November Nights

November Nights
All of the long nights, early mornings; all of the times that it would have seemed easier to quit because things seemed too hard, now seem worthwhile. November night football games, if an observer were to walk in the locker room, they would feel almost invisible. What seemed to be a blank stare on the faces of the football players, my brothers, would seem meaningless to an outsider. Personally, I look around and I see a deadly focused group of young men, knowing that they are about to make history. The thoughts that are running through their minds are so complex, without being an athlete there is no possible way someone could understand. “Everyone has thought about quitting in their athletic career, if they haven’t, they haven’t worked hard enough”, our coach Brandon Clark used to say. Nothing could be closer to the truth. All of those four o’clock cardiovascular training sessions that seemed to be unnecessary almost overkill; now in November are looked back on as a necessity. Anyone that has played sports would have thought about just submitting and walking away, life would be so much easier if they did; but they know what it leads up to. It leads up to that moment when you are sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with teammates; ones brothers in the locker room before that big game. This is where those treacherous times have led. In Derby, the athletes not just playing for themselves, they are playing for a community. The thousands of people that packed the stands are now all counting on you, one individual to represent them. Knowing as an athlete that one has done everything in your power to represent your community well makes everything worthwhile. When looking up into the crowd, that vast wave of green that filled the stands; one can almost feel each and every one of their eyes, staring with almost what seems like a sense of hope. That is why I play the game, that is why I sacrificed for years, for that feeling that we got on those November