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Okay, so this journal is meant to narrate/explain a goal I reached in lifting weights for football. The 1000 pound club is something at my school. In order to be in it, your four maxes (Bench, Incline Bench, Squat, and Power Clean) have to combine to be 1000 pounds or over. I found that this is incredibly hard to do last season, where I combined to reach 920 in my last workout-cycle of six weeks. Commonly the 100 pound club was something for offensive and defensive linemen, I noticed that in my junior season no one else really made it. This made me feel as though I didn't have much of a chance being a tightend, but with the progress I was making I made it a main goal of mine.
I think what helps me in my workouts is my body type, that's what one of my gym teachers say. There are three main body types. One would be Ectomorphic, the people with the really wiry frame that don't seem to gain weight no matter how much they eat. Unfortunately they have a hard time gaining muscle too. Then there is endomorphic, which seems to be the complete opposite. These people don't have a hard time gaining muscle, but they do tend to have issues with weight. They are the heavier group of people. Finally there is mesomorphic, which I would be included in. We're the ones that are just about in the middle and can gain lean muscle easily if we work out. It's said to be the body type of athletes, and I can tell why.
I felt really good about getting into the club this time around, but I had a little scare only a few minutes before we started the maxes. It was so funny no matter how much I worried. So here's the story about that. With me being as athletic as I am I was messing around with the freshman footall players in the gym at school. I was about to do something I did on a daily basis, jumping and hanging from the rim. It was no big thing for me anymore, but I made a mistake this time. I ran toward the rim too quick and I knew it but I grabbed on anyway. I shouldn't have done that since I knew I was maxing that day, but I never really think things through. lol What happened was I swung until I was almost sideways in the air until my hand slipped. I fell at an angle that stopped me from catching myself in any way. So basically I was falling from about 9 feet in the air with nothing but my body to break my fall. Needless to say, I knew it was going to hurt, and my life pretty much flashed before my eyes....well my day cause I don't remember too much from when I was little. lol I landed on my butt mostly (the right cheek lol) before teh rest of the right side of my body slammed to the floor. There was a huge noise that sounded like something really big hit the floor, it was so loud the gym teachers in the room over opened the door to see exactly what happened. We weren't supposed to even be in the gym so I hurried up and got up to leave. The freshman were laughing, and I had to laugh at myself too. But it wasn't until I tried to walk that I realized how bad it really was. I was limping really bad, and felt like I couldn't walk very far at all. And I wanted to lay down for a while. I decided it was best that I walk it off though, so I tried and gradually I got better. It was a really bad limp though, something was obviously wrong with me. XD Within ten minutes I was fine, but the morning afterwards I felt it. I decided I wouldn't do anything like that again on a maxing day, cause I could've messed up my maxes and coach would've been really mad when I told him what happened. But I won't stop hanging from the rim and stuff. lol
Below is where I was beforehand, some predictions I made, and what I actually did:
Beforehand
Bench Press: 280 lbs.
Incline: 225 lbs.
Squat: 295 lbs.
Power Clean: 185 lbs.
Total: 985 lbs.
Predictions
Bench Press: 295 lbs.
Incline: 245 lbs.
Squat: 315 lbs.
Power Clean: 195 lbs.
Total: 1050 lbs.
What I Did
Bench Press: 290 lbs. (Went up 10 lbs.)
Incline: 240 lbs. (Went up 15 lbs.)
Squat: 325 lbs. (Went up 30 lbs.)
Power Clean: 200 lbs. (Went up 15 lbs.)
Total: 1055 lbs. (Overall went up by 70 lbs.)
So now I'll explain the workouts and what I really did in them, along with pictures for three of them.
Bench Press
Bench press is the most basic max in my opinion, and I have a good technique, that's probably why I'm so good at it. It's a weight training exercise where the person lays on their back on a bench, lowers weight to the chest, and pushes it back up until the elbows are locked. This works out the chest and triceps mostly to my knowledge, but it also works out other parts of the arm. In my sophmore post-season, my bench press usually went up by 20 pounds in six weeks. I started at 185 back in my sophmore year, then went up to 205, 225, and then around 250. Early after my junior season I ended up lifting 280. So I expected to go up about ten pounds, and I did. By next season I'll be over 300. That's pretty good for a tight end that's about 5'11" and weighs 180.
