Caylin Schneider On my Way to Practice We ran into the locker room with our backpacks and began to change. I threw off my clothes and put on a jenison football t shirt and my black softball pants and green softball socks. We had to hurry because we got out of class late. The other day Coach Cole said “You better not be late to practice or we’ll run suicides. We did awful at our game and we have skill work we need to improve on today.” None of us liked running so we were trying to be speedy but we knew we were pressed for time. As soon as we got dressed we got our softball bags are raced down the hallway and sprinted to the parking lot. When we got there Sadie exclaimed “WHERE DID I PARK MY CAR” the one day we are pressed for time she doesn't
We got changed in the locker room, listening to music that would get our adrenaline pumping. The game started with a tip-off with us getting the ball and scoring on the first play, but so did the other team. The game was very close. We would score, they would score. No one ever got ahead by more than four points. At the end of the second quarter with ten seconds left, it was their ball and we were down by two. They did a nice play and a girl got a wide open three pointer. Then the buzzer went off and we all looked at our fuming coach and knew what was about to come at half time. You know that scene in the movie, “42” about Jackie Robinson, where the other teams coach is yelling at him saying rude things? And then there’s the heartbreakingly beautiful scene where Jackie goes into the dugout and breaks his bat and screams and cries. That’s what our halftime was like. The coach yelling and us wanting to scream and cry, but still we had determination to win this game. We came back out ready to play and immediately tied it back it up. The game kept going back and forth, until the fourth quarter with a minute left and us up by four. The other teams coach called a timeout and our coach gave us a speech about if we wanted to win, we needed teamwork. Teamwork just like Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. We came back out and held the game at four points until the buzzer went
The past two year we won the first two games in a dogfight and then destroyed Saginaw High in the district championship. On the week of the game, practices are a vale of tears . Twenty brutal suicides before practice, morning and evening practices. One thing that he knows, is that Saginaw high always out toughing us with fake toughness. So top it off Coach Mcmath, brings back his championship team from 2006 to scrimmage us the whole week before the big game. These are grown man with buffy, barrel-chested, some are slightly built and some are strapping. He believes the long, sweaty and abusive practices is the cause of our success, because we always have the 5 star players but just lack of toughness when it comes to this game. The best part about practices the week of the game is the gear we receive. Coach calls us in his offices one by one, it smells nice and fresh. The cold air hits your face. You take a look around.That’s when you see them! All the random shoes and gear. “It’s the pair of new shoes we’ll be wear for this game and get some socks from the box” he’ll say. Once you approach them, and take a look at them you know it's
Summer, a season where many are free to do whatever they please and not have a worry in the world. This is not the case, however, for a high school football player such as myself; for classes being released marks the start of another season, not summer, but football season. It was a hot day on Mount Diablo High’s football field; I could already feel sweat dripping down as I stood there in my armor. Players were separated between two categories: Skills players and the Linemen. The coaches came and said we had to do hitting drills to start of practice. So the linemen, Erik, D’antae, Xavier, Charlie, Jarreck, Anthony, Josh, and I, created a circle and waited to see who the coaches would call out first. To my surprise, there was someone in the
Meanwhile after I get done getting dressed, I bolted down the stairs and grab a gatorade for my practice. In addition, I went back up the stairs to get in the car and drove of. As a result, we get to Waubonsee Community College where my practice is. As we line up all our bat bags we huddle up as a team and our coach tells our whole team “We have two days until our last game of the season, so we need make this practice count!” he
It was my sophomore year, and the day had come to find out who made the varsity lacrosse team. We piled into the locker room to discover rows of brand new helmets. The list of the varsity players was written on the whiteboard. The team was excited, the locker room buzzing with noise. My heart dropped as I realized that my name wasn’t written there. My friends were admiring their new helmets and I had to hold back tears and disappointment. I know now that I still had to be developed at the junior varsity level, but it wasn’t easy to understand back then. At practice that day, I played out of pure spite, every move filled with rage. You aren’t good enough, I thought. I left practice that day without saying goodbye to my friends.
The next seven minutes could determine what my 7th grade year will look like. 11 other girls, competing for seven spots on the JAJH Cheer Team. My hands were shaking, and I was so nervous inside. What if I don’t make it? What if I make myself look like a complete fool? Falling on my face, tripping, doing the wrong cheer, all of these factors were racing through my mind. But I had to plaster that smile on my face, black shorts, white shirt, bow, tennis shoes, I was ready. Routines rushing through my head, one after the other, over and over. Five, six, seven, eight, one… Three days of practicing and learning the material for those next seven minutes.
