Christian Athlete: A Short Story

There we were, in Houston Texas, Dejah, Aniya, and I were warming up, practicing handoffs in tent city. We had made it to the Houston Texas AAU National Junior Olympics. It was No Limits Track Club’s second to last day on our eight day trip. It was the most competitive day of them all. It was time for the four by one hundred meter relay.

The day did improve, somewhat, as it went on and everyone was quickly enjoying themselves again as we attended the women’s Gopher game to watch my older cousin, Taylor, play. Throughout the game, I could still sense the agitation between Alex, my dad, I, as we covered up the awkward silences by burying our noses in our phones in between the periods. To end the afternoon on a high note, the Gophers played an outstanding game and beat Wisconsin in overtime. We all left the stadium in high spirits, reminiscing over the great plays and unforgettable overtime goal. At the same time, we were exhausted from a long day and ready to head home and watch the girl’s State Tournament championship game.

“Do your job.” A simple quote by Bill Belichick (New England Patriots Head Football Coach) but this quote means a lot about my character. The reason it means a lot to me is because if you work tremendously hard and do your job your team will be successful. My head football coach, Mike Rowe uses this quote as well and adds “If everybody does your job you will be successful.

I then got my height and weight measured 6ft 1in 221 lbs, which Is huge for a thirteen year old, but compared to all of the others I was underweight. I then began to wait for the coaches to call us up for warm-ups, my dad came up to me and told me this “ You have been training for this since February, you have put the work in and now you are ready”. As I was waiting I looked around and saw many very athletic looking athletes, many were bragging to each other about how they would definitely make the team. Lots of guys looked bigger, stronger, and faster. I could tell that I was the only one who was still thirteen.

The season started and I felt caged as I watched my teammates take the field through a chain link fence. Our first game came and went, but I never left the dugout; then

It was a humid morning in Lawrence, Massachusetts as our second football scrimmage of the year was set to begin. My heart pounded as Coach Stevenson called me into the

The field was dust because it was kind of windy. The wind was warm and the day was sunny. I sat on the little hill for a few minutes until one of my teammates came. Our coach came about five minutes later. Once everyone showed up our coach told us what we were going to be doing that practice.

Now I knew almost all of the coaches except the freshmen. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew we were going to come out and work hard every practice. All I wanted to do was impress the coaches. I had an advantage over all my teammates, I kinda knew what they expected.

At my elementary school, there was a big field right next to the playground where my male peers would play football. I always wanted to join their game and try to play, so they put me on a team to be nice to be nice but they never hurled the ball to me. This was because I am a girl and they believed girls couldn’t correctly play football, little did they know this made me feel as invisible as a ghost. This is a common feeling for a lot of innocuous kids because they don’t fit in.

After that, all the parents said “great job rebels.” This is one of my best experiences in baseball I have had. I got to spend time with my family and also my friends. We had a lot of fun while doing what we love. On the way back we got a text from our coach and he said,”that there will be a party at his house.”

The second I was on the field I knew my team had the game won. All I could see around me was a group of men ready for war. I couldn’t be more ready for my last home opener so after I did what I do when the unexplainable happens, accept it. I ran to the 45 to the 35 to the 20, hoping to find the kick returner. 8 months waiting for this moment all the sweat, pain, 100 degree sun beaming UV rays to my face.

The first two weeks went by and our coach had finally made her decision about positions. As we were driving down the highway back from a scrimmage in Wells, I heard my name called from the front of the bus. My hands started to sweat, my knees shook like they could start and earthquake, and my heart was beating so fast it could jump out of my chest. Anxiously waiting to hear those five words that I’ve strived for. To say the least, I was nervous.

Are you ready to win the country finals my mom said I was so nervous I had no words to say If we win will be the first team in the whole U.P to win the country finals. We had to play the Rock Bear Tigers they have not lost a game in the past 5 years. There record this year is 80-0 and are record is 69-11. The third best record in the whole U.P the team we beat yesterday 4-3. The lions there record was 75-5 when we arrived at the stadium my coach was the first to greet me he wasn't looking the happiest to see me I was kind of scared.

As there were ten minutes before the game we kept on doing the drills until I heard my coach announcing the starting lineup. I heard my name being announced so I prepared myself to go to the field. I could already see the trophy as it was in a table. As I walked in the field I could smell the trimmed grass and could hear my teammates say “we got this.”

Finally, I took a deep breath swung my worn out foot back and struck the ball with all my might as if my life depended on it. The ball curved to the top right corner of the goal and the crowd went wild. Instead of there being a melancholy atmosphere looming over me, an atmosphere of blissfulness surrounds me. When I got back home, I saw Bill and he told me, “Although you were terrible in the beginning, you came through in the end and earned your respect.” My coach called everybody on the team to a meeting the next day and announced that we will be going to the State Cup.