Post by caseyd123 on Dec 1, 2008 18:27:46 GMT -6
Coaches,
For admission into the University of Arizona, students are asked to write a 500 word essay of us blowing smoke up our own a$$es (that is, in my opinion). And I couldn't think of a better way to tell my story then with my football experience so I would like to share with you what I wrote to them. I got accepted so maybe they liked it, but who knows. I just want to share it with you guys who help give guys like me the opportunity for something like this to happen. I also appreciate how much I learned from this board. My own coaches will be getting a copy as well so they know how much they impacted my life...okay here goes: I titled it for my own purposes The Mirror to my Soul for obvious reasons...
"...The privilege will not be that he gets to build a stepping stone for a career, rather he will have the unspeakable honor of sharing with each one who dons a helmet, how this amazing game of football, introduces a man to himself. And through that introduction, impacts his life, like nothing else does. You want to create a culture, take the greatest game ever created, that we have the privilege of talking about here every day, and hold it up like the greatest tool ever created for the development of a man's character - a mirror to his soul."
The quote above is from a football coach named Darin Slack who was commenting on what it is to be a football coach. The words mean so much to me because they describe exactly what I have experienced for the past six months. After three years of being my high school's biggest football fan, I decided that if I did not play football I would always regret it. Luckily for me, the school just hired a new coaching staff. I decided that since the program was starting fresh, it would be a perfect opportunity for me to give football a try.
My journey started in the summer after baseball season ended. Three-hour practices starting at 6:30 a.m. were the norm. Whether I was sprinting 100's or learning how to power clean or learning just what to do on the football field, I was in heaven. I sacrificed my social life (in bed every night at 9:30...during the summer) to get up to speed with the guys on the team who had been playing football since they were eight years old. I did everything I could to look like someone who knew what he was doing. To do this, I spent hundreds of dollars on materials for coaching football. I knew there would be not enough time for the coaches to teach me everything I needed to know to play Wide Receiver so I taught myself. This hard work and dedication landed me a spot on the team and the role of starting wide receiver! (Side not for coaches, we were a wing-t team so take starting receiver with a grain of salt lol)
My journey has revealed the "mirror" that Coach Slack mentioned. Football introduced me to “a man” I never knew before. I really liked whom I saw when I looked in the mirror and I know that I’ll owe that to the game of football for the rest of my life. I know that I can do anything I put my mind to now, or at least I feel I can. I will take the lessons I have learned with me to college, where my dedication as a football player will show up in the classroom everyday. Football has showed me how great I can be. Because of this, immediately after I graduate from high school, during my college years, I will be coaching football. Somehow, somewhere, I will make sure I am around the game until someone drags me away as I scratch and claw.
-CD
For admission into the University of Arizona, students are asked to write a 500 word essay of us blowing smoke up our own a$$es (that is, in my opinion). And I couldn't think of a better way to tell my story then with my football experience so I would like to share with you what I wrote to them. I got accepted so maybe they liked it, but who knows. I just want to share it with you guys who help give guys like me the opportunity for something like this to happen. I also appreciate how much I learned from this board. My own coaches will be getting a copy as well so they know how much they impacted my life...okay here goes: I titled it for my own purposes The Mirror to my Soul for obvious reasons...
"...The privilege will not be that he gets to build a stepping stone for a career, rather he will have the unspeakable honor of sharing with each one who dons a helmet, how this amazing game of football, introduces a man to himself. And through that introduction, impacts his life, like nothing else does. You want to create a culture, take the greatest game ever created, that we have the privilege of talking about here every day, and hold it up like the greatest tool ever created for the development of a man's character - a mirror to his soul."
The quote above is from a football coach named Darin Slack who was commenting on what it is to be a football coach. The words mean so much to me because they describe exactly what I have experienced for the past six months. After three years of being my high school's biggest football fan, I decided that if I did not play football I would always regret it. Luckily for me, the school just hired a new coaching staff. I decided that since the program was starting fresh, it would be a perfect opportunity for me to give football a try.
My journey started in the summer after baseball season ended. Three-hour practices starting at 6:30 a.m. were the norm. Whether I was sprinting 100's or learning how to power clean or learning just what to do on the football field, I was in heaven. I sacrificed my social life (in bed every night at 9:30...during the summer) to get up to speed with the guys on the team who had been playing football since they were eight years old. I did everything I could to look like someone who knew what he was doing. To do this, I spent hundreds of dollars on materials for coaching football. I knew there would be not enough time for the coaches to teach me everything I needed to know to play Wide Receiver so I taught myself. This hard work and dedication landed me a spot on the team and the role of starting wide receiver! (Side not for coaches, we were a wing-t team so take starting receiver with a grain of salt lol)
My journey has revealed the "mirror" that Coach Slack mentioned. Football introduced me to “a man” I never knew before. I really liked whom I saw when I looked in the mirror and I know that I’ll owe that to the game of football for the rest of my life. I know that I can do anything I put my mind to now, or at least I feel I can. I will take the lessons I have learned with me to college, where my dedication as a football player will show up in the classroom everyday. Football has showed me how great I can be. Because of this, immediately after I graduate from high school, during my college years, I will be coaching football. Somehow, somewhere, I will make sure I am around the game until someone drags me away as I scratch and claw.
-CD