Incline Bench
There isn't a huge difference between this bench and the other one, just that this one is at a 45 degree angle to the floor. It works out different muscles though, and I don't like doing it as much as bench. I find that this workout seems to get easier the more I bench though. I went from 225 to 240 in six weeks, going up 15 lbs. I go up faster in this than I do in bench too. One time over six weeks I went up by 40 lbs. I think I'm starting to reach a peak at some of these workouts though. I don't have a picture of this one, since it's so similar to the last workout.
Squat
I think this is the most dangerous max that we have. Squat is an exercise that works out quadriceps, glutes (butt lol), hamstrings, lower back, and calves. there's a whole technique that goes with it to make sure you don't kill yourself, but I have a hard time explaining it so here's a picture of what it's like.
I had a hard time with this workout last offseason, cause my knee hurt really bad and it got worse when I did this exercise. Because of that, my legs aren't up to speed with the rest of my body and my squat isn't with the rest of my maxes (even though it's the highest). I went up by 30, which is something I usually did in every workout last offseason. I did way more than I expected to, and it was still kind of easy. I could have added weight if I wanted to. I didn't though because we have plenty of time to get stronger. I'm glad my knee doesn't hurt right now though, it made this one of my least favorite workouts. Now I kind of like it. My max is 325 and hopefully I can go up another 30 or 40 in the next six weeks.
Powerclean
My least favorite workout. My technique on this one wasn't very good at all. I don't wanna really talk about this one at all. XD Something like a squat, but arms are involved a lot too. And technique needs to be really good in order to go up in weight a lot, much like the other workouts. This is often the lowest max and I didn't do much of this at all in the time I was supposed to, so I went up to 200. Increased by 15 pounds but just barely. I'm surprised I got that.
 [Mugiwara Luffy] · Mon Feb 23, 2009 @ 12:42pm · 0 Comments |
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Okay, so I'm not really into politics at all. Even in this election I didn't really care all that much. Sure a woman and an African American were running, and I was only a bit excited because I'm African American. Either way, I'm still not old enough to vote so I couldn't take part in it at all, and I figured things would stay the way they always were. Turns out I was wrong.
Beforehand I was much like many other people, clinging onto the political beliefs of my parents and others around me. During the Bush reign, many were obviously against him. So naturally I was pretty much against him too. But after more thought, I found that I had no reason to be against Bush. He himself has done everything he could to make America greater and follow the common interest. We can't blame this war on him for several reasons: 1) Many Americans wanted war in the first place. 2) He didn't start it. Bush was ultimately put into a bad position not too long after he first became President. I have learned to respect him and his decisions and am glad that the burden of presidency has been lifted from him. Hopefully he can live the rest of his life without any trouble.
So I still don't care much for politics, and I don't think I ever will. My thing is sports. But I do believe it was time for a change. McCain was very similar to Bush in many viewpoints, having him in office would probably get Bush in more trouble with the nation. This is partly why he didn't make it in office. I do believe he was treated unfairly at times compared to Obama. While Obama often went on many light-hearted interviews with various personalities, McCain would find himself toughly questioned by the same personalities on issues that he and Barack agreed on. It seemed he had a bad campaign to start with. On top of that he brings this "blonde" that happens to be a brunette. lol Sarah Palin....no idea what she could have possibly done to help in office. If anything, she ruined the chances of a female president for another 100 years or so. No idea what McCain was thinking when he chose her as a running mate. Perhaps he was never aiming to become president in the first place.
His familiar old white appearance probably got many other voters turned against him too. They felt that things would only get worse if they continued to do the same thing, which isn't necessarily a mistake. Government is far from the president's job alone. if every citizen cooperated, the world would be a great place. Unfortunately not enough people know this, I feel that we had two candidates that did.
So why did Barack win? He had support from all over the place, Colin Powell, an unprecedented number of blacks, basically all of Illinois. Then the voice of women because of the eventual support from Hillary Clinton, and likely women against Palin (I feel Palin was a huge reason McCain lost). He promised change, and it surely has come simply because he is president. By giving hope to the people, something we desperately needed, he earned himself many votes.
