The Best Part of the Rebuild. Part 2.
Written by Krystal Gray, Wednesday May 19 2010
Passion:
1: Any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
2: The state of being acted upon or affected by something external, esp. something alien to one's nature or one's customary behavior
3: Archaic. The sufferings of a martyr.
4: Ardent love.
"It's all about Passion - (Latin root-Passio) - willingness to suffer for the ones we love.” I read as he signed off the letter he wrote me. My brain was at that state where I needed to come to a decision. My heart was getting ready to harden or to heal as I tried to find myself in the end of the brokenness I experienced last year.
In the three month off season we had, I had been trying to decide if I was going to play football again or not. Coach Maddox’ words rang through my head as I read it again. "It's all about Passion - (Latin root-Passio) - willingness to suffer for the ones we love.”
I didn't know that day if I would play again or not but I could feel the words turning all kinds of emotions on in my heart again. "I still have this tear in my shoulder." I thought to myself. "Unless this coach is magic, what’s the point?" I was discouraged. “Haven’t I suffered enough?” I thought at him, feeling upset.
Last season Football had taken everything from me so much that it had suffocated my love for the game. I had no hope in football anymore. I had played my entire life on boys teams and last season was the hardest year I had ever had in both football and in life. My brain was ready to walk away. It’s like looking back on a fire that just burnt your house down. No one wants to see that over and over again.
I sat there and the waves of emotions and the thoughts that swirled in my brain confused me. They didn't line up. My brain had been suffocated but my heart had just been given air. "If we can help you let me know...otherwise stay strong,” he had written in his letter.
Coach was offering help from the
My thoughts continued to try and poison my heart. So I wrote back to him with my number. I needed to talk to this guy who was spinning my world upside down. I was just about to walk away from football and this coach reaches out offering hope. "Now what?" I thought as I waited for him to call. I could feel my attitude being humbled and I could feel my heart being opened.
I can’t exactly remember the conversation we had that night but it ended with a decision for me to attend the
I attended the Academy over the past weekend & all the lessons football had taught me last year were completely reaffirmed at camp, as I listened to the coaches teach the guys about football and about life. Watching the team of coaches interacting with the QBA, I was blessed to actually see what a real team and its connection is supposed to be like. I learned what real men are supposed to be like.
All the ways I let my team down last year and all the ways I have been let down surfaced as we went through the various drills, as I learned new mechanics and as my brain tried to attack my attitude all weekend. I learned that we can't do everything on our own.
Being a Quarterback isn't about doing everything on your own, it’s about doing everything to put everyone else before yourself in order that the team might benefit. The coaches didn’t just say the words, they actually lived that way.
I listened to their conversations between each other and listened to the way they talked to the other players. I was also blessed to see the way they treat women and the way it's suppose to be.
I watched the way they served each other and the football players at the camp. Coach Maddox did have magic and so did all of the other coaches that coach the Academy.
They have charm backed by integrity to do what’s right even when they don't want to. They radiate with the strength to encourage others to play again and to play harder, smarter and better than before and they work with all their might to pass these traits on to others.
Charm:
1: A power of pleasing or attracting, as through personality or beauty:
2: A verse or formula credited with magical power.
3: Any action supposed to have magical power.
4: A trait or feature imparting this power.
5: To endow with or protect by supernatural powers.
6: To act upon (someone or something) with or as with a compelling or magical force:
I will play on the Baltimore Charm this year.
I can't promise my family, the QBA, coach Maddox, the league, my team mates, my team coaches or that community and the fans that I will be the best Quarterback in the league, but I can make a promise to play on the field and in life with passion. "It's all about Passion - (Latin root-Passio) - willingness to suffer for the ones we love."
I can promise you that I will work with all my heart to serve you, to protect you from the season and the life I had last year.
I can promise that I will work whole heartedly in order that you might receive the gift I received through the example set at the QBA.
I can promise that I will remain thankful that you accept me with open arms to play another season, to train me, to coach me and to love me.
I can promise that you are important to me and at the end of it all; it’s not the football I have come to love whole heartedly. It's you and the opportunity we have to influence those around us to be a formula of magic power and to influence your life through Passion & Charm.
So from a quiet heart, thank you!
~Oh yeah and Lets go Charm!
~KG.
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2 comments
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I always enjoy reading your posts. Your honesty and openness is truly engaging. I am happy to hear that you decided to come back ... even more so that you are playing on my hometown team, the Charm. I, and Baltimore, love people like you.
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Welcome back, and good luck!