*The Player's Tribune | "The Next Challenge" | By Madison Hayes

*The Player's Tribune | "The Next Challenge" | By Madison Hayes - Printable Version

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*The Player's Tribune | "The Next Challenge" | By Madison Hayes - sve7en - 11-19-2020

[1334 words, 1.5x Draft Media, $3,483,765 payout]

This is the first entry on The Player's Tribune in an ongoing series following sportswoman Madison Hayes through her journey into the realm of professional American football. Be sure to check in after the DSFL draft, during the next season, and beyond for more updates from her on her experience.

It’s honestly been hard to explain exactly why I’m doing this.

People see where I’m at, fresh out of studying pharmacy and a huge opportunity to start a career, starting for the Red Roses in the Six Nations Championship at just 21 years old, and just missing qualifying for the Olympics on the track this past summer. I could stay around England, work in something that I’m passionate about, and compete in sports that I’m good at for a homeland that I love.

I still want to do those things, but my pharmacy career will be there after this, football will keep me in shape for the summer rugby trophy hunt, and the Sydney Olympics in 2044 are still on my radar. I still plan to do England proud.

It’s weird to say that two non-athletic parents could raise a hellishly competitive athlete. Growing up as an only child of a father who studied physics and a mother who loved math and astrology, I found myself regularly encouraged to face things I struggled with in school head on. Things being difficult were more of a fact than an actual deterrent in my family due to their backgrounds, and when I started playing sports that persisted. Someone was smarter, faster, or stronger than me? Studying better or training harder were the only options that I knew, and I started seeking out more and more challenges as I rose to where I am now as an athlete, and American football is just the next challenge.

As this idea started to take shape in my mind, it was hard to come up with people to talk to about it. I had a radical idea about what I was going to do with my life, but who could I really tell if I doubted the people who cared about me would support it? My parents, who I’d only left to be on my own recently, were still protective of me and didn’t always love that I played rugby. My uni friends were off limits too, when I didn’t want to give them reason to think they weren’t good enough or fun enough for me. My teammates were basically a second family too, but this was basically quitting on them right after we won the Six Nations, and again I didn’t want them to think I was bored or better than them.

My mum, as they always are, was the first to realize how stressed I was about something in my mind. Wise as she is though, she didn’t press right away but she chipped at the shell until bits started leaking out and became a stream and then torrent of thoughts, desires of adventure, and a need to be challenged more. Of course my parents weren’t thrilled about the idea, but they came around readily and were super helpful in supporting me as I started to tell my friends about my plans to a resounding wave of support.

I was still terrified to tell my rugby teammates though, who are both a rock solid family and an incredible group of friends and women. Were they going to take it like they weren’t good enough, or that I was saying I was better than them? Would they think I was deserting them or that I didn’t want to defend my title? I wanted to tell them all at once, which was that much more scary. We had poured our sweat and blood into the title we had just brought home, and regardless of what happens in the rest of my life I’ll consider them family. That’s also why their reaction was the first sign that this was a good idea. Noone was doubting me or fulfilling any of the concerns my anxiety raised, it was just a lot of “HELL YES!” and “SHOW THEM WHAT’S UP!”

They were right to be excited, and it’s been incredible so far. I declared for the upcoming 2041 DSFL draft, submitted my tapes, and within days I was claimed off waivers and on a plane crossing the Atlantic from London to Minnesota. First step was to meet with the coaches and figure out what I was going to be doing with the Ducks. A lot of the rugby players making the jump to American football come over as running backs and punters, but we all have strength, speed, and kicking ability. I didn’t want to kick, but I also didn’t have a typical running back or wide receiver frame. They knew from the first practice that they wanted me with the ball in my hands however possible though, and I still don’t even know what my career path will be outside of being a playmaker.

I played mostly as a short range receiver with Minnesota, where I was facing off with safeties mostly. The bigger linebackers couldn’t keep up, the cornerbacks couldn’t easily wrap me up, and the game plan was simple: Get open and make someone miss. I didn’t get a lot of looks in my first few games, and I have to take some of that responsibility. I know I messed up some plays by mixing up some routes and dropping some easy passes, but hopefully I showed what my ceiling was.

The first game and first catch against Norfolk showed that duality well. First possession of the game I dropped an easy pass that would have converted the third down and I’m rewarded with no more targets for the entire half. Second half starts basically the same though, and I right my wrongs with a catch as a Seawolves defender was draped over my shoulders to convert the third down.

More exciting than that first game was getting to go back to my hometown not once but twice. The third game I played with the Ducks was back in London, the league leaders but also the only American football I had ever seen before this journey these last few months. I was obviously excited to play in front of my parents and friends that came down from Cambridge, but I was also finally starting to figure out the game and we figured we had a good shot at surprising the Royals. Scoring my first touchdown in the third was incredible, to do it in the endzone right in front of my parents was exactly how I would have drawn it up, and to be given the game ball and celebrated by my new teammates at the end of it all the more sweet, even if we lost.

The season in Minnesota didn’t end the way we wanted it to, obviously. But I can look back on the first step in the journey with pride. I came over knowing nothing, learned a ton about the sport in a short amount of time, and held my own against people that have been playing all their lives. This month and a half really solidified that I was making the right choice in coming here to play football, and I took that experience to heart and went into my individual workouts with the DSFL teams that much more motivated to show what I can do and convince them to take a shot on the rugby girl from across the pond.

Sure, I can take a strong tackle at the Six Nations, but can I do it when it’s an All American linebacker? I can outrun people on the track, but can I do it when I have to worry about hand fighting and the contact? I can break any defender’s ankles one on one on the pitch, but can I do it when the defenders are men just as fast as me with an extra 20 or 25 kilos and a longer reach than me?

It’s the next challenge.

I want to find out.

See you soon,

Madison Hayes

RE: The Player's Tribune | "The Next Challenge" | By Madison Hayes - OrbitingDeath - 11-19-2020

go to sleep 7