Obama was brought up very differently from many of our presidents, this has become clear to us. It's obvious he's taken a different, refreshing approach to politics, and hopefully it works well in the White House. For a minority to become the leader of America, the most powerful country in the world, sends a powerful message. I feel that it has been taken the wrong way in the black community. Instead of acting better and being motivated, many have made it an excuse to act even worse. They claim 'I can do whatever I want now, Barack is in office.' In fact it's the complete opposite. Because Barack is in office we should behave more wholesome and make smarter decisions.
To know where we have come from and where we are now should be humbling. I see the older generation and how they are more appreciative of this moment. Though I can never see it the same way they do, I will see it differently from those my age. I didn't see the strife and racism that minorities went through in the past, but I have a good idea of it. Though emotionally unattached I know the sacrifices that were made for this day to come, from all races. Now that we're here, we can end it all. We can end obvious racial discrimination, we can end racial tension. We can bring racial equality and peace. Now that we know our potentials, we can grasp it. Before they only told us, now we can see it.
I support Obama and hope he does well in office. I'll pray for his family and everyone involved with him. Many are waiting to see him fail, I want to see him do well. Not only him, I'm praying for McCain, Bush, Hillary, and even Palin. lol Hopefully Bush lives a long happy life. McCain is likely going to be working with Obama is some way. Palin....I dunno....somewhere on t.v.
[Mugiwara Luffy] · Wed Jan 21, 2009 @ 02:21am · 0 Comments |
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Yeah, so at some point in everyone's lives they get in some kind of trouble. Not the kind of trouble somebody would get in with their parents, but something that involves government, police, and you possibly getting arrested. Just recently I got into this kind of trouble. The sad part is, I can't brag about doing anything bad, since I didn't do anything. lol I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing the wrong clothes....
It was a normal Saturday morning at my dad's house. The night before he didn't bring me to my friend's house for a Halloween party, because he "forgot about it". So I was stuck at the house again, doing work like I do every time I'm over there. My granddad came over, and we went straight outside to get some physical labor done. lol Basically we cleaned out the boat and got it ready for the winter. If it had already been cold that part would have been unbearable.
But with my dad one job is never enough. So we went into the basement that he decided to rebuild and took some nails and stuff out of some old wood. This still involved a lot of lifting but at least we got it done fairly quickly. In the end it was a short day of work, though my dad would undoubtedly ask me to do other things throughout the day. For now I would be able to watch the game.
Wrong. XD I had to go to the store to get some charcoal so they could start up the grill. I hadn't eaten that morning so I would go no matter what. lol So I grabbed my blue jacket and red hat and put on some old shoes and headed out the door. I reflected on my morning, things were amazingly normal. lol I mean, this happened basically every other weekend I was at my dad's house. I can't even guess how many times I've walked to that store and back without any problems. But every once in a while one comes up.
Luckily for me the store isn't too far away, and the weather was good. I was in a great mood and found myself breathing in the fresh air and humming to myself. That's just how my life is, I love being outside. lol Yes, I was so very innocent on this day. XD I took the casual walk to the store and when I went in I saw this guy arguing with management it looked like. He was around my age, and he was loud and cursing while they were telling him to get out of the store for some reason. I figured he did something, and he was getting on my nerves by messing up my personal high. lol I just went to the charcoal though, in a robotic motion since I knew exactly where it was. I go to this store A LOT. So when I was paying he was still arguing with management and security came so he kind of left out. Good thing too, I was getting really mad. He turned in the direction I'd be heading, but made another turn.
