Sig Rough Draft

8/8/2019 Sig Rough Draft

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i.Sui;ag1,

Amro Gouda

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,''liilil"Football

I am standing here disappointed;my team surroundsme as he lights go out. I look

Waroundand see ears n my teammate'seyeswhich let me know that wedile--'All sharing he f%'

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same eeli.rgri'Ho* did we get o thispoinfrr,h",horrght running hroughour minOs/thir--

wasn't how our seasonwas suppose o start. While my coach was analyzing the game before

NanAo{we went back to the locker roomrmy mind starts o wondeqin order to make senseof what

just happened. My mind took me all the way back to the start of the game which had started

out o'.pyu4ru^bLtbu

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I wasfeelinggreat, his was my first chance o go out with an organized eam and

play a sport hat I was starting o enjoy. With all my teammates roundmelwestarted '

chanting omemeaningless ords hat o a strangerwould makeus ook like an Africantrrb. \S)^S

prayingto their god.But what very f-ewpeople+hai6utsidehe teamk".*:iPr. words *...'O$$"'

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actually very powerfufand were supposeo help usget psychedup for thegame. felt like I. r lt ,

just oineda fratemitybecauseheses ther{ayers nd were starting o form abond hat

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\ was unbreakable. fter stretchingand chanting or a small amountof time, we were ready.

Ready o startour seasonhe right way, we looked ike a herdof bulls hat were eady o

trampleover our opponents.

The whistle blew, the gamehad begun.Our defense an out on to field ready o

overpower he other eam and ake he ball from them. Even though his wasmy first ever

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play and did notknow what o expect,I efused o let the deaof me gettingbeatby the

offensiveinemenentermy brain.The ball got snapped y the centerwhichI was aughtwas

the queue or me to move and startmy attack.Even thoughmy coachhad stressedor me to

get ow,and e aggressiveJad ooledmyself nto hinking didn'thave o do all those ?.., ̂ .

things,andhat this was goingto be extremelyeasy or me.After fighting with him ,", #h'a|Pffii

felt like an etemity, fell on groundwith him on top of-J'fnis

isn't going o be aseasyas

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hoped,'I hought o myself as heplay ended. o beat hisguy andgiveus a chanceo win,I

.wouldhave o follow my coach'snstructions scloselyaspossible"I aid o myself.When

the nextplay started,I it theman onthe opposite ideof me with everyounceof power had

. inside otffinile stayingow with oneblinhandon my second link,I sawsomethinghat,, \7

amazedme. The offensive lineman was on the ground leaving me wide open to pursue the

running back. As I was tackling the running back to end the play I thought to myself that my

coachwas right, if I play the gamewith the right techniques,Iwould be unbeatable.

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I rememberhinkingbac{ during hegameltohe first coupleweeksof practice,

where wasn't sure f I wanted o continueo play this sportnorf I wasgoing o endup {\u)b$b^v?*

blaming my friend that had nagged me into coming out for wasting a couple weeks of my life

and move on with my life. Throughout the first couple of practices the only words I heard out

of ourcoach's outh #:nffiffi'" :Jtoyaltyo the eam.andheother layers. hile

'('ve eoYo2drthis meantnothing o me at the im5}hearing omething million timeswill most ikely

leavean mpression n you.As theweeksof practicewent by and saw he same eople

comingout to thepracticeseveryday,working ard I thought hey were ust trying to show

off to the coach,which I now understandwas gnoranceon my partbecauseheseplayers,,I

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r7rnu,now know wereworking hard for eachother,sothat when t was heir turn to help the team

they could confidentlyand successfully o it. That mademe feel a little happierabout he

night, even houghwe lost out on that ield thatnight cameoutof the experience iser.

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t had realized hat the gameof football is not ust about hewins and osses.Through ust that

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\ first game leamedwhat commitment nd oyalty were.As I stood herehalf listening o myl-

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coach alking about he game,I realized hat even f this team ost everygame or therestof

theyear would not stopcomingout o thepractices ecause,asmy coachwould say.oohad

both eet n the circle" .

Later on that night he eammet up atoneof theplayer'shouseandstarted iscussing

the gameand what they thought of it. Almost all of uswere disappointed thow the night

had urned out,andsomewere very verbal about t. I went and satwith agroupof guys hat

were sumoundedy food andlffiwere known o the eamas he "big boys".Thesewere

obviously he offensiveanddefensiveinemen,but to mertheywereknownasmy buddies.

Theseguysweremy buddies ecause e had spent hemost imepracticingwith eachother,

andagainst achother.We all knew eachother'sstrengths,andeaknesses.nd since n the

realworld mostpeoplewon't tell otherswhat heir weaknessesere, heseguysand had

formed a bond hat wasvery rare.As someof the playersarguedaboutwhat wentwrong and

how it could have beendifferentmy mind started o drift againand ook me back o my

coach'sspeech hich I surprisingly emembered. e had saidsomethinghatwas very rug

and hat hadbeen hinking aboutsincehe said.He said o usr"evenhoughwe lost on the

Io5'rfield today, he wholenight wasn't a lose."He explainedo us hat hrough heweeksof

practice hatpassed nd hrough his first gamewe had ust made ifelong riends hatwe

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couldalwayscounton in gamesandout of them.This wasa very strongstatement,butow

thinking backon it, I have o completelyagreewith him. Mostly all of the friends hat I have

keptup with,andstill consider lose riends,arehepeoplehatplayedwith me on the

football eam.

I left thathouse hinking what a greatnight it was, wasn'thappy hatwe had ost,

but whatmademe happywas hat I hadgottena coupleof epiphanieshat night.Overal\I

r lhadmostly realizedthat laying ootballwhichll thoughtwasgoing o be a wasteof timeland

. *)- - ---s----J"---one of the biggest mistakes was going to make that yearrhadactually tumed out to be the

bestdecision hadmade n my high school ears.Through ootball havegainedmany

lifelongvaluablequalities. leamedhemeaningof commitment nd oyalty; learnedhat t,

an4iiv9).3'.e ltT^wtat'hois anhonor for a team o askyou to representhem n a gameiind that if this is askedof ryg

n you mustdo every.thingn your power to helpthat team. realizedthrough the happy

timeswe had whenwe woqandthesad imeswe hadwhenwe lostrthat will form special

bondwith thesepeople play with thatwill causeme o befriend hem or manyyears o

come.Sincemy daysof football,I ind that amhooked o doingsportswither.its ootbalLor@-5?i

rugby, find that have o be nvolved n athletics. look at footballasotherpeople ook at

marijuana;tome t was my gateway rug.

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