Guts vs Glory

by Jason B. Osoff

  Chapter 6

  We were not forgotten about. Just like he told us he would, the coach pulled us aside from the other students. It was the second day of gym class, so we weren’t really missing much anyway. While the other students were playing flag football, we had a private meeting with the coach on the other end of the football field. He began the meeting by informing us that the judge would consider football as an after-school program. The coach then told us that he wanted to do a quick assessment on us to see what we would need to improve on. His primary objective was our speed and strength.

  The first thing he had us do was stand at one end of the flag football field. We were asked to run for 20 yards as fast as we could. Clearly, Mike had no problem with it, but when I was done, I couldn’t breathe. Without even getting a chance to catch my breath, it was time for the second agility drill. For that drill, we started at the same place as before. This time, we ran to the 10-yard line, turned back around and ran back to the starting line, turned back around and ran to the 20-yard line. The back and forth running continued until we made it to the 50-yard line. In total, we ran 250 yards during that drill. I think I’m still trying to catch my breath. But like before, that drill was made for Mike.

  After the speed drills, we were ready to move on to the strength drills. The first drill was to see how many push-ups we could do. After numerous attempts, we were finally able to do the perfect push up. Unfortunately, we were each only able to do one perfect push-up. Next were the sit-ups. We struggled to figure out the right form for those too, but eventually we were able to complete 10 of them. Our last drill was squats. For that drill, we had to squat down as far as we could without bending our back, and come back up with our knees locked. After the 5th one, neither of us could get back up.

  With the drills finally done, we clearly didn’t need the coach to tell us what we needed to work on. I needed to work on my speed, while we both needed to work on our strength. The coach did tell us, though, that he was impressed with Mike’s natural speed and felt that if I was strong enough, I could definitely use my large size to my advantage. He promised us success by the end of the season if we stuck with his workout plan. We quickly committed to the plan, but our degree of commitment decreased the more the coach described what our workout would consist of.

  Since I would play as a lineman, the coach wasn’t too worried about my speed. He told me that I would get faster once I maintained a healthy diet and worked on my cardiovascular system a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use practice to work out on our own and we couldn’t keep missing gym class. That left us with the time before school to utilize the school’s weight lifting room. With a school day that started at 7:30, our sessions would have to start at 6AM. For students going to bed after midnight, 6AM seemed like a nightmare. To stay on the football team, we would have to go to bed early, wake up early, get to the gym early, make ourselves lift weights and run on the treadmill, stay in school all day, then finish with a three hour practice. To make matters worse, the coach said that we would have to raise our grade point average to stay on the team. That meant we had limited time after practice to work on homework and study. It seemed to us that what should’ve been a fun activity of running and hitting people was quickly turning into a lifestyle similar to the military.

  Chapter 7

  It wasn’t the workout routine that bothered us. In fact, it was a pretty easy routine to follow. It was the early mornings that bothered us most. We tried going to bed early, but staying up late was a hard habit to break. After a half hour in the weight lifting room, we showered and were ready for class. Class dragged for the first few hours as we struggled to stay awake, but the rest of the day went by quickly once we started thinking about after school. We were excited for our first day of practice.

  Finally, it was here. We put on our practice jerseys for the first time and really felt like part of the team. We walked onto the practice field with pride as we were feeling like part of a strong tradition. Practice started off with a few minutes of exercising. Some of the drills we did were similar to the drills we completed with the coach the previous day. The drills, however, were slightly easier the second time. I thought it might be due to the morning of weight lifting, but I’m pretty sure it was just adrenaline.

  After stretching, exercising, and speed drills, we were broken up into small groups. Mike was put into a group of runners. They called those guys running backs. All they did was hold onto the football and run as hard, and as fast, as they could. My group was made of blockers and tacklers. This group was a little unique because it was broken into two separate sub-groups, yet we all had the same coach. One group, the offensive linemen, played when our team had the ball. Their goal was to make sure our quarterback didn’t get tackled while trying to throw the ball. The other group, the defensive linemen, played when our opponent had the ball. Their goal was to tackle the guy with the ball; usually the running back or quarterback.

  There were 12 guys total in our group. A starting offensive line consisted of five players, while a starting defensive line generally consisted of four, for a total of 9 starters. That meant that at the very least, I would be one of three backup players; which in turn meant more playing time for me than I expected. The line coach quickly corrected my assumption by reminding our group that some of us would be starting on both the offensive and defensive line. I now understood the importance of being in such good shape. Not only did we have to be strong enough to tackle or block, and fast enough to catch the guy with the ball, but we also had to be able to play long periods of time with very few breaks.

  We spent about two hours working on plays that day. The plays were pretty easy for us to remember because our roles pretty much remained consistent for every play; there were just a couple of trick plays that we had to remember. Otherwise, once the ball was snapped, the offensive linemen stood and blocked the defensive linemen, while making room for the running back. The defensive linemen had to run through the offensive linemen in an effort to tackle the guy with the ball. The logistics seemed easy enough, but again, the struggle was keeping up with everyone else while only taking limited breaks.

