Patience

Throughout the process of growing up football has made me a better person. Along with many other things I have gained through playing football, It made me patient. It’s hard to have patience, but those Cold, hard, or just exhausting days when you have practice and you have to be there to prepare for a game have developed me into a better person. Tolerating a difficult situation and not getting upset or frustrated is always easy but knowing it is what you have to do to succeed or something you must overcome makes it easier to deal with. I had not always been a patient person but the hardships of football helped me become a more patient and tolerable person, in sports, school, and even a difficult situation I noticed that I don’t complain when I do something that is difficult or not fun or takes a long time, I just put my head down and do it and that is an attribute that I had gained from football. here is an example of a time when I noticed this happen.

During football, a moment when I realized I had gained a lot more patience was seeing how calm I was in a situation that normally would stress or make the younger version of myself panic. Playing at the spot Defensive end, it was easy to get far ahead of yourself, not having patience, and you could ruin an opportunity for you to make a tackle. I had this moment come to life for me in my last season of football in the playoffs, a moment when my team was down 14-21. the ball is on the 23-yard line, it’s a 4th down, 3 yards to go, the game is on the line, Freeport High School in their territory going in to score. I am right side Defensive end, they snap the ball and run a jet sweep to the opposite side of me, I know that in this moment I can not get washed inside in case of a reverse or a cutback. I stay in my zone and then bang it’s a reverse and right as he gets the ball I meet him in the backfield and stop Freeport on 4th down. we get the ball back and proceed to throw a 63-yard touchdown and score a 2-point conversion to win the game.

Watching films over the years I can see myself improving with patience, not overrunning, staying in my zone, not letting the moment get in my head, and just sticking to my role. being able to tolerate a situation where you are down in the game and you are a zone player is very difficult and it’s effortless to get too aggressive, in other words not be patient and follow the backfield and get sucked in. Just like that, I could have taken an opportunity away from myself by not being patient. In the situation I was in it would have been easy for a younger version of myself to get impatient and try and be the hero running across the field and get sucked in on the reverse and not have a chance to make the play by taking themselves out. This situation is why I feel I have developed patience through football, and it has helped me become a better person in the real world by facing adversity. I was able to be patient and stay in my zone not trying to be the hero, and the play developed in front of me and it was barbeque chicken from there.

“Football: Jets-v-Eagles, Sep 2009 – 46” by Ed Yourdon is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“Carlmont Football Varsity V.S. Willow Glen” by Scot Scoop 360 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.