In sixth grade I played for the Buccaneers, and in this league you have to be a certain weight to be able to run the ball. So I had to lose weight. I lost the weight but my coach said I still can’t run the ball because these other kids are the important players and you don’t deserve it. I was going to quit but I stuck with it and then last game, I finally got my chance.

Over the first few games I got to be on the line but I never held the ball. My parents complained to the coaches and he didn’t listen so I was about to quit but my friends did not want me to quit the team because I was still a good player. I played the middle linebacker and had about 4 tackles a game so, I was doing pretty good. The third game we were 0-2 going into the game and we ran the ball with the other kid every time. So I just blocked but when it came to defense it was time to hit somebody. So I got a few tackles but then it was 4 and 2 and they were going for it. The coach blitzed me and I smoked the full back for a 2 yard loss. But we were still down by 7. We ended up losing that game but I got 9 tackles and 3 for a loss it was my best defensive game yet.

Then second to last game of the season came around and we were still 0-4 but I had my best defensive season I have ever had I was getting more than 4 to 5 tackles a game. This game I recovered a fumble and an interception for a 30 yard run. But we ended up getting stuffed on the run and the pass all game with three fumbles and 4 interceptions we got beat 28 to 7. So we were going into our last game with no wins all season and we were versing the best team in the league……. ADEL

I wasn’t very excited but we actually had a chance we went into half tied 6 to 6 and we were smoking them on defense. I already had 5 tackles and 2 for a loss. So I was doing pretty good but I still never ran the ball. There was about two minutes left in the game and it was still the same score. We had the ball on our own 20 so we had 80 yards to go. We wasted a minute trying to pass but that didn’t work out we only got 8 yards. It was 3rd and 2 and we needed a first. But our HB was hurt so coach finally let me run it. I knew we needed the first or else we would tie. So right as he said hike I took the ball and just ran my heart out. I broke tackle after tackle trying to get some yards and finally I was in the clear I ran a 72 yard touchdown with four broken tackles and 37 seconds left. I looked over to my coach and his jaw dropped. I started cracking up during the kickoff. It took him awhile to find out what just happened and he finally said sorry to me.

So the moral to the story is don’t give up because somebody looks down on you. Keep your head high and keep pushing because someday you will get your chance.