  Mike didn’t have it as easy as I did. I thought the simple concept was to run every time he had the ball. What I didn’t realize was the amount of plays he would have to memorize. There were almost 50 plays involving the running back position. Sometimes they ran left, sometimes they ran right, sometimes they ran up the middle, and sometimes they didn’t run at all. A major challenge for him was that each play was assigned a numeric code. Rather than the coach telling each player what they had to do, the coach would give signals to the quarterback, who would then say something silly to the offense like “34 iso”. Due to the intense memorization required to know what each numeric code meant, Mike was forced to divide our designated studying time between doing homework, studying for exams, and now, memorizing plays.

  Chapter 8

  The next day seemed very similar to the one before. We were able to fall asleep early the night before because of the long day, which made us more refreshed when we woke up at dawn. That time, we were able to lift a little more weight and run a little longer. After struggling through class, we made it to our second practice. Practice was a little different the second time.

  I was taught in practice the previous day how to block and how to tackle. With my large size, blocking was easy. With a little more strength, I felt my blocking could be the best on the team. As a defender, I didn’t get a chance to deliver my first tackle. Instead, we continued working on getting past the offensive line, which was where being a big guy helped. Waiting for the snap was another issue, though. As I mentioned earlier, our simple job was to block or tackle as soon as the ball was snapped. The hard part for me was patiently waiting for the ball to be snapped.

  As linemen on either side of the football, we were unable to move until the ball was snapped. But with all the excitement and adrenaline going on, I found it hard to wait patiently. That was
clearly my biggest struggle and was addressed promptly. The line coach figured out a great way to help me. Every time I jumped early, our entire group would have to do push-ups. As much as I hated push-ups, I hated letting down the group even more. It didn’t take long for me to break that ugly habit.

  Mike had an ugly habit to break of his own. While we were working on our drills, we all stopped suddenly when we heard a loud pop. Looking around, we saw a coach yelling at Mike with a football laying his feet. He later told me that as he was running a drill, the running backs coach calmly walked up to him and was able to punch the ball out of his hand. As fast as he was, Mike struggled to hold onto the ball. He wasn’t used to carrying things while he ran, so he simply wasn’t paying attention to the ball. The coach made it very clear that even though he was the fastest player on the team, he was a liability if he couldn’t hold onto the ball. That meant that until he could learn to hold onto the ball better, he wouldn’t be able to play during the games.

  His bad habit was corrected the same way mine was. He was also worried about letting the team down but his biggest motivator was being able to play in the games. There were four other guys trying out for the starting running back position. With that much competition, he would have to be nearly perfect to stand out. We were already informed that we wouldn’t be able to start in the game coming up, so we both made it our goal to stand out and become starters the following game.

  Chapter 9

  As the weeks progressed, we eventually noticed that our Monday and Tuesday practices were days dedicated to working in our small groups, allowing us to work on drills and correct mistakes from the previous week’s game. Wednesdays were dedicated to big group days, so we could work on our plays as a team, while preparing to defend against our opponent’s plays. Thursday was a light day dedicated to special teams. On those days, we didn’t wear pads or make serious contact because the coaches didn’t want anyone getting injured the day before the game. Obviously, Friday was the big game day.

  My big moment finally came when we got into our big group on Wednesday during our first week of practice. After our first water break, we were told by the coach that we would be put into game situations. Our starting offense would run their normal plays, while our second-string defense would run the plays used by our opponent’s defense. Our second-string offense would then run the plays of our opponent’s offense, while our first-string defense tried to defend against those new plays. The best part was that we were allowed to go full contact. That meant I would get my first chance to hit someone. Even though I would be pretending to be a defender from the other team, the tackle would not be a pretend hit.

  When one of the defensive linemen on the second-string team was asked to come out, I was told to go in and take his place. I was positioned at the end of the defensive line, known as a defensive end. Our defensive captain told us that we would be defending a running play. My job was to stand across from the offensive tackle. As soon as the ball was snapped, and not a moment before, I would have to get around the tackle and hit the guy holding the ball. I must not have been taken very seriously because they decided to execute the play on my side of the line. The running back must not have taken me very seriously either, because after I crashed through the offensive lineman, he looked very surprised to see me.

  There was no one between the two of us. Even though the entire moment took seconds, it felt like minutes. I can still remember every detail. I was well trained in waiting for the ball to snap. Once the ball was exchanged between the center and the quarterback, I wasted no time in introducing myself to the tackle across from me. I was so excited to hit someone that I put both arms out in front of me and pushed with all my body weight. The force was strong enough to knock him to the ground. But I knew I didn’t have time to celebrate; that offensive tackle wasn’t the end goal but rather a road bump, both physically and metaphorically. I was on the road to hitting the running back. After clearing the tackle, the running back was next. I suddenly had tunnel vision and locked my focus on the ball carrier.