So I just got that whole thing out of my mind and decided I wouldn't let it bother me. So I was less than a block away from the store, hadn't even been outside for two minutes when I see a cop car on the end of the block. Looks like he wanted to turn at first, like he was just doing his routine check, but he waited at the corner and parked the car. I was heading in that direction and naturally I got a bit nervous, even though I didn't do anything. lol And the fact that he was staring at me all the way, and looked suspicious, and called in on his radio didn't help me. XD So I tried not to make eye contact on my way to the end of the block, staring at the trees and random objects. Should've known that wouldn't do anything. lol
When I got near the end of the street my beliefs were pretty much confirmed, he jumped out the car and approached me and asked if he could talk to me. I thought about running for a second, but why? I didn't do anything. lol Just seemed like a good idea though, not like he wanted to compliment me on my shirt or something. So I slowly put down the charcoal and walked over. I looked carefully at his hand and the gun on his waist making sure they never connected. Didn't feel like getting shot that day. So he started off by asking me my name. I told him my full name, then he asked for some identification. I guess this was to make sure I wasn't lying. I had nothing in my pocket with my name on it, since I was rushed out the house to get the charcoal. So I told him I had nothing.
He asked if I had a school i.d. or anything, and I again responded with a no. Then he asked why not. And I told him because it was Saturday. XD He got a little mad about it and told me that was beside the point. He explained the importance of always carrying identification. Then he asked me if I had a receipt. I almost panicked, I didn't remember getting one, since it was so routine. No one really notices receipts anymore. lol I asked him if I could call my dad, because I remembered my dad telling me to call him if I got involved with the police in any way. He asked for a receipt again. So I slowly dug into my pocket, halfway expecting to get shot if I went too quickly. My other hand was out in the open to show I couldn't do anything with it. Miraculously, I found a receipt and handed it slowly to the officer.
He looked it over and also noticed a 'paid' sticker on the bag of charcoal. It was at this time I heard a car door close behind me. I turned around and saw another officer coming in our direction. Then out of my peripheral I saw an officer who must have been there for a while already. He was so quiet. XD So I was now surrounded by THE LAW. Couldn't run if I wanted to. Checkmate. But they had nothing on me. The newest cop was briefed on the situation. He said since I had a receipt and 'paid' sticker, I wasn't the guy who did it. The one who had been there the longest said I matched the description, blue coat and a red hat.
That's when it hit me, the guy that was in the store was wearing the same thing I was. I probably should have beat him up when I wanted to, and I would have if I had known he would cause me trouble. So I told the officers what I saw when I was at the store, letting them know they had the wrong guy. Who steals charcoal anyway? lol The first one asked me where I lived and I told him. He asked if I was Mike's son and I told him yes. From that alone he decided I was the wrong guy. XD My dad wouldn't tolerate anything like that. So I was let off and I walked home quickly, a little dazed and confused. It's a little odd to have a dad that knows about every cop in the city, but I guess it helps sometimes too. lol
Let's see, now I have to create a moral for this story. Here it is: You can't escape THE LAW. lol They will shut you down and you will always be caught whether you did something or not. However I can't prove this because I don't know if they found the other guy. But I have another moral: Don't do things that could get strangers in trouble. It made my day pretty confusing and probably shaved some years off of my life. And since I'm coming up with morals, I might as well add this one: Never wear a blue coat and a red hat, it's like asking for trouble. Why should I be so surprised when my wardrobe clashed like that? lol
[Mugiwara Luffy] · Tue Dec 02, 2008 @ 01:18pm · 1 Comments |
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Thornwood Varsity Football 2008 |
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Well, I haven't been typing an awful lot in my journal at all, but that's what they're here for so I might as well use them. I just want people to know what I'm up to when I'm not online, a little about my life. Most people may not know, but football is a large part of my life. I rarely miss practice and I give it my all to the point where I can barely stand at times. I'll use this entry to share the progress of my team and maybe even my own skills. I'd like to let everyone know right now that I am part of a struggling team, but I feel we'll get better. Numbers are few and not many people are dedicated, as a matter of fact when I was a freshman and sophomore we didn't win any games at all. All I can do is make myself better though and hope the team follows, I'll update this journal as I play the games, so check often if you're interested.
