ELBRIDGE - Before they were coaches and before they were teachers, they were students and young athletes, just like the kids they now help shape.

They were young players with dreams of glory and coming up with the big play in the crucial moment to win the game.

It is these memories that the teaching and coaching staff of the Jordan-Elbridge school district have come together to write down and share in their recent book "Once we Played, Now we Teach."

"Karen Hourigan and I were telling stories of things we did when we played," said Dave Sipley, co-editor of the book and an English teacher at J-E High School. "Then I retold a story Donna Snyder (another contributor to the book) told me. And we couldn't stop laughing. Then, that gave me an idea. If all of the administrators and faculty and staff had stories, we would have a pretty funny book and that got the whole thing going."

Sipley said with a little help from fellow teachers Hourigan and Jack Reed, it didn't take long to get the ball rolling.

"Jack is good at networking, and Karen loves style and layout stuff," Sipley said. "Once it started going, it kept going. These people are very funny, and we get to see them in a whole different way."

Reed, a Skaneateles track coach and teacher of social studies at J-E High School, said this is one of the most interesting parts of having worked on this project.

"It is getting tougher as a teacher," Reed said. "It seems like there is never enough time. I learned a lot about my fellow teachers that I would never have known. We don't get a chance to see each other much. There is a very broad range in the people who contributed to this book."

Teachers and coaches were quick to respond with submissions.

"It is something I've often thought about," said Dan Bondgren, a biology teacher and soccer coach at J-E High School. "It is a little odd to share something that at one time was so personal. But it wasn't very difficult. I wrote a first draft and it was something I really wanted to share. We get to show that we (teachers) are human and we've done the same things as the kids we teach and we have experiences outside the classroom."

Hourigan, who wears many hats, an alumnist and former J-E basketball player, an English teacher and a basketball and lacrosse coach, said that in the writing and editing of this book, she had never taken on such a large project.

"It was a huge learning experience," Hourigan said. "The editing of all the grammar and punctuation, I learned an awful lot. And right before it went to the printer we lost the document and I had to start all over again."

The stories in this collection cover all the bases of sports recollection.

There are stories of glory and disappointment, stories of deep-felt emotion and stories that are silly and fun.

"There is everything," Reed said. "Off the wall and very serious. There are a lot of lessons in this book to not give up and don't get down and keep playing, enjoy where you are, quit looking ahead all of the time and focus and see the good things."

These lessons are shared in stories like Snyder's silly "Pantsed," Reed's nostalgic "Rolling in Yesterday's Dust," Hourigan's tale of good sportsmanship "A Good Sport vs. the Fridge" and "The Easy Way Down" by Theresa Bondgren that touches a little on all of these themes.

Bondgren, an art teacher at J-E, said with her story of her first and only skiing experience she has the chance to share something of herself that she doesn't get to normally.

"This is something new for me," Bondgren said. "I don't get to experience things like this with writing. I'm very open with my students; they can ask me almost anything that is part of being an art teacher. But writing is new for me. I'm very happy about it. It is exceeding what I ever thought it would be."

For the contributors this was not only a time to relive sports memories, but also to sit down and take some time to write.

"I had lots of stories that were sitting around in old cardboard boxes," Reed said. "I've written off and on for 30 years. When it was mentioned that we should do this it made me get obligated and get it down and get it done. I discover as I write, it triggers memories. It is really satisfying."

The students, who can be the toughest critics, were the first audience for the work in progress.

"The kids at school saw this was something we were doing," Sipley said. "Students would either laugh or applaud, they received the work well. And they were able to say 'this is something we could do too' and I hope they will because they certainly can."

Hourigan said that one of the most important aspects of teaching is sharing yourself.

"I encourage my students to write," Hourigan said. "It is important to share yourself with the community and for the students to see us doing this and volunteering for something worthwhile."

While this book was a trip down memory lane there is a deeper purpose: the book is a fundraiser for J-E sports.

"It is unique," Reed said. "This isn't the same old candy fundraiser. I think people will appreciate the quality of the teachers and the good people involved in this and we will be able to have some money for the sports programs."

For all involved, it is a thrill to see the book come off the presses.

"It is really exciting to see it come together," Hourigan said. "It started as a dream and now to see what I did published, that is the fun part."

The book is available to order online at www.madcool.org and is on sale at Borders in Carousel Center, Mulberry's in Elbridge and Creek Side Book and Coffeehouse in Skaneateles where some of the authors will hold an official launch party and book signing from 1-4 p.m., June 11.