomplish anything. We needed them to start talking, getting vocal and be committed and engaged in the whole process.”

The motivation for the special courses? Last year’s four-win season that broke a streak of three straight playoff appearances.

The Stars identify this team’s strengths as the defensive secondary led by Carson Murphy and the offensive line led by Eli Arlt.

“We’re brothers over there. We’re just trying to spread that to the rest of the team," Arlt said. "Everyone’s already bonded, but us linemen man, we got something going down there. It’s like family.”

The team goal? Get back to the playoffs.

“We’re mad. We’re angry from last year’s performance," Arlt said. "We’re coming together and we’re bringing you a whole new Stars team that you haven’t seen before.”

The Stars open their season Friday night against Doniphan-Trumbull. The game will be broadcast on 98.9 The Vibe.