I would love to predict that we would go 7-2 or something, but in reality I'd be happy if we had a winning record of 5-4.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 0-40 @ Andrew Thunderbolts
First game of the season, after all of the long off-season practice and reps in the weight room. Not many showed up to conditioning in the off-season, whether it was weight training or cardiovascular, but everyone that did come jumped in strength a lot. I actually lift 225 lbs. a few times now, when I used to struggle with 100. That's just what football does for you. Practice over the summer was rough, but I came every time I could. Compared to freshman year when I knew nothing about football, I've gotten much better. But I still have a long way to go. The practice of the week before the game didn't seem too good at all to me. Suddenly people were getting injured at the end of the summer before the game. It was really weird of that to happen and I wouldn't want to think they were faking. After a bad week of practice, a loss like that was unavoidable.
Andrew is a fundamentally good team, they have focus and discipline. If we only had better discipline we could have beat them with our athleticism. But, we're not focused enough yet. Defense did a decent job at the beginning, but offense gave us bad field position every time. Throughout the whole game, we only made two first downs. That's how bad the offense played. In the end defense pretty much either gave up or was too tired. If I remember correctly by halftime we were losing by over twenty already.
I wasn't put in until the last play of the game, even though I'm one of the better defensive ends on the team. This is probably why defense was tired, also because offense wasn't out too long at all. I was pretty mad about not getting much play time after all of my hard work, but I got over it by the next game.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 25-24 T.F. North Meteors (OVERTIME)
Second game of the season. I'll admit, from the week of practice we had before-hand it seemed like this would be another game we would lose. No one seemed to be serious or focused enough to actually get any real practice done. On top of that, there was a holiday so we got Monday off and it rained on one of the practice days. We still practice in the rain, but not as intense. Saturday morning, the day of the game, I came into the locker room to get ready and was one of the first people there. Everyone else came and we were quiet for a while but then we started joking around. It's really fun but it's not the best thing to do before a game. lol
It was the first home game of the season, and my first Varsity home game. Needless to say everyone was pretty hyped up. I invited more people then usual to the game, even though I wouldn't be in too much. When the game came I remember us scoring the first touchdown early in the first quarter. We couldn't kick in the extra point though.
T.F. North was a terrible team, so even though it was a win, we should have won by a lot more, without having to go into overtime. Our defense was able to stop the run with ease most of the game. Our offense did pretty good too, specifically the offensive line. If we would have made more catches our score would have been much higher. Our quarterback was performing much better than the previous game, so he was throwing great passes. There was a point in time where they were ahead in points, and it took a while to even the game up again. Late in the fourth quarter both team's offenses began to take control with the passing game and scored touchdowns. However, throughout the whole game no one could get an extra point. Our kicker was missing for some reason, maybe a little nervous. And they didn't have a kicker so they were forced to go for two points but were easily stopped. They wouldn't have scored much at all if one of our cornerbacks were a little more experienced.
Throughout the regular game, no team scored an extra point, but if one team would have, then it would have been over. Luckily for us the other team didn’t have a kicker. In overtime we got the ball first and managed to score and then kicked in the first and last extra point of the game. The other team scored too, so they got their chance to score extra points. Since they had no kicker, they were forced to go for two points. This made it a win or lose situation for both teams. In the end, they tried a screen pass that failed, they were tackled before scoring like before. The Junior group of Varsity, including me, won our first game since starting freshman year.
This game was much better for me, considering we won. I didn't get in at all in the defensive end position but I was put on kick return, which is a lot of fun. Though the plays seemed over and people were walking, I just hit people until the whistle was blown. lol With the combination of kick returns, I played more than I did in the first game anyway. For me, that's enough to be happy about.
The coaches were angry, and for good reason. As I said before, T.F. North was a bad team and the game never should have been that close. They were happy we won, but disappointed with the way we played, and they let us know that right after the game. They said we would have to focus in on practice if we wanted to beat any more teams. There are tougher, stronger, and more physical teams that we have to practice hard to even compete against.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 22-28 @Rich South Stars
Well, the beginning of the week of practice was the worst by far. On top of this, it came right after a win. Monday it was raining all day, so we couldn't do too much of the practice we wanted too. Not many people came to practice, another bad sign. We still went outside and ran, pushed the sleds too. Since it was raining we slipped a lot, and eventually I could barely stand up because we did it for so long. I wasn't the only one though so I kept going. I really need to work on my leg muscles. XD This day of practice wasn't terrible, but I don't feel we got much of anything done other than a workout. The next day of practice was the worst.