I was going to go! I promised myself, and my coach, that I would! I was really sweating, my face was seriously turning red, like I was eating a fireball! All of my teammates and coaches were all staring at me. I was so terrified and I felt like I was in the ocean with sharks surrounding me and going to eat me any second! “OK, this is silly” I told myself. ‘I 'm going for it!” I started to run in very slow motion and sped up, I started putting my hands on the ground and I could just see eyes staring right at me! I began to put my hands back, well they were touching the other side of my body, well very quickly lifting my body up from the ground and…… Finishing!! I could already see my friends coming to me and putting their hands out so give me a REAL BIG HIGH FIVE! Well my coaches were coming right after them! I seriously jumped up and down with the most excitement I’ve ever had! I was trying to get that for years I felt like! And guess what? I did it! Gladly,that was the last rotation before we got to go home! I was so thrilled to tell my mom
Tryouts ended the day before and now we were waiting in line for cuts to see if we made the field hockey team.We were waiting in the halls of the school as each person went into a classroom one by one to see if we made it.
It was a brisk fall evening, and my seventh grade youth football team and I had traveled to Aberdeen to play the undefeated Chiefs. We had worked harder and longer than we ever had that week to show that we were a threat in the league and ascend from our third place ranking. We knew it was not going to be easy; the Chiefs’ team had the fastest running back in our division, and they had scored more total points per game than any other team in the Southeast Idaho Youth Football League. The field was neater and greener than we had expected in this town. It was a great day for football, and I was with all of my best friends. I knew going in that it was going to be a learning experience whether we won or lost that night because the Chiefs were
Again, tryouts came for the next greuling school year. The only difference from last year, I was prepared. I knew the cheers, I knew the feeling of standing in front of crowd so ecstatic from a winning game and I knew the feeling of a crowd sitting at a loss for words in the face of defeat. I knew my goal and I was absolutely determined to reach it. I could only be described as a lioness on the prowl and the Varsity squad was my prey. Just as anxious as the year before, though this time with a hint of confidence, I made my tryout a culmination of completely everything I had learned from my wildly experienced past. That night, I reached my ultimate goal and earned the prized name of Varsity cheerleader. The next day I practically walked around with an enormous V on my forehead, honored by the position. With all this positivity, I knew there was something to come. That same summer, I hadn’t received a lucky chance to become even a contender in the
We walked together to the field, the spikes on the bottom of my cleats clicking with each step on the parking lot pavement. A huge field with onlookers filling the bleachers on the far side came into view, lit up by the soft evening light. I spotted the girls on my team and my tired looking grey-haired coach. Me and my dad split up, me going to warm up with my team and my dad going to sit with the team parents. As I was passing with my teammates I watched the opposing team carefully. I observed how neat their drills were and how accurate their shots and passes were. They all looked so athletic and that really made me doubt myself. How was I supposed to prove to everyone that I was a good player if I had to play against a team this good? What if I mess up and the other team completely destroys my team? The loud buzzer that ended the warm ups sounded and both teams went to their side of the field. My coach called today’s starters out, and luckily he didn’t choose me. Relieved, I went to go sit on one of the hard metal chairs they provided for the teams on the sidelines. The chairs were uncomfortable but that didn’t bother me. I had other things on my mind. I sat shivering watching the events of the game
A year later, I was accepted into varsity. At first, it was nerve-wracking because I didn’t know anyone. I started to work hard every single day because I knew that I had to practice harder than most people. If I don't, the team would be curious on why I was even accepted. On the first week of practice, it was called hell week. At first, I didn't think that it would be anything hard. On the first day of practice, we had to get to the gym at 5 AM until 8 AM and 13 out of 18 people went. We were conditioning the
I ran upstairs as fast as I could, panting and wheezing the entire way. Once I reached our locker room, I did not hesitate. I jumped into the shower. The freezing water made me recoil as it touched my skin. I rushed through my daily shower routine. When finished, I tied my damp, tangled hair up in the warm, soft towel. The second I walked into the locker room, I got a multitude of sweet,
I didn’t have a summer because I was always in the gym or working out. No one could tell me that I wasn’t going to be better. I can still remember it like it was yesterday, sitting in volleyball practice the first couple of days. It was the last day of the week and coach was handing out uniforms. She started off with the varsity team; she started calling names of the girls who was going to be on the varsity team. On that list guess who's name was on there, mine, and guess whose wasn’t, those girls that was always better than I was. I was a three-year varsity letterman through out high school.
One rainy night in November, I arrived to the church gym for my first basketball practice of the season. As I walked in the doors creaked and you could smell the gym floor. As I already heard the basketballs hitting the ground, bouncing up and down. My friends Brittany and Destiny walked in right behind me through the door. That was when we realized we were the only girls surrounded by all guys. As practice came to a start we began to run, it felt like we were never going to stop. Up and down the court as we ran suicides, you could hear the squeaking of shoes as we went from the next line back and then on to the next. Before we started scrimmaging, the two captains were boys. Brittany, Destiny, and I stood in amazement as we were the last three standing there. You could see by their expressions they didn’t want any of us on either team.