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By Andrey Soldatov

On a rainy Friday in November, I arrived on the Brooklyn Cyclones field, were the annual tryouts for the Coney Island 14-18 Football team took place... Nervous and scared I made my way out to the middle of the field, were coach Lawrence was talking to everyone who that day showed up. I remember like it was yesterday, how everyone was cold, and kept sliding on the wet turf. Everyone was split in 2 teams, and as the whistle blew, everyone got the chance to prove who they really were.
    A week has passed, and I received a message on my phone from coach Lawrence, to come talk to him next Friday on team practice. Happiness and adrenaline rushed through me, and the anticipation couldn’t be held in. A week later, I showed up in practice were coach told me to wait for him by the door. There were about 7 other kids who looked even more frightened than I was, and we all watched the team practice .At first the team seemed lazy and unorganized, but when the coach came over there everyone got serious.
     After about 10 minutes the team started doing drills and coach came over to us. He looked very mean and I was more scared of him, than on how I was going to do. He told everyone to go to the huddle with their positions, and I made my way to were the Quarterback’s were throwing the football to each other.
      After about 20 minutes of warming up, everyone was again split in 2 teams. I did not start and had to relief the currently playing Quarterback who got sacked real hard, and made me have second thoughts about this whole thing. I made my way to the field and now had another challenge in front of me. Everyone on my team was at least a foot taller then me, and looked much older. However no one acted foolish, and everyone listened to every play I told them. As the game went on I realized that I have to impress the coach and only later found out that it was a bad idea. After running a QB sneak, I got hit by one of the linemen and went down in pain. Even though it hurt bad, I got right back up and kept on playing.
      From that point on I was with the team, showing up on almost every practice and game. Now it was much easier, since I knew everyone on the team. A year passed and the star player graduated High School, and went on to play ball in college. With the starting spot empty, I got my first start in a play off game. In the play offs, it was a much different atmosphere and practices became longer and harder. My main priority became football, and I didn’t think that school was so important. The team finished with a 10-8
record losing in the second round of the playoffs.
      Looking back I have many memories that make me regret many decisions I have made. Looking back I know see how right the coach was when he told me to skip practice and stay in school, but I didn’t listen. Even now when I asked him what he thought when he first saw me he only laughs." When you first came to try outs, I really thought you were there to support someone" says Coach Lawrence, with a big smile on his face. “Didn’t really look like a person who would play football, at least not on this level." The thrill of a thing that is important to you can overwhelm you, making you no longer understand your priorities. The most important thing is to know what it is, that is most important to you, and only after think about what to do for fun.