What a way to kick off Get Woodworking Week 2014 – by missing the Sunday post!

But, hey, that’s not too bad. Didn’t we spend hours yesterday making plans for big parties, tasty food and copious libations, only to watch that stinker of a game? I mean, the Super Bowl ended up being the SubPar Bowl, with little to hold your attention, unless you were a Seattle Seahawks fan.

Then, it couldn’t have been any better.

But, that’s not to say that the game yesterday couldn’t be linked to woodworking.  (Oh, yes, I’m going there…)

Think about it for a minute.  No one on Seattle’s team had a Super Bowl Ring before last night. Today, everyone has one.  Now, what do you think holds people who have never been in a woodworking shop back from trying it for the first time?  A lack of experience?  No tradition in doing woodworking?

Well, no experience in the Super Bowl and a lack of a winning tradition in Seattle didn’t seem to stop that team from getting out on the nation’s biggest stage and having the best game of their season.

This week, find someone who has mentioned to you that they have wanted to try woodworking, but never took the opportunity to do so. You might just find a new shop MVP that way.

And, how did those talented Seahawks players get to where they are today?  Certainly, they didn’t pick up playing football this year. Many of them have been in the league for several years – on several other team’s rosters – before they got to the pinnacle last night.  They honed their skills in college and established the fundamentals in high school. The team’s coaches kept introducing new skills to them throughout the season during numerous practices.

The person stepping into your shop for the first time also needs to know that he or she isn’t going to be playing at world-championship level for some time to come, but, instead, they will be getting the basics down, learning about what the tools do, how they are maintained and what kind of functions they do in the shop. With a grasp of the basics, the rest will come naturally.

And, finally, as the Seahawks players hold the Vince Lombardi Trophy over their heads in triumph, they will be hosting the physical representation of their victory in their hands. It will serve for years to come as a reminder of the hard work that went into getting to this point.

Much like their first successfully completed woodworking project…

So, the game plan for this week is to get some new folks into your shop or to get them started in woodworking somehow. You may never know who goes on to build world-class furniture.

Remember: This week, if you plan on writing some articles about Get Woodworking Week, be sure to send them my way. I will link to them here to make sure we spread the word.