'Forever Strong' coach speaks at BYU-Idaho

Coach Larry Gelwix, coach for Highland High, inspired the movie “Forever Strong.” Nicole Pearl | Scroll Photography

Legendary high school rugby coach Larry Gelwix visited BYU-Idaho June 23 in order to give a fireside and a press conference.

Gelwix has been the Highland High School rugby coach in Highland, Utah, for the past 35 years. He led the team to 404 wins and has only suffered 10 losses so far in his coaching career.

Gelwix got his start in coaching at Highland High School through football.  After coaching football for a short time, he started up the rugby club.

His coaching career inspired the motion picture “Forever Strong,” which tells the story of Gelwix and the Highland rugby team.

When the film was originally pitched to Gelwix, it was all about him. Gelwix didn’t like that for a couple of reasons.

“Life isn’t all about me and neither is the game,” Gelwix said. “I manage and plan, but at the end of the day it’s the players that win the game.”

The producers then changed the perspective of the film. Instead of a film about Gelwix, it became a movie about the Highland rugby team.

The producers invited former players to tell team stories. From those stories, the producers compiled the team seen in “Forever Strong.”

“Except for one thing,” Gelwix said. “And that is how the players see me. They see me sitting in a lawn chair. I am a very hands-on coach.”

All the stories in the movie are true, but they are 35 years’ worth of stories compacted into one season.

“The kid who didn’t bathe – true story,” Gelwix said. “The kid who got killed changing his tire – true story. Tooth in the head – true story.”

Gelwix’s trademark soon became his conversations with his team at the end of a hard practice. They talk about life rather than rugby.

Some of the advice Gelwix gave regarded who we become.

“It doesn’t matter what you want to be. All that matters is if it is honest and honorable, you are passionate about it, and if you can support yourself with it. What matters is who you are going to be,” Gelwix said.

Gelwix also taught about pain, hard work and regret.

“There are two types of pain: the pain of hard work and the pain of regret,” Gelwix said. “The pain of hard work stretches you to become better. The pain of regret comes if we don’t try our best to fix what needs to be fixed.”

Story Views: 312
Comments: