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My name is RC Coyle and I am a football player for the Mission Viejo Cowboys. This is a journal about my season as a sophomore. I expect this year to be the toughest year in my football career, because I will be one of the smallest players on the team and do not have the experience of the upper classman.
Football season is about to begin. I am at the meeting for the team and the coach just walked in. The room is silent…as I look around, the team seems to a collection of eclectic players. They are all sizes, shapes, and colors. The coach starts to speak and he begins with the words, "I am looking forward to the season." He tells us his name, which is Coach Jackson. He is a nice guy, but sometimes people refer to him as being eccentric. He is however, dedicated to our team and a zealot when it comes to teaching kids about the game of football. Coach Jackson told us about all of the irreverence that existed on the team last year and how virulent it was to the team's success. He gave us a very abstruse speech about how our team is strong and deep in its numbers. Coach Jackson also talked about how we can be a championship team if we stick together and are judicious about learning our plays and assignments. The whole team walks out of the room in ah because of the depth of his speech. The team lines up to get their equipment and their gear for the year. All the other coaches walked into the room and introduced themselves. Coach Joe, is the running back coach, Coach B. is the linemen coach, and Coach John is the linebacker coach.
Our first day of practice we learned just how abstract of a team we had. The kids are from all over and have many different levels of potential. I did not think this would hamper our ability to be a good team. During this practice, I realized that I have a lot of competition for linebacker this year because of all the talent, above me and below me. This kid named Ross is a senior and he started last year at linebacker. Even though I am a sophomore, smaller, and not as experienced, I am not willing to concede he will start this year. I will just have to work very hard at that position this year.
CHAPTER 2
It is now the day of our first game. The whole team is getting dressed in the weight room hardy with music blaring in the background. The team has haughtiness about their attitude. Inside each player there kindles an effervescent feeling of excitement and anticipation. The coach, in a very conciliatory tone, gives the team a concise speech about the game, what he wants to happen on the field, and acclaims that if they execute, they will be victorious over the other team. Now that it is close to game time, we all suit up and start to head out to the field. The team all meets at the top of a hill and we all start to get focused on what we are here to do. The captains each give a laconic speech about their feelings toward what they want to accomplish tonight. As we run on to the field, the announcer is giving many accolades about the team over the public address system. The captains head to the center of the field for the coin toss, where the referees elaborate on how they want the game played, by each team. The coin is flipped and we win the toss. The captains choose to receive the kickoff.
CHAPTER 3
The team lines up for the kick off. The ball is kicked…We receive the ball on the ten yard line and the receiver runs with tenacity, up the sidelines before he is run out of bounds. In our first series of plays we take the ball down to their thirty - yard line and unfortunately acquiesce that we have to attempt a field goal. The ball languishes toward the uprights, but it is short. The team lements because of the missed field goal attempt. On the first series for the Panthers, they drive the ball down to the fifty - yard line. Their teammates on the sidelines are elated. Ross, our middle line backer, goes to make a tackle and he is run over by a huge fullback. Suddenly we hear a loud crack. Ross tries to get up but he can not. The referees call time out and ask all the players to heed their instructions to stay in their huddles. The trainers run on to the field and concur about his injury. Ross tells him that he is all right, but they can not condone him playing for the rest of the night. The coach eloquently breaks the news to Ross. The Coach turns to me and tells me to take Ross' place in the game. With a hedonist attitude, I head to the field.
CHAPTER 4
I ran onto the field with no worries, because I was just happy to be able to play. The first play, I looked right at my adversary and said to myself, that he is not any better then me. I saw the play develop and it was a dive, right at me. I saw the fullback and I ran at him and took out his legs. I made the play, and from that point forward, I felt that I was adroit in these situations during the game. The score in the fourth quarter was 21-14 cowboys and I contended that my team could win the game. The cowboys had the ball on the 40-yard line, heading toward the end zone. We ran a trap play right up the middle of the field and our running back was very elusive to the other team, because the other team could not tackle him. We scored, so that made the score 28-14. The other coach was contentious when the officials did not penalize us on a play that he thought we were holding. The game ended and we won. That put us with a 9-0 record, with one game left in the season. The whole team lauded our running back for his amazing effort to assure the victory over the panthers. Our running back was a very unobtrusive person and did not think much of what he had just accomplished. He thought that he just was doing his job. After the game the whole team found out that Ross was out for the season and may not be able to play football again. That night we all realized just how homogeneous of a team we all were, because we all went to see Ross in the hospital.
A WEEK LATER
At our last game the coach said that Ross was a very important person in the school and on the field. Coach said that we had lost one of the best player he had ever seen play in his coaching career. The coach said that this game was the beginning of a legacy, because this is where teams show their true character; in the face of adversity. There was heresy about what all the papers were saying regarding our next game and how our team felt. The newspapers all said that we were going to lose without Ross. We all felt that we were playing for Ross and that his injury actually helped to motivate us even more.
