The Real World

                 Have you ever seen someone trying out for a team or squad? And just was not good enough to make it, and not cut out for the position? In football most people want to be the star or the one who gets a lot of attention, thus showing that they truly only care about themselves. Not everyone is cut out for the physical and intelligent game of football, but most parents push there little boys to play anyways. Some can do it and be successful but a lot can’t make it out there.

                 Playing football changes your mindset about life. The mental aspect of the game must come natural and fast throughout playing. Either you got it or you don’t and no one can give it to you. Everyone can try to be a football player but not everyone can play. Countless times and times again you will see those few who are only joining the team to say they are on the team but won’t practice like they want to be there.

                 The fact of the matter is that not anybody can put on a helmet and shoulder pads and perform. Some may can perform well when the contact is not involved, but doesn’t mean anything if you can’t with the full gear. Football is a full contact mental sport that could possibly injure or kill you. Not everybody is cut out for that kind of treatment.

My mother took this picture

True Transformation: The Recycle

                     When I look back at my life and where I came from to become who I am today. I think about how I have changed physically and mentally. By the grace of GOD I overcame multiple injuries and endured stressful criticism, which I believed made me stronger. My dream as a young kid was to play in the NFL and still is a goal for my future.
                     During my little league days, I was a chubby little fat kid that seemed to not have any athleticism in me. Other kids always called me names and joked about my size. Also let I inform you that I was short with that weight. People did not believe that I could make in it any sport and thought I would just quit. But there was always one person I could count on and that was my mother. She pushed me through school work and practices, never settling for less. My mom always said " Use the negative energy to create positive energy", and that's exactly what I did. Working hard and pushing myself in the different off seasons helped slim my body and turned that fat into muscle. By 7th grade in middle school I was athletic enough to play running back and able to prove the people who doubted me most wrong.
                    Also through that period of time I was criticized, I received multiple injuries that sidelined me from playing. The doctor told me I was injury prone because of my lack of calcium, with me being lactose intolerant and all. Ultimately eating ice cream saved me physically because of the calcium in it. The doctors, still to this day, do not understand how I can be lactose intolerant and able to eat ice cream which contains milk. With this weakening my main crutch, it helped me mentally take on physical challenges in the sport of football.

Picture taken by my mom

                    Now to this day I am a JSU freshman football player and 1 step closer to my ultimate goal which is to play in the NFL. It has stuck with me all my life and I never looked back from it since day one. When I look back at when I played little league, middle school, and high school ball I can see the different transformations in myself. I have became stronger, wiser, more athletic, and most of all blessed. I can not think GOD enough for what he has did for my life and others. My critics helped motivate me to become a better man and player. If you learned anything from this post I hope you learned to fight what you believe in and to never let someone tell you you can't
                  

Something to Be Said For Silence

                How do you define stress? Is it too much for any one person to handle? Well the definition of stress is the pressure or tension exerted on a material object. Everyone goes through stress, but some people just can’t take it. Football players, in general, go through the pressures of stress every day.  Such as balancing school work and football, getting mentally prepared on game day, and also football practice.

                 First off, football players have to balance school work such as homework and studying while also being a football player. Doing so is very stressful on their life and affects them in a negative way. For instance, preparing for a game and having homework the same night can either damage his mental focus for playing football or damage is opportunity to finish his homework. Most football players choose between the both and fail one or the other, putting them in a stressful situation. To fix this problem, they should talk to their teacher to help simplify the situation.

                 The next thing that can be consistently stressful is getting mentally prepared on game day. There are many things going on on a game day that can keep a football player distracted and unfocused. One of those things are pep rally’s and many athletes do not know that the pep rally’s are really for the fans, to hype them up and to gain attendance. Also all the attention gained throughout the day and the pressure put on by outer peers could genuinely stress a player out, because all they would be able to think about is not letting anyone down.

                  Last but not least football practice is a very stressful activity placed on football players. Practice is a time where you learn plays and put everything together, to be ready for the upcoming game. Well the stress part comes in during the practice, because players tend to get aggravated at one another if one messes up. It can either push the player to work harder or make him quit. Practice is always late nights, so the football players have homework and have to study afterwards while they’re mentally and physically drained. This action causes them to not focus on their work, thus affecting their grades in school.

                   In conclusion, do you think stress is too much to handle? Do you deal with it every day? Because football players consistently deal with the pressures of stress and can affect their lives in a very negative way.