I had a weird dream last night.
I was a reserve for the Belmont men’s soccer team and we were playing a road team. I remember us even getting new red road uniforms. As with all dreams, the information is murky because you can’t remember. I do remember speaking with somebody about being a defensive stopper and being able to mark the best offensive player and flashing back to a good game I had.
I bring this up because I think Wiley or L. Simmons asked me last night at the A-Sun awards banquet if I played sports in high school. I played some football, basketball and baseball. Unfortunately, I never played soccer because I wasn’t good and our high school team was excellent. On every one of those teams, I was a back-up because I wasn’t a good athlete. However, I always played hard, smart, knew where I should be and even served as a captain of some of the teams because of my leadership skills.
Being at the Tournament here has made me remember those days when I was a player. It’s been such a long time since I played on an organized team but those were some of the most fun times of my life.
The upperclassmen of the team, Diaz, Manning, BK and Josh made a video spoof of their teammates and we all saw it last night. It was so funny because a lot of the stuff they were making fun of was inside jokes that unless you were with the team a lot, you wouldn’t get. I was fortunate to get all of the jokes because I hang around these guys for so long.
That’s the thing that retired athletes always say they miss about the game. It’s not the playing, the money, the perks of fame; it’s the comradely they have with their teammates.
It’s just hanging out in a hotel room for three hours without even thinking about it. It’s about just walking to the gas station across the street on the road to have a five-minute chat with someone. It’s about going to the same Cracker Barrel or Golden Corral on road trips and knowing what guys are going to order before the waiter even gets there. It’s about the predictability of how guys are going to react when a cute girl walks by. It’s about watching the game from the press box and predicting what play the coach is going to call.
The baseball team’s season will eventually end and some will graduate, transfer or even leave the program completely. New guys will come in and make their contributions to the team. However, the makeup of this team and the dynamics they have will never be the same and they will never all be at the same place at the same time again.
It’s like my RA staff from only a few years ago back at Vandy. We were a tight group and some of us still keep in touch, but now we’re in graduate schools across the country, some are still in Nashville and some have even started families. The same people that I would go on beer runs with and just chat with for hours at a time in a dorm room are now getting married and having babies. It’s the progression of life and for that, I’m happy. But once in a while, I think back to those days and smile.
I’ll do the same with this team just like I do with my old high-school teams. However, hopefully I can dream of being a better player than a reserve. Even in my own dreams, I can’t be a superstar. However, if I was an all-star in my dreams, that wouldn’t be the same as what happened in my real life and being a reserve made me realize the importance of everyone’s contributions to a goal.
Being a backup and still being a leader on the team made me the determined man that I am today and for that, I’m grateful.
I was a reserve for the Belmont men’s soccer team and we were playing a road team. I remember us even getting new red road uniforms. As with all dreams, the information is murky because you can’t remember. I do remember speaking with somebody about being a defensive stopper and being able to mark the best offensive player and flashing back to a good game I had.
I bring this up because I think Wiley or L. Simmons asked me last night at the A-Sun awards banquet if I played sports in high school. I played some football, basketball and baseball. Unfortunately, I never played soccer because I wasn’t good and our high school team was excellent. On every one of those teams, I was a back-up because I wasn’t a good athlete. However, I always played hard, smart, knew where I should be and even served as a captain of some of the teams because of my leadership skills.
Being at the Tournament here has made me remember those days when I was a player. It’s been such a long time since I played on an organized team but those were some of the most fun times of my life.
The upperclassmen of the team, Diaz, Manning, BK and Josh made a video spoof of their teammates and we all saw it last night. It was so funny because a lot of the stuff they were making fun of was inside jokes that unless you were with the team a lot, you wouldn’t get. I was fortunate to get all of the jokes because I hang around these guys for so long.
That’s the thing that retired athletes always say they miss about the game. It’s not the playing, the money, the perks of fame; it’s the comradely they have with their teammates.
It’s just hanging out in a hotel room for three hours without even thinking about it. It’s about just walking to the gas station across the street on the road to have a five-minute chat with someone. It’s about going to the same Cracker Barrel or Golden Corral on road trips and knowing what guys are going to order before the waiter even gets there. It’s about the predictability of how guys are going to react when a cute girl walks by. It’s about watching the game from the press box and predicting what play the coach is going to call.
The baseball team’s season will eventually end and some will graduate, transfer or even leave the program completely. New guys will come in and make their contributions to the team. However, the makeup of this team and the dynamics they have will never be the same and they will never all be at the same place at the same time again.
It’s like my RA staff from only a few years ago back at Vandy. We were a tight group and some of us still keep in touch, but now we’re in graduate schools across the country, some are still in Nashville and some have even started families. The same people that I would go on beer runs with and just chat with for hours at a time in a dorm room are now getting married and having babies. It’s the progression of life and for that, I’m happy. But once in a while, I think back to those days and smile.
I’ll do the same with this team just like I do with my old high-school teams. However, hopefully I can dream of being a better player than a reserve. Even in my own dreams, I can’t be a superstar. However, if I was an all-star in my dreams, that wouldn’t be the same as what happened in my real life and being a reserve made me realize the importance of everyone’s contributions to a goal.
Being a backup and still being a leader on the team made me the determined man that I am today and for that, I’m grateful.
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