Me to Coach Dan Daniels, head coach of the 1972 Kennesaw Generals 100lb midget league football team:\u00a0 \u201cCoach, can I go in long enough to score a touchdown?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me for what seemed like a full 60 seconds in an intense, piercing way that only Coach Daniels could do.\u00a0 I mean, when he was mad he had a bark worse than a German Shepard.\u00a0 But he also had a heart of gold and loved his boys.\u00a0 Over the course of two years that I had the priviledge of playing on his football and baseball teams, he taught me a lot about the game but also about playing it the right way.<\/p>\n
We were playing the worst team in the league and I\u2019d been riding the bench the whole game.\u00a0 Coach was tough but he was also a gentleman because his game plan was to sit the starters and not run the score up on the opposing team.\u00a0 I guess they were that bad.<\/p>\n
Anyway, late in the game, I really wanted to get in because I had a\u00a0streak going where I\u2019d scored a touchdown in every game and didn\u2019t want it to end.\u00a0 I also think were coming down to the end of the season and I knew I wouldn\u2019t be playing for him anymore so that made it even more urgent.\u00a0 I was usually afraid of him so it\u2019s hard to believe I had the courage to ask him.\u00a0 In fact, most of the time he was talking to me he\u2019d have to stoop down so he could look me in the eyes because I\u2019d hang my head.\u00a0 Many times, he\u2019d\u00a0take my chin in his hand and lift it up so\u00a0I\u2019d have to look him the eyes when he was talking.\u00a0 That\u2019s how afraid I was of him most of the time.\u00a0 But under his coaching, he\u2019d ignited a competitive fire in me that\u00a0wasn\u2019t going out without a fight.<\/p>\n
So I stood there on the sideline and met his gaze, this time without hanging my head for what seemed forever.\u00a0 Seriously, you\u2019ve heard the term laser eyes before?\u00a0 He was lasering me and big time.\u00a0 I still wonder what he was thinking\u00a0because he never said anything for soooo long.\u00a0 Just stared at me like he was looking at my soul through my eyes.<\/p>\n
Finally, he answered me.\u00a0 \u201cYou can go in for one play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, the other team must have been really bad if he had to think that hard about letting me go in.<\/p>\n
So one play it was.\u00a0 It was a sweep where the quarterback pitches the ball to the running back (me) who is already running to take advantage of the momentum.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t catch it cleanly and it hit my chest, bounded off, and hit the ground in front of me.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the part you might not believe but I promise I\u2019m not making it up.\u00a0 While I was still running forward, the ball bounced off the ground and right into my hands.\u00a0 I tucked it into my shoulder and took off running.\u00a0 My blockers\u00a0took care of the defensive players and I scored keeping my streak alive!\u00a0 I trotted back to the sideline and happily assumed my position the bench, grateful that Coach let me go in.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I wonder what he thought about my question.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t simply ask to get in the game.\u00a0 I asked a very specific question.\u00a0 \u201cCan I go in long enough to score a touchdown?\u201d\u00a0 Did he think I was arrogant?\u00a0 Did he think I was obnoxious?\u00a0 Did he think I could do it?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure but I think when he was staring me down, he could<\/em> <\/strong>see into my soul.\u00a0 Did he see arrogance?\u00a0I hope not but I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 Remember, I\u2019m the kid that normally hung my head when he was talking to me.\u00a0 No, I think he saw a little kid with a dream.\u00a0 A dream big enough to overcome his shyness and be brave enough to go after it.\u00a0 Oh to have that kind of confidence and faith today.\u00a0 There\u2019s no telling what any of us could do.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your dream?\u00a0 If you\u2019re young, go for your dream with everything you have.\u00a0 If you\u2019re older you might have put your dream up on the shelf in the back of your closet.\u00a0 It might need dusting off but I believe if you\u2019re honest with yourself you\u2019ll admit the dream is still there.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t give up.\u00a0 Keep dreaming and take a step forward.\u00a0 Find someone who believes in you and will support you in attaining your dream.\u00a0 Be \u201cAll In\u201d this week!<\/p>\n Coach Dan Daniels, thank you for believing in my dream and me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Me to Coach Dan Daniels, head coach of the 1972 Kennesaw Generals 100lb midget league football team:\u00a0 \u201cCoach, can I go in long enough to score a touchdown?\u201d He looked at me for what seemed like a full 60 seconds in an intense, piercing way that only Coach Daniels could do.\u00a0 I mean, when he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-empower-network"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}