Playing with a Purpose | Teen Ink

Playing with a Purpose

April 30, 2018
By stevenholtz1 BRONZE, West Palm, Florida
stevenholtz1 BRONZE, West Palm, Florida
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Its crazy to think that it all started since I was a little kid playing recreational sports.  My whole life I have been playing all kinds of varieties of sports including soccer, basketball, martial arts, and I found my passion in football.  My family and I had pretty much sacrificed every day towards going to practice, which was located at the local park, and it had everything you can imagine from baseball fields all the way to hockey rinks. They say some people were born to play sports and you can bet that was me, or at least that’s what I thought.  During my fifth season of football I had a coach that all the other kids hated, every year they would all hope that they wouldn’t get drafted by him but this year I was the lucky one.  My new coach was always extremely hard and tough on my team, but especially on me.  I was never use to this and not going to lie I really didn’t like it, but I would never in a million years tell him that.  I continued going to practice even though I was slowly beginning to lose interest and all the enjoyment I used to have for football and I was eating me alive day by day.  After many weeks of hard work and preparation we had our first game of the new season on Saturday and it was against m former coach.  We always had a good relationship considering he was my coach for three straight years in a row in which we won the championship two out of the three seasons. With a blink of an eye, its Saturday which means game day!  All the players and coaches are gathered up next to a tree and we go weigh in and then head to the practice field to warm up and go over our game plan.  My coach pulls me over to the side, and I instantly begin to think he is going to ask me about the others team plays since he knew I used to play for them, but he told me I wouldn’t be starting in todays game and I would be sitting on the sideline.  My stomach fell to the ground in shock and disappointment.  I questioned him over and over but he began yelling at me and told me I wont play at all if I continue to bother him.  I’m now just watching all my friends and teammates throwing the football around and having a great time while I’m in misery.  All the players are gathering up and putting their jersey’s on and walking towards the game field.  The feeling of disappointment and hopelessness was at an all time high.  The captains walked on out to the field and won the coin toss which meant we got to choose if we wanted too receive the ball first or kick off and defend first, and they decided to defend first.  I was watching our defense from the sideline and after the first play we get a huge takeaway and recover the ball.  I had my head down and I hear my coaches voice calling my name and he yells ‘’go on that field and play your heart out’’ I rose up in excitement and ran onto the field.  I surprisingly played one of the best games of my entire life.  When the game was over my coach used to do to him that taught him to be a better team player and then he hugged me and took my family and I out to a celebratory victory lunch. 



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