How an act of sportsmanship made a difference in my life? When
I was six years old I really wanted to play football for the Pop Warner Program
but I was too young. My dad was a coach, my mom volunteered and my brother
played so I was always at the fields with my family. I begged and begged to
play and finally after a week into the practices the youngest teams coach came
over to me and said he wanted to talk to me. I sat down with him and he asked
me to practice with them all season long, I may not have been eligible to play
in games but that did not matter to me. I worked very hard and the kids were up
to three years older then me and they all supported me and I really began to
look up to them today. The coach as well as the players made me fit in like I was
a normal player, and to this day as a sophomore in high school, I still look up
to them and remember all of the goof times I had when I was just six years old.
I was pretty big for my grade and I always struggled to make weight so I always
had to play up with the older kids and playing with them at such a young age
allowed me to feel very comfortable with them and I did not feel as bad about
not being able to play with my grade.
Now,
this year when I started my sophomore year of high school I decided to get in
to coaching. I started coaching seventh grade boys Metro West basketball
because I felt like I needed to give back to the community. I loved it, and
enjoyed every minute of it and since I learned the lesson to include everyone at
a young age I try to incorporate it into my coaching styles. If the boys have younger
siblings at the practice I try and include them into some type of fun drills at
some point during the practice. It makes my day to see the smile on their faces
to play with their older brothers and it makes them feel special. Learning this
lesson of sportsmanship by my coach at the age of six it affected my life in a
huge way and it really made a difference in my life.
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