Chapter 5
The night of our victory, we all went to a big field and had a bon fire. A couple of people brought a keg of beer and started to drink. I did not want to feel like a hypocrite to my team and or coaches, by drinking. We all signed a contract, at the beginning of the season, that said we would not drink at all. I felt like I was one of the only advocates of the contract at the party. We all went home around 12:20 and I dropped off my friend, Greg at 12:30. Then I went home.
The Next Day at Practice
When I got to practice, I found out that Greg was in trouble with his parents about drinking last night. Greg made levity of the situation with his parents, but I knew that he was probably grounded for a month! Greg said that his parents were mad, but very humane about the situation, and let him off with only a week of being grounded. When we got out to the field, our whole team looked lethargic in all of the drills, because a lot of the players were hung over from the night before. I feel that the coach knew why the team was not doing our best in the drills. He was upset, but he also remembered what it was like when he played, so he did not say anything. He did however, make us run 10 extra 100-yard sprints.
Game Day
After the long week at practice, we were all ready to go out and win our next game against the Green Waves. This game was our Homecoming and our Senior Night, so the students embellished the field and the stands with signs, balloons, and crate paper, for school spirit. The aesthetics of the field were beautiful. The team had a feeling of trepidation between us, because we all heard that our quarterback was not feeling his best. The team was also confident that he would play a great game, no matter how sick he felt. The whole team was going crazy in the locker room. We were all ready to play and wanted this team to wake up the next morning feeling like "a bunch of transient farm workers" who had just worked a twenty-hour day!
CHAPTER 6
All the under-classman went out early to warm up first, because it was senior night. After we were done with stretching, we ran some of our plays and then we all went to the end zone and took our helmets off. We all formed a funnel for the seniors to run through to meet their parents. After this was done, we ran to our sidelines and got ready to play. The captains went out for the coin toss and we won the toss, and deferred to the second half. We kicked off and the other team got the ball on the 22-yard line. I ran onto the field and wanted to emulate Ross' best game, in the time that I had. The first play they ran was a dive, right at me, I converged with the ball carrier at the 23 yard line and drove him back to the 20! On the other two downs, we stopped them, and they had to punt. I ran off the field and my linebacker coach said, with an affable smile, "You are doing a great job, keep it up!" On the second series for the Cowboys our center, named Big-T, snapped the ball and after the play had ended, a player from the Green Waves jumped on top of him and started to punch him in the back. These actions earned him a ride to the police station. From that point on, the Cowboys played their best game anyone had ever seen. On every turnover we scored, so by the end of the game, the score was 52 &endash;6 in favor of the Cowboys.
The Day after
After the game, our coach told us that we had to go to the court hearing tomorrow about the assault that had taken place during the game. I was listlessness about the whole thing, but I went anyway. The player from the Green Waves was in court the next day and so were all the players from both teams. My hypothetical opinion was that the player would just get a warning. The jury convicted him of assault, and he was kicked out of playing in any other sports in Connecticut. The judge said that the verdict was an affirmation, that this type of behavior would not be tolerated in any sports in Connecticut. The kid seemed to be immutable to everyone and did not even seem to care about what happened.
After court, I had to go to the bank and cash a check, so I could give my money to Coach Jackson for my varsity jacket. When I got the bank, the teller said that I had to endorse the check before she could cash it. I signed it, and then left to go find Coach Jackson.
Chapter 7
As I was walking out of the courtroom, I saw the kid that was not able to play football. He looked impassive and he was pail. I went to the bank and headed over to my coach's house. When I got to Coach Jackson house and gave him the money, we started to talk about the punishment that the kid from the Green waves got. I said, "I hope that I never enervate the team as much as that kid did to his team". My Coach said, that I would never impair a team like that kid did because, I was too good of a person. He also said that I was an altruistic and cordial person and would not do anything to hurt the team. My coach told me that I was a very good football player, with a lot of talent, and that I could go far. He said that I had to work hard and do my very best whenever I was on the field. Coach Jackson said that I had a good game last week and that I just needed to continue to build on how I played. When we were done, I walked to my car and thought to myself, coach Jackson was lucid and fun to talk to.
The Day Before The Game
For the pre-game, I was asked to give a speech in the locker room. I started off by trying to corroborate the team's attitude about winning. I felt that we needed some team sprit because we were flat, and not as fired up as we should have been. I wanted to engender a spirit of wild emotion. I said that our team was made up of a magnanimous group of people. I also said that this team had a lot of aloof dignity that went along with our courage.
CHAPTER 8
The day of the game I was asked to give anther speech and I started to try to enhance the team spirit. As my team left for the field my coach lest for the field he put a criterion which was that if you do not play your hardest that he will pull you out and bench you. Then we all ran out on the field and set up for the opening kickoff. On the first play of the game the reff through his flag in the which is his implement of the game. The penalty is was a hold on the other team. When this flag was thrown the crowd though he was ambivalence. Then on the next play I blitzed in and impeded the running back and drove him back to the backfield. Then my coach said that our other line backer was playing bad so he took him out of the game and we put in our second string backer my coach was ambiguous about this move but when he was playing the coach said that he was playing great and nobody knew where this came from. My coach described him as an enigma to the whole team and that was his nick name for the rest of the game. I though that this kid was marred to the other team and the whole coaching staff. The reason that it was so hard to believe that he would be a good football player is that he was so meager. I also am not a person that is credulity but this kid that proved to me that he could play with the best.
