03-08-2020, 11:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-09-2020, 09:13 AM by indonesianhusker.)
Never have I thought that I’d be here in Tijuana, just finishing my first day of practice with the Luchadores, a professional football team! But here I am, sitting at the balcony of my apartment, with the nice comforting heat of Tijuana reminiscing me of home.
Home....
That’s where I was for the last couple of months, spending time with friends and relatives that I left years ago when my family moved to Nebraska. By now, a lot of you may already know that I was born in Indonesia and lived there until my sophomore year of high school.
Growing up, I barely knew what American Football was. Everything I knew about the sport came from movies, like The Blind Side or Little Giants. Whatever it was, the sport was an afterthought for me, a strange game played by people halfway across the world. But one thing stuck to me, the physicality of the game. Specifically, running through people and weaving untouched around defenders trying to stop the ball carrier. I found that on the rugby field, where I started playing as a 7-year old at the local club where my father was a player/coach. I was young but I played beyond my age, physical but agile and intelligent on and off the ball. A career on the rugby field, playing under the lights of Twickenham or Ellis Park, was my ultimate dream.
Home...
Nebraska definitely is my second home, a place where I found my true passion and changed my life forever. Nebraska is the place where I found football. A sport I only saw on TV is now very much a part of my life. My rugby teammates in Gretna were all part of the football team, most joined rugby to keep in shape during the spring season and to satiate their desire for the intensity and physicality they missed from football. I was the other way around when I started football, I merely saw it as a way to keep in shape during the rugby offseason. But, I felt something different when I carried the ball for the first time late in the game after Damien got injured. I stil remember that play, a jet sweep to the right that went for what was it? 30 yards? Man, I shouldn’t have slowed down and I would’ve scored that touchdown instead of getting pushed out of bounds. That play brought me to where I am now, a path to live my dream. Yeah, maybe its not the light of Twickenham but I managed to play under the lights of great stadiums like Memorial Stadium, Buckeye Stadium, and the Rose Bowl.
Home...
A lot of people were wondering where I was before the draft. No interviews with GMs, no open workouts for NSFL and DSFL scouts. People were saying I didn’t want to be here, that I’ve left the game of football. Truth is, I was back in Indonesia during that period. Why? I did what I had to do to achieve my dream and keep playing football. You see, I never got my US citizenship. My family back in Nebraska is going through the process of obtaining green cards but the process won’t be finished before the SS21 draft. I was on a student visa when I played at Nebraska and there’s only a limited time I can be unemployed after graduation before having to leave the country. The time between graduation and the draft was longer than the allotted unemployment period I have from my visa. So the only choice was to go back to Indonesia and reapply for a visa at the US Embassy. The reason why I was able to get back stateside for the Prospect Bowl was because my visa was granted only a couple days prior. Shout out to the Luchadores GMs who picked me and believed in me and their help for writing a recommendation letter to the US Department of Immigration to help me get my visa application approved. Now here I am, in Tijuana where it feels like home, ready to work and play hard for my new home, the Luchadores, my coaches, my teammates and the fans.
Home....
That’s where I was for the last couple of months, spending time with friends and relatives that I left years ago when my family moved to Nebraska. By now, a lot of you may already know that I was born in Indonesia and lived there until my sophomore year of high school.
Growing up, I barely knew what American Football was. Everything I knew about the sport came from movies, like The Blind Side or Little Giants. Whatever it was, the sport was an afterthought for me, a strange game played by people halfway across the world. But one thing stuck to me, the physicality of the game. Specifically, running through people and weaving untouched around defenders trying to stop the ball carrier. I found that on the rugby field, where I started playing as a 7-year old at the local club where my father was a player/coach. I was young but I played beyond my age, physical but agile and intelligent on and off the ball. A career on the rugby field, playing under the lights of Twickenham or Ellis Park, was my ultimate dream.
Home...
Nebraska definitely is my second home, a place where I found my true passion and changed my life forever. Nebraska is the place where I found football. A sport I only saw on TV is now very much a part of my life. My rugby teammates in Gretna were all part of the football team, most joined rugby to keep in shape during the spring season and to satiate their desire for the intensity and physicality they missed from football. I was the other way around when I started football, I merely saw it as a way to keep in shape during the rugby offseason. But, I felt something different when I carried the ball for the first time late in the game after Damien got injured. I stil remember that play, a jet sweep to the right that went for what was it? 30 yards? Man, I shouldn’t have slowed down and I would’ve scored that touchdown instead of getting pushed out of bounds. That play brought me to where I am now, a path to live my dream. Yeah, maybe its not the light of Twickenham but I managed to play under the lights of great stadiums like Memorial Stadium, Buckeye Stadium, and the Rose Bowl.
Home...
A lot of people were wondering where I was before the draft. No interviews with GMs, no open workouts for NSFL and DSFL scouts. People were saying I didn’t want to be here, that I’ve left the game of football. Truth is, I was back in Indonesia during that period. Why? I did what I had to do to achieve my dream and keep playing football. You see, I never got my US citizenship. My family back in Nebraska is going through the process of obtaining green cards but the process won’t be finished before the SS21 draft. I was on a student visa when I played at Nebraska and there’s only a limited time I can be unemployed after graduation before having to leave the country. The time between graduation and the draft was longer than the allotted unemployment period I have from my visa. So the only choice was to go back to Indonesia and reapply for a visa at the US Embassy. The reason why I was able to get back stateside for the Prospect Bowl was because my visa was granted only a couple days prior. Shout out to the Luchadores GMs who picked me and believed in me and their help for writing a recommendation letter to the US Department of Immigration to help me get my visa application approved. Now here I am, in Tijuana where it feels like home, ready to work and play hard for my new home, the Luchadores, my coaches, my teammates and the fans.