Slobberknocked! – at my first football practice, as a 5th grader at Coopertown Elementary School, I was lined up in “the Pit” drill vs. Lon Claney a 6th grader and he was like Troy Polamalu is for the Steelers - Lon Claney brought the pain!
5th grader/running back vs. 6th grader/defensive back…whistle…KRRAAACK!...he absolutely drilled me…slobberknocked! As I lay on the ground, gasping for any air I could suck into my heaving lungs and still clutching onto the football (at least I didn’t fumble the ball), my coach knelt down and screamed into my helmet’s earhole at me and for all the other players to hear/heed, “here’s a lesson that all football players need to know Carroll… the difference between being “hurt” ( it’s only temporary pain) & injured (no way you can continue) - which one are YOU?! Of course I couldn’t say a word because I was frantically trying to recall how to breath. My coach told me that I was ONLY hurt - lesson learned!
TD #1 - 5th grade game vs Oakmont ES; memorable play: Quick Pitch/Right; Scampered to the end zone untouched and ran “scared” the whole way – with my “slobberknocked” memory fresh in my head!
(note: I had to wear jersey #55 the whole season to honor an injured player on the 6th grade team. I had to give up my coveted #22 jersey that I wore to emulate the Dallas Cowboys Bob Hayes).
Watching football games always conjure up some of my early memories of the game that introduced me to organized sports. I took a lot of lessons from playing on the gridiron that helped shape my understanding of being a part of a team. Lessons like: support each other, you win as a team and/or lose AS a team, it’s not about YOU it’s all about the TEAM. Lessons that I still follow today. Do you have any positive and enduring lessons that you can recall from sport?!
Enjoy Super Bowl Sunday and enjoy your chase…
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