Why Question

It all started quite some time ago. It was a chilly Saturday morning. The autumn wind was making the hairs on the back on my neck stand up with excitement. I was participating in our pre-walkthrough for our football game which was quickly approaching. My coach looked at all of us and asked “do you understand what is going on in the play” We all shook our heads. However, I should have looked up and said “Coach I do not understand a single thing going on here.” However I did not do this because I was afraid of what people would think. When thinking back on it, I realize now that asking questions is paramount in unfamiliar situations. If an individual decides to sit back and watch the events unfold while being confused. That person is setting themself up for failure. Therefore, there is no such thing as a stupid question. When I was younger I never would ask any questions because I felt like it made me look stupid, but apart of growing up is realizing that if help is available do not just wave it off. With all of this being said, someone should always ask questions when they have them. If I would have done this during my walkthrough for my football game I would have understood what was going, however, I did not and that resulted in something that was entirely my fault.

The play was simple enough, but I did not know whether I was supposed to push my block to the outside or plug a hole or really anything at all. What I should have done is ask my coach what I should be doing in the play, but instead, I just nodded my head as he explained it because I did not want to look like the only kid who did not understand what was going on when everyone else did. This led to me just being very confused and instead of asking a very simple question I decided that I knew every other play just this one was out of the question so I just hoped that we would not call it and settle on that. The game ended up starting and I was doing fine. However, it was 3rd down and 4 and of course my coach called the play that he just taught to us shortly before. I thought again about asking a question something simple like “Hey what who should I block again” However I did not ask the question because of being afraid of what people would think. This resulted in me lining up maybe probably where I was supposed to who knows. My nerves were starting to kick in, I was getting butterflies in my stomach due to me having no idea what I was supposed to do. In my mind, I was thinking that the play was a run to the outside so I figured that as long as I picked up a block somewhere it would be at least okay. I was thinking that we only needed four yards the game was close, but we had a good running back so really it would be no big deal if the person I was supposed to block just did not get blocked. However, the person I ended up deciding on blocking was clearly the wrong person as I saw our running back to my left try and run through the gap that was supposed to be open, but because of me it just was not. This led to the linebacker hitting our running back at full speed. This caused our running back to fumble and the linebacker took it back for a scoop and score. I sat on the field looking back at the linebacker celebrating in the endzone and realizing it was all my fault. I was saddened by what I had caused. In the end, what I learned is that guessing is not always the best idea when everyone else is depending on you to do your job. My coach looked at me and said “Garret you did not pick up the right block” He said it in a more angry tone as we just got scored on and it was my fault, but I had to own up to it. After that day I realized that if I had a question I was going to ask it, especially if other people were going to be affected by my decisions.

Overall asking questions is not about being right or wrong, it is about gaining access to knowledge that you did at one time not know. I myself learned so much from the mistake I made. I learned from this one mistake and many other mistakes in my life that it is better to just ask the question. If I would have just said “hey coach I do not get this and I do not want something to go bad because of me, so can you go over it again” If I would have just asked this question it would have worked out. In the end, It is better to just get it out of the way because there could be people around you who are struggling with the same exact thing. This is what I learned from the experience in which I decided not to ask a question. Everyone makes mistakes, but it is recognizing those mistakes and taking action that separates someone who is just okay and someone who strives for greatness.

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