  He looked straight at me as if I was a speeding train and he was the damsel tied to the train tracks. Within seconds, my body engulfed his as I put my arms around him and kept driving. It was like an out of body experience. I had never been that fast, or that strong, in my life. I had no idea where it came from, but I liked it. All of a sudden the runner was in the air. I felt like a kid holding onto a stuffed animal. Then, in one big move, we both hit the ground. All three of us hit hard; me, him, and the ball. I wasn’t sure if they were cheering for my hit, or the touchdown that was ran in by my defense after the ball was knocked free, but I couldn’t wait to do it again.

  Chapter 10

  My first game day would be another day never I would never forget. We took the day off from lifting because the coach didn’t want us to risk injuries. As part of the team, we were able to wear our game jerseys to school so that we could show them off during class. We wore those aqua jerseys with pride. We were in an elite group that would soon be on display for the entire community to watch.

  After school, we had some free time. We all went off as a team to eat before the game. A couple of hours before game time, we met in the locker room to get dressed for the game. The locker room was full of excitement as the team prepared for the first game of the season. Finally, the coach was ready to show us off.

  We huddled up around the exit of the locker room. It felt like we were in a movie theatre during a fire alarm and the theatre only had one door. As we were getting ready to burst out of the locker room, Mike and I took one final look at each other and smiled. We joined the crowd of football players as we all made our way onto the field. The stadium wasn’t as full as it could’ve been, but the atmosphere was definitely exciting. I could hear the program vendor trying to sell his merchandise, I could smell the fresh popped popcorn, and I could see the stadium lights being used for the first time that season.

  After going through some quick drills, we went back into the locker room. The coach gave us a locker room speech similar to those seen in inspirational sports movies. After the speech, my game day nerves were replaced by chills of excitement. Again, we were escorted out of the locker room. That time, however, we stopped just short of the field. Once stopped, I was able to soak in the atmosphere. Suddenly, the stadium seemed packed. We felt like gladiators walking into an arena, prepared for battle.

  The crowd was quiet and the sun was shining bright behind the press box. In front of us, two rows of cheerleaders made a human tunnel for us. At the end of the tunnel was a large banner facing the home crowd, held up by more cheerleaders. After we heard “And now your EAST WHITAKER HORNETS” broadcasted over the loud speaker system, we ran towards the home crowd, through the cheerleader tunnel, and crashed through the banner. The crowd erupted.

  Once everything calmed down, it was time for kickoff. That was the first time the two of us had ever watched a live football game in person; we were used to watching the games from our homes. Now, suddenly, we were watching a live game from the sidelines of the field. For 55 minutes we were part of the home crowd; for the last five minutes, we were part of the team.

  We were up by 35 points. Because we had the game in hand, our coach was going to allow Mike and I to play. Mike went out there first. His job was to catch the ball after their punter kicked it. After catching the ball perfectly, he was gone. No one could touch him. Our guys couldn’t even keep up to block for him. The entire crowd stood and cheered as he crossed the goal line. The band played the fight song. The coach was so excited that he threw his hat on the ground. When Mike came back to the sideline, the coach told him to be ready for the following week.

  Once the other team got the ball back, it was my turn. I don’t remember what the play was, but I remember my job was to tackle the ball carrier. It happened just like it happened in practice: I went through the offensive tackle like a freight train, I got tunnel vision, and I ran to the guy with the ball. Believe it or not, I hit their
quarterback harder than I hit my teammate in practice. In fact, I hit him so hard that it took him a few minutes to get back up and the starting quarterback had to come back into the game to play for him.

  I heard the crowd cheering for me. I felt the high fives from my proud teammates. I didn’t know what to do next. In practice, after my hit, my team got the ball back. That time, however, the other team still had the ball and we were still on defense. I heard our defensive leader yell for me to join the huddle. We were preparing for a running play. I went back to the line and again exploded once the ball was snapped. That time, the running back ran away from me and I was unable to catch up to him before he was tackled by one of my teammates. I liked it better when I got to tackle someone; I wanted more plays like that.

  Chapter 11

  We finally had a chance to enjoy a weekend. Of course, there had always been weekends before, but we never had a chance to truly appreciate them for what they were. After four days of practices, three days of working out, and one game, we had two days off to ourselves where we could relax - and relax we did. We slept until noon and didn’t do much after that. Our days of partying all weekend seemed to be on hold during the season.

  After the restful weekend, it was back to the weekly routine. In our small group sessions, we were able to talk about specifics of the previous game. The line coach spent his entire weekend reviewing game footage and analyzed what we could do to get better. We spent the whole day working on not moving until the ball was snapped. Although that seemed like my biggest problem during practice the previous week, it apparently was a common problem for the rest of the guys too, especially during the previous week’s game.