"Get up, get up you have school
today," my mother blurted out, as I fell out of bed. I stood up and waddled to the bathroom. Looking into the mirror I smiled to myself; I
knew today was going to be just fine. My
family and I had just moved from Guatemala, and today was to be my first day at
Bel Air Elementary School. I usually
don't get worried about these situations, since I've been through the routine
before, besides I tend to make friends pretty easily. Why would today be any different, I told
myself.
I finished brushing my teeth and splashing
my face, then continued to get dressed.
I threw on some Bugle Boy caches, a Polo shirt, and some Nikes. After giving up on my hair; I ran into the
kitchen and snatched my lunch box off the counter. Soon I was out the door and on to face my
first day at my new school.
After defeating the labyrinth of streets
that we call our neighborhood, and meeting my first crossing guard; I made my
way into the school. It was quite crowded
, but I knew where I was headed. I
proceeded up the stairs and down the hall to room 212, where I sat down in the
front row. I turned around and took a
quick peak at the class; scanning the room for someone to talk to. When I saw no opportunities I began to get a
bit timid, but as soon as the bell rang I felt all right.
We went through the motions for awhile:
filling out paper work, introducing ourselves, all the first day stuff. I heard a few kids say they were new to the
area, of which Brian Vedder was the only boy.
He wasn't much to look at, not a soap opera star, or a great athlete,
just a regular kid. Nonetheless I
thought I'd like to meet him and talk to him later on in the day.
By this time we
all were becoming restless, and I definitely knew why. Everyone was waiting for recess, the time
when kids get to have fun and let it all hang out. After all we didn't have class all summer,
and keeping our butts in those chairs for so long was beginning to hurt.
Lunch rolled around and we knew what that
meant; recess was next. The bell rang
and everyone ran outside, bursting onto the playground like a swarm of locusts
attacking crops. I saw many games going
on: dodgeball, soccer, jump roping, and many others. It seemed all right, but it wasn't what I
expected. I couldn't believe that no one
was playing football. Even in Guatemala
we played football; I wondered what I could do.
That day when I came home from school, I
searched through our "bucket of balls" for my football. Yes, I found it, my black and yellow, mini
Steelers ball. I began to think how I
could integrate football into the lives of the kids. The first thing that popped into my mind was
Brian Vedder who I had met earlier that day; he knew a few of the soccer
players and he might be able to get them to play football. The next person I could count on was Melvin
Jackson. I met Melvin while in math
class, he was new to the school too, and he was dying to play football
too. With these two I could at least
throw the ball around, and hope for others to join in.
The next morning I awoke to the same
routine as usual. I put on some clothes
and belted out the door a little earlier than usual. When I got to school I hid my ball in my
backpack until I could stuff it into my cubby hole. Then I looked for Melvin, he was across the
hall in Mrs. Symms class where I had math class. I went up to him and asked him if he'd play
football with me at recess. He told me
he would love to and even told his friend Sean Gravely about it. Well at least now I didn't have to ask for
Brian's help.
Recess came again that day as it had
before, but Melvin, Sean, and I had a little agenda to take care of. We strolled out onto the playground, and
across the asphalt to the field where the soccer guys played. Melvin began to run, and I unleashed the ball
from my hand. It floated through the air
in a perfect spiral until it landed down on his fingertips. At once we had spectators. Boom! Sean punted the ball, and it skied
forward. More and more kids watched, as
if wondering what was going on. Kofi,
the biggest guy in school, and popular soccer player called for the ball. I launched one over to him and he smiled. "Lets get a game together guys," he
said in eager anticipation. We agreed,
but I wasn't done, I wanted everyone to have a chance to take part in Bel Air's
first football game. I scurried back to
the playground, where I proceeded to ask the "nerds" if they wanted
to play to. A few surprised individuals
came with me and we set up teams.
I was the quarterback for my team, so that
I could control the game and decide who was going to get the ball, besides I
had the best arm out of everyone. Plus I
didn't want the less athletic guys to be pushed to the side and be used as
blockers. Our first play went to Melvin;
a long bomb that helped us advance up the field. My second pass was incomplete as I overthrew
my receiver. Tim dropped my third pass
and we were stuck in a jam. Melvin said
he would be open, and so did John, but I had a plan. "Hike!" My players were off,
everyone ran deep or at least father than they had to; all we needed was one
completion. That is when I did it; I
threw the ball to Kyle Kaneshiro.
"Yes!" We had a first
down and Kyle, a typical "nerd" with glasses came back to the huddle
with a huge smile. I don't think he ever
thought he'd really be getting the ball today, but I gave it to him and he came
through. The game went on, although it
was very one sided. My diverse squad,
that ranged from speedy black guys like Melvin to slower guys like Kyle had
"wrecked shop" on the opposition.
As the bell rang and the teachers called
us back into the building, Kyle came up to me and thanked me for letting him
play. He told me that he had always
wanted to participate, but had always been afraid of the "cooler"
guys. I told him that was a bunch of
crap and from that day on Kyle was on my team.
He was my secret weapon, my "third down back" who never
dropped the ball.
After leaving Bel Air Elementary that year
and moving up to Godwin Middle; we had to get used to not having recess
anymore. No more school yard football to
keep us happy, but Godwin did have a school team. I tried out and so did Melvin; we didn't play
much because the older guys where better than us. But when we got the chance as we grew up we
always looked back on what we had learned on the field at Bel Air. We used the
whole team to make ourselves better, and when push came to shove, we didn't go
with the big studs like Kofi and Sherman we went to guys like Kyle. They were the guys that really made the
difference, the ones who helped keep a team together, and the ones that made
our teams win. Thanks Kyle for making a
difference.
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