I think it’s a proven fact that everyone hates Mondays, and this Monday is going to be worse than every Monday combined. Why? Because today was the first day of football practice, I hate football. But of course, my mom is forcing me to play anyway. And when I tried to get out of it, the conversation went something like this:
“But I hate football…”
“I don’t care, you’re going to play.”
“But I don’t want to! I don’t know how!”
“Don’t talk back to me! Go to your room!”
So here I am, the day of my first practice.
The school day was just like any other, Math was boring, Science was boring, and English was okay, but only because we got let out early. Pretty soon the school day had come to an end. Now I just had football practice and a mountain of homework to look forward to.
***
My mom should not have let me pack my bag. When we arrived at the field, my mom came inside the locker room to help me get my equipment on, and when she opened my bag she looked very confused.
“Where is the equipment I bought for you?”
“What equipment?”
My mom then began frantically searching my bag, only to find the bicycle helmet and shin guards I had packed. I thought that was my ticket out of there but my mom just borrowed some gear from another guy and sent me onto the field.
I guess they just expected us to know how to play because the coach started by making us play an actual football game. I still don’t know how to throw the ball!
When the coach yelled for everyone to get into position all the players immediately got into their positions while I just stood in the center of the field confused.
“Did you not hear me? I said, GET INTO POSITION!” The coach’s voice was loud, very loud.
“Umm… I’m sorry sir but I don’t know where to go. It’s my first time playing.”
The coach gave me a confused look and then spent the rest of the hour-long practice teaching me everything from how to throw the ball to how to tackle an opponent, while the other kids played an actual game.
Once the practice was finally over I felt like I hadn’t learned a single thing except for the fact that I was terrible at football, which I already knew. When my mom came to pick me up she asked me about practice and I told her the truth, it was horrible. Even though I hated it my mom still forced me to finish the season because she paid a lot of money for the practices. To be honest, after a while, the practices weren’t actually that bad. I was kind of starting to get the hang of it. Then came the actual games.
I had only been going to practices twice a week for a month and I already had to play an actual game! I wasn’t ready. But of course, coach was making me go anyway.

***

On our way to the game, my heart was pounding, and my palms were getting sweaty. My mom definitely noticed because she told me to take deep breaths and that I was going to do great, yeah right. Pretty soon we arrived at the stadium. My mom grabbed my bag filled with actual football gear from the trunk and began walking toward the locker room. I reluctantly followed. Once I was done getting ready I joined my teammates on the field we all gathered together for a team huddle. The coach spoke a few “motivational” words and then sent us off.
The game started off fine, I threw a few good throws and my teammates even scored a field goal. But then I made the biggest mistake of my life. My team had just thrown a perfect pass that I somehow managed to catch and I began to run towards the end line. I was running like my life depended on it, and it kind of did, or at least I thought so. Pretty soon I had done it, I scored a touchdown! I happily threw the ball at the ground and jumped up and down in excitement. Until I realized my teammates weren’t celebrating, they weren’t staring at me. All the players were staring at me. What did I do?
Turns out I scored a touchdown for the other team. Oops. It would be an understatement if I said my team was angry. I would be too, I cost us the game. When I looked at the coach, he looked very disappointed. I could hear the other team celebrating and laughing from behind me. This was officially the worst and most embarrassing day of my life.
The game ended with a final score of 22 to 3, and my team did not look very happy. Once the game was over I immediately ran off the field to escape the looks of disappointment and anger, but they were inescapable. My mom was waiting for me in the car with a big grin on her face.
“So, how’d it go?”
“Bad. Not just bad, terrible.”
Even after hours of begging and pleading I still had to go back to practice the next day. Luckily, after I apologized many times, my teammates forgave me and I even became friends with some of them. As I went to more and more practices I actually began to enjoy them. Slowly, I started to get better and better, until eventually I was the best on my team. I had even scored a few touchdowns. Once the season ended I made a decision, I was going to keep playing football. It would be an understatement to say that my mom was surprised that I wanted to keep playing, but she happily agreed and signed me up for the rest of the year. Sometimes it’s good to try new things.