CHAPTER 9
After the game was over and we won the coach said "That we have a lot of work to do and we did not play our best but we won so I will see you tomorrow at films." The next morning the coach said "that films are ameliorate you game." In this meeting you could tell that our coach was not amorphous because he had taken notes and he was all organized. The coach was talking about the next team that we play and he said that they were the enmity. The lineman films were not too good because our lineman coach is a meticulous man but that was methodical because then our line in films blocked everybody perfect and our coach was impressed. When we all met back in the weight room our coach was pretty mad at how we played but he said that there were good plays that made him only be less mad at us. The good thing about our coach was that his ephemeral moods. At practice we were cursory because we did not play our best. Then after the coaches had left to go inside our captain gave us shirts that said earn it on them. These had a cryptic meaning that was: effort, attitude, and relentless, nasty, intensity toughness. After practice I went to my coach and made an implication that we should add some new plays. I feel that he implicated the idea with out me going in detail.
Chapter 10
The team has one more game to play and this game is against the most hated team in the league by "us". Today at practice a man came, and he said that he was from the paper but we had a feeling that he was an impostor trying to scout us. This man you could see that he was an animosity. Finally, after we had this man leave My Coach said "That we were considered the under dogs in this game and we will daunt this hard task if you work hard enough." The only way that we could hurt this team is to debilitate the team and make the quit. This game was taking place in one week from today it was a Friday. Today there was some epic news in the looker room because Ross came back and the doctor had cleared him to start to practice on Wednesday of next week. It was equivocal that Ross was going to play but nobody knew. During these last two weeks we as a team we figured out that some people on the team that are inadvertently. There are also people that are in my opinion miserly to the team. I feel that when I was talking to my coach last night I misconstrued him because of how I answered back and he had to ask me again about how the team was doing. I told him that most of the team cared but there were some people that did not care at all.
A WEEK BEFORE THE GAME
I heard some rumors that there were some parents that did not like my coach. There was an anarchist and there were many parent that were following this man. I feel that this is just anther bump in the road that is trying to stop me from our championship.
Chapter 11
In the next couple of day my coach was not in such a good mood but he was getting more and more excited for this game that we have coming up. On the Thursdays before the game my coach called us into the locker room and said that our jerseys are antiquated. He said that we have to inaugurate these knew jersey's and the team was in shock with what the coach had just showed us. Then when the team mitigated the coach passed out all the jerseys. Some of the players like the seniors were morose because they said that they will miss those jersey's. Then the captains in an erratic fashion stood up and gave speeches about how our coach was the best man in the world and that he will always be there for us. Then we all went home and just went to bed that night because of how important this game was tomorrow.
GAME DAY
It was game day and I woke up with an inane stomach because last night I was not able to eat. I went to school and there was a mascot from the other team and that our school had made and it was hinging from a lamppost trying to defame the other team. I went to my first period class and I had erroneous forgot my project. I told my teacher that I was sorry and I could bring it to him this after noon he said that that was ok just because he knew that there were other things on my mind. When school was over I went and talked to my coach and he was telling me that the other coach was an antagonist to him. This was news to me because I felt that my coach was never one that a person could hate so much. My coach at that point told me that I was going to be an horary captain tonight. This shocked me so much I was breath less. He told me that we would defer the kick so that we would get the ball in the second half.
Chapter 12
It was about an hour before the game and I had to meet with the coaches and the other captains. This was hard for me because when I was told that I had to be there the coach was not too happy. When I got in the room I was told that some one denounced the agreement that we all agreed to in the summer time. This person was our starting tackle and on all special teams. The coach said that he was not starting in this championship game. My coach called him apathy, the reason that my coach said this that if he were caught drinking he would have ruined his football career. The other reason that he thought that john was antithesis of drinking during the football season. The other captains and I were the ones that had to address this problem so we called a team meeting. In this meeting we told John and he was so ashamed about what he had done. Then we all said that this situation was bad enough and it should be an esoteric. And only know by us. The team did not want one of its starting plays to have notoriety for drinking. The back up tackle said that he should not start the game that John should. I yelled at the kid and "said these are the coaches orders." The meeting went on incessantly and calm.
After this meeting we ran onto the field and did a quick stretch. We ran a delineated version of our plays. Then we all ran into the locker room and my coach made us erudite a new play ten minutes before the game. After the meeting we ran onto the field and kicked the ball. The most incidental thing happened on that play the other team dropped the ball and we ran it for a touchdown. I was still a mundane with the score because they could always come back and with the game. They did not we won the game 41-0 and had no problems with this at all after the first touch down.