GULF SHORES, Ala., — Music has been called the universal language. It is the one thing that transcends any boundary and can bond people together that may be thousands of miles apart.

Here in the south, many would argue that the universal language is football. It is the one thing that brings together people from all walks of life, despite gender, despite race, despite economic class.

Old people join young people, white-collar workers join blue-collar workers, and people from both sides of the tracks can forget about “life” for a while, when a football game is on.

As businesses struggle to keep their doors open as a result of lack of activity due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as families struggle to pay house notes and put food on the table, and with community morale at seemingly an all-time low, the Gulf Shores Dolphins hope to use the football field to bring people together and give them something to smile about.

Last year, the Dolphins enjoyed their best season in the schools’ 10-year history, winning nine out of 12 games and making it to the second round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Class 5A playoffs.

Unfortunately, Gulf Shores lost literally half of their team in May when 25 of the 53 Dolphins from the 2009 squad graduated.

But in 2010, second-year head coach Mark Freeman says its going to be about much more than winning and losing, or X’s and O’s.  They are dedicating the season to the community.

“Our focus this year, and everyday we talk about it with the team, is this community,” Freeman said. “There are people who have lost everything, and the ones who haven’t lost everything, unless BP comes through and does what they say they are going to do, could lose everything.”

According to Freeman, he believes that with their eyes on helping bring the people of the community together, it will make a difference on the field to the young men he coaches.

“Our kids this year know how important this is and that we are playing every down at every practice and at every game for our community.  We don’t know if we are going to win, or lose, and we can’t predict the weather, but the thing we can predict out of this football team is that our guts and our lifeblood will be on the line every single day and on Friday night and that is for one purpose, bringing our community together.”

So are the 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds that make up this high school football team actually buying in to this philosophy? Absolutely, Freeman says.

“They believe in it, and they are so good about understanding that there are hurting people out there and if they don’t have anything else, they’ve got us.”

Coach Freeman says  the team wants to encourage people to come to practices, come to games and literally be a part of this football team in every way.

“Our guys know that there are fishermen in this community who have been working here for years, and suddenly they can’t even go to work. We want them to know that if nothing else, they can come here and be one of us. We love this community, we love and appreciate the leaders of this community, and we are going to go out on Friday night represent everybody.”

Even on the Dolphins team there are players who have been adversely affected by the oil spill situation, guys who the coaching staff was afraid they might lose, and Freeman says that it is by the grace of God that everyone is still on the roster. But he knows that many of them have been emotionally affected.

“Maybe their immediate family hasn’t been affected, it might be their aunts or uncles or neighbors, but many of them have been affected, and these are kids.  They have enough to deal with it as it is,” Freeman said.

“We want to be a good football team and we are going to work hard so that our community will be proud.”

Gulf Shores opens the season Aug. 20 with a jamboree game at Foley, and will host Robertsdale on the Aug. 26 at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium.