07-20-2024, 03:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-26-2024, 10:19 AM by lemonoppy. Edited 1 time in total.)
We have made it through the pre-season and were ready for our 1st regular season game. I had not done much in the pre-season. The coaches had told me it was due to the fact that we were still learning the playbook. But I saw for myself, during the game and while watching the game film later, that I wasn’t getting the separation that I needed. I also saw that I just didn’t trust myself. Up to this point I had never felt any pressure as I played. I just went out and enjoyed the game. To be honest, it all seemed to just come to me, when to push myself to take that extra step to get some separation, when to extend so I could high-point the ball, when to wrap my arms around the ball to take that extra hard hit from a defensive back. But now, I looked like I was walking on eggshells and was not helping the team at all.
So before the first game, I went down to the local park and watch the youth football teams play some games. I knew I needed to remember why I chose to play this game. I watched them laugh and enjoy themselves. I saw them push themselves to be the best they could be, but didn’t carry their “bad” plays on their shoulders. After a play, they picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and trotted back to the huddle…or bench, with a smile on their faces and laughing with everyone they came in contact with.
That was it. It was something so simple, we all chose to play this game because we enjoyed it! We LOVE playing football and because of that it brings us joy. It is not a source of self-doubt, not a place to not trust ourselves, no place to carry the weight of every play on our shoulders as the game continued. We do it to have FUN!
I mean, that sounds so simple. But when this looked like it would become my career…my job…instead of something I did for fun. Well, then it changed it my head. It became something I had to “work” at. Work is not always fun because it is well…work.
I went back to my apartment and had the best sleep I had in weeks. I felt so relaxed the next day as we took the field. Our first game of the season was against the Tijuana Luchadores, who just so happened to be the defending champions. As we gathered in the locker room, there was a different feel there. I wonder if my teammates had the same revelation that I had. I didn’t want to ask, but yea, things felt different.
Boy, I saw it on the field as well! I think we shocked everyone, except for everyone that was in the locker room when the final score showed that we had won the game 27-24. To be honest, the game wasn’t that close. They scored 13 points in the 4th quarter to make it respectable.
Boy, we are riding high now! To start the season with that kind of victory, talk about a momentum builder!
So how did I do, after going back to my roots? Well, there were 7 passes thrown to me. I caught 5 for 141 yards and 1 touchdown. I had a beautiful 75 yard reception where I cut through the defense like a hit knife through warm butter where I scored that only TD. The pundits were so impressed with my game that I was not only awarded Offensive Player of the Game, but Player of the Game!
To have that kind of debut and more importantly to get a victory in the mix, yea, that is AWESOME!!
I doubt I will play like that every game. But as long as we are winning, I don’t care. Plus, I remember what matters, I LOVE playing football! Its not work, it is FUN!
Yea, lets play that next game!!
So before the first game, I went down to the local park and watch the youth football teams play some games. I knew I needed to remember why I chose to play this game. I watched them laugh and enjoy themselves. I saw them push themselves to be the best they could be, but didn’t carry their “bad” plays on their shoulders. After a play, they picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and trotted back to the huddle…or bench, with a smile on their faces and laughing with everyone they came in contact with.
That was it. It was something so simple, we all chose to play this game because we enjoyed it! We LOVE playing football and because of that it brings us joy. It is not a source of self-doubt, not a place to not trust ourselves, no place to carry the weight of every play on our shoulders as the game continued. We do it to have FUN!
I mean, that sounds so simple. But when this looked like it would become my career…my job…instead of something I did for fun. Well, then it changed it my head. It became something I had to “work” at. Work is not always fun because it is well…work.
I went back to my apartment and had the best sleep I had in weeks. I felt so relaxed the next day as we took the field. Our first game of the season was against the Tijuana Luchadores, who just so happened to be the defending champions. As we gathered in the locker room, there was a different feel there. I wonder if my teammates had the same revelation that I had. I didn’t want to ask, but yea, things felt different.
Boy, I saw it on the field as well! I think we shocked everyone, except for everyone that was in the locker room when the final score showed that we had won the game 27-24. To be honest, the game wasn’t that close. They scored 13 points in the 4th quarter to make it respectable.
Boy, we are riding high now! To start the season with that kind of victory, talk about a momentum builder!
So how did I do, after going back to my roots? Well, there were 7 passes thrown to me. I caught 5 for 141 yards and 1 touchdown. I had a beautiful 75 yard reception where I cut through the defense like a hit knife through warm butter where I scored that only TD. The pundits were so impressed with my game that I was not only awarded Offensive Player of the Game, but Player of the Game!
To have that kind of debut and more importantly to get a victory in the mix, yea, that is AWESOME!!
I doubt I will play like that every game. But as long as we are winning, I don’t care. Plus, I remember what matters, I LOVE playing football! Its not work, it is FUN!
Yea, lets play that next game!!