ALL HEART (CORAZON): The Story of Maurisio Zapata
- Coach David Heeb
- Feb 9, 2017
- 5 min read
"People have to be given the freedom to show the heart they possess. I think it’s a leader’s responsibility to provide that type of freedom, and I believe it can be done through relationships and family. Because if a team is a real family, it’s members want to show you their hearts." - Coach K, Duke University Men's Basketball Coach
Happy Friday to the JWT Crew. I hope everybody is off to a running start this morning. Today's story is about another incredible person I've met along my journey through teaching and coaching, a guy I love a lot, somebody who really inspires me.
Maurisio Zapata played for me at Senath-Hornersville High School. He was a freshman guard on our JV Basketball team. "Marc" stood exactly five feet tall. He was the shortest player on our team.
During our preseason conditioning Marc talked to me about needing a ride home. He lived almost 10 miles from school, and his mother didn't have a way to come get him. I told Marc that wasn't a problem, that I would take him home. I never wanted a ride home to be the reason a kid didn't play ball.
So I would yell at Marc and push him as hard as I could during practice, then I would take him home, along with his brother Max (an 8th grader) and Artie (our manager). They all lived in the same little neighborhood. We got to know each other really well. I still think back to all those car rides home... even when I typed that last sentence, it just put a smile on my face. Those were good times.
In practice, Marc played as hard as he could all the time. He was getting better and better. It was obvious to me that he was going to get to play a lot on our JV team that year. I remember telling our principal, Kevin Reddick, that Marc was pretty dang good. Kevin laughed and said, "Who? Little bit? Really?" And I kind of laughed because it was kind of shocking. After all, he was five foot tall. I told Kevin to stop by the gym sometime and see for himself.
One day Kevin stuck his head in the gym and saw Marc, going 100 mph and playing with no fear, and he was just like "WOW! You were right." That would be everybody's reaction to seeing Marc play that year. It wasn't that he was the best player. He was a good player, but he made mistakes like everybody else. It's HOW Marc played, with such an edge. He just played so, so hard.
So one night during a free throw, Marc was our check back man, and that is a common time to call a player over for a "free time out." You can give a few instructions, reminders, etc. So I called Marc over, he had been playing really hard all night, and I said, "Marc, man you're just all heart." He smiled and said "Thanks, coach." Since Marc's family came from Mexico, and he spoke fluent Spanish, I said, "Marc, teach me how to say 'heart' in Spanish." He said, "Coach, it's CORAZON" (pronounced KOR-UH-SONE).
So that is a long way to say, the word for today is CORAZON, or HEART in English.
This became a rallying cry and a running joke on our basketball team. At Senath-Hornersville about 50% of our team was of Hispanic/Mexican decent. Corazon was just how that team played. It's also how Marc lived his life. He comes from a great family. His mother, always so appreciative of the rides I would give her boys after practice, used to cook for me. I would pull up to drop the boys off, and she would run out to the car with more enchiladas than I could eat!!! So that "corazon" that Marc had? He got it from his mom. They're just a great family.
FUNNY STORY ABOUT MARC... After the season got over, we had a group of boys go play at an AAU basketball tournament in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Marc was one of the guys that went to play. The Missouri State High School Activities Association doesn't allow your high school coach to be your "non-school competition coach" until summer vacation starts. So I coached our 3rd-4th grade team, which the rules allowed, and somebody else coached Marc's team.
I got to watch Marc play that day, and he was his usual self, going 100 mph, just destroying guys bigger, faster, stronger, and older than him. The game would start, and the crowd and opposing team would be like, "what is this little kid going to do?" Then a few minutes later everybody was like "WOW! LOOK AT HIM GO!!" He became the crowd favorite.
So I was in one gym coaching the little kids, and Marc's team is in the main gym. Well our game ended, so I walked in the gym to watch Marc's team play. There was one big problem... the coach was gone... But have no fear. Marc stepped up! He was coaching the team!!!
So I walked over, and I noticed that no only was Marc coaching the team, but team also had 3-4 new players. I had no idea who these guys were. Marc smiled at me and said, "Coach, we didn't have enough to play, so I recruited these guys." One of the kids looked up at me and said, "Marc said he needed our help, so of course we said yes. Anything for Marc."
Here we were, an hour from home, in a gym with total strangers, and Marc had made such an impression on everybody that not only was the whole gym rooting for him, but the whole gym wanted to play with him! THEY WANTED TO BE ON HIS TEAM!!!
Why did he have that impact on people? HEART! CORAZON!! It was contagious. I'll never forget that!
I left Senath to be the principal at another school. Marc and I have stayed in touch through the years. He's now playing college soccer at Robert Morris University in Springfield, IL. Marc is always going to be good at whatever he does because he attacks every situation he's in with a full heart and no fear.
So the moral of the story is... Marc had such a big impact on everybody around him, including me, because "he showed the heart he posseses" (see the quote above). He didn't hold anything back. Isn't that the way we should all try to live our life? Shouldn't that be what you try to do today?
I hope so. Now get out there and make it happen. I want you to "PLAY WITH HEART" TODAY. Not tomorrow. Today's the day. You can do it.
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