Sports, fitness and life lessons for all: LINC athletic programs multiply — LINC

But so begins Tillman’s life lesson on perseverance and spirit.

“I’ve been playing golf 29 years,” he said. “When I started I was just like you — swinging and missing, swinging and missing, swinging and missing.”

But he committed himself to lessons, dedicated to getting better.

“Never let anybody tell you that you can’t do something,” he said. “Anything that you do, that you love to do, give it your all.” It works the same as keeping your report card strong with A’s, he said.

“It all ties into what we’re doing now,” he said. “Stay focused on what you love to do and you will get good at it.”

Out on the Saturday football fields at 43rd and Cleveland Avenue, Coach Tilden Trotter demonstrated how team sports help children see the beauty of working together.

“Encourage each other!” he said in his pre-game huddle. “Encourage each other! No put-downs. If someone makes a mistake? Clap it off. The person who makes the mistake needs that.”

And then the Melcher Elementary students, with blue “LINC” jerseys tucked under their belts of long green flags put fists together, cheer and run to the field.