The Glory Days
...f the same fundamentals as baseball did: catching, throwing, hitting; only the catching and throwing were done with a stick extended in your hand and the hitting was not done by a bat, but by something a little more painful…your own body. During those first few weeks of clinics, it was hard for me to even get accustom to the motions and whatnot of the game because of a broken collar bone I suffered in the previous football season. It not only hindered the movement in my body motions such as running or jogging, but the movement in my arm as well; and since the game was pretty much played with the hands and feet, the hopes of me learning the aspects of the game quickly were some what shot. After a few weeks of physical therapy, my shoulder began to gain back most of its strength. Shortly after the quick recovery, my friends began by helping me learn the basics and fundamentals of being a very skilled lacrosse player. It didn’t come to me right away; it took a few weeks of practice before I came accustom to the game, but when I did, it felt like second nature to me. I began to grow a passion for the sport, and it seemed like the stick never left my side. I was there before and after practice throwing and shooting by myself, only with hopes of becoming a more skilled lacrosse player. Gilley 3 I was what some people would call “unusual.” and most of them did. The reason for this name-calling was that they discovered as the year went on and practices began that there was something very unusual with my style of play. Not only did people observe that I was progressing as a right-handed lacrosse player, but for some reason they came to the conclusion that I was ambidextrous. That is one who can accomplish feats not only with the right hand but the left as well. I did not find this style of play unusual for me… It just felt normal. As my confidence began to cultivate, so did my ego. There is a difference in being confident in your self and being conceited or overconfident. Of course one was acceptable and the other no one in their right mind would want to be labeled as. I had high expectations for myself for the upcoming season, and I tended to let those expectations I had for my self slip in an arrogant manner. I began to be put down with antagonizing remarks and verbal abuse saying I would never accomplish anything I had set for myself because I was too boastful. It almost seemed like my friends all of a sudden turned on me. It never came to my senses that all I was doing ever since I became accustom to the game was not only bragging about my skills, but telling other players, even my close friends, of how I was a better lacrosse player than they were. They were sick of it, and anyone in their right mind would have been. It was not right, and my friends and the other players let me know it too. They began by saying things such as, “Bobby, you’ll never amount to anything because you are so arrogant” or “You’ll never be rewarded anything in life with the way you act or the way you present yourself.” It hurt to be told something of that nature not only by your teammates, but your close friends as well. I never responded to their comments, just used them as a Gilley 4 motivator in a positive way trying to make the supposedly impossible, possible. I began by changing my attitude not only towards my friends and fellow teammates, but to the respected game as well. The goals I set for myself no one believed I could accomplish, but I knew I could, and so did my parents, and that was all that mattered. As the first game rolled around, I was named a starter. As the season progressed, I began to start every game. We kept winning and as I came to think of it, I would always account for at least a couple goals each game. It was my first year; I thought I was just doing my job; but as everyone else put it, I was doing that job very well. We were in the city championship game against Caddo Magnet High School and there was a minute and a half left in regulation; we were down one goal. The face off was won and scooped up by one of my best friends, Tripp...