Going down into the locker room Tuesday after school it was like it usually was, that is, very few people in there ten minutes after the school bell rung. Then people finally started showing up (it was very few because not many wanted to come to practice after the rainy day). When people did come, they were giving each other haircuts and stuff. I have no idea why they were doing that at all. I came outside a little earlier before practice so I could do some pre-practice. We have a set time where we start stretching, but only about 15 people were outside at that time. And ten minutes later there were few more. Once people started actually showing up, coach made the whole team run laps. That's just how football works, the whole team has to suffer for what some people do sometimes. We ran a couple of laps around all the fields, there's about three of them. Then we ran some gassers, those are about 200 yards with a few cuts. Then we ran 200's from one goal-line to the other and back again. Then we did up-downs, that's falling and catching yourself and then getting up again and chopping your feet until the whistle blows again. After all of that the coaches made us run another lap around all the fields. So after all of this he told everyone to go home, but we still had an hour left. Some people left immediately, but the rest of us stayed and tried to practice. There was no organization, and no water outside because coach told the trainer we couldn't get any. We were able to go through a few plays but in the end we decided it was better to just get dressed, go home, and start over the next day. Everybody was pretty disappointed, including me, but we had to get over it.
The next day everyone decided to forget about what happened the days before. Once we did that we had enough focus to actually practice. We picked up the intensity and learned what we would need to do. Unfortunately we hadn't done that earlier in the week. We had to practice full speed the day before the game to make up for what we missed. Those are usually the days where we walk through and make sure we know our assignments. I guess I can say I was feeling a lot better about the game by the end of the week.
So, the day came. It was another Friday night game, second out of four in the year. We won't have any at home because we have no lights. The weather wasn't sunny and nice like the first two games. This was the first game that was rainy, it had been raining the whole day and was steadily raining throughout the game, sometimes worse than others. So we were going to slip sooner or later, but so was the other team. We couldn't use that as an excuse. The first half ended up like the first half of the week in practice: we played pretty badly. They made a touchdown at the end of the half that I felt won them the game. I feel if we were more focused we could have stopped it. And they had no kicker either, so they always had to go for two extra points. They got both extra points on two of the three touchdowns they made in the first half. By the end of the half I think the score was 6 - 22, with them up. So we came back out and got focused, much like the end of the week of practice. Unfortunately it was too late by then. They scored again, but we fought back. And in the end we made an interception and possibly could have scored, but they called pass interference on us. After watching the tape again, I didn't see it. That gave them a first down, so all they did was run down the clock winning them the game at 28-22. If we would have fought earlier, we could have easily won.
I only got in on kick return this game, but I did the most I could for my team, hitting people for no real reason sometime. One time they made a squib kick to the middle (a squib kick is when they kick the ball so it bounces on the ground and is hard to catch). The guy I was supposed to block ran straight towards it. Not wanting to waste my chance to hit somebody, I ran at his side. He saw me at the last second and lowered his shoulder, but he was lower than me. Usually being lower would be a good thing, but it was raining so I hit him and he bounced forward, kinda rolled on the ground still going full speed and got up running still. It was really weird. XD It was like he never stopped running in the first place. By the time he got up though the play was over, good thing, cause I couldn't stop him anymore. lol for most of the rest of the kicks it went out of bounds. So I couldn't do much but ram into somebody before the referees blew the whistle. Like I said before, I think we could have won the game, but we didn't fight until it was too late.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 26-42 Rich East Rockets
Practice this week started off a lot better. As coach said last week, I was going to be practicing at right tackle from then on. I guess the one we had before just wasn't getting the job done. From what I've heard he hadn't been firing off of the line, which is very important. I can beat almost anyone on the team when it comes to firing off with speed. My power if pretty high too. The only difficulty I may have would be with my technique. That's what the coaches are for. They tried to teach me what to expect at the position and who I would be blocking. It seemed fairly simple at practice.
So, something big happened. Coach decided to start me at right tackle in this game. It was my first time starting in my football career, and on the Varsity team at that. The rest of the offensive line is made up of seniors that weigh more and are stronger than me. I must have done something to impress the coach or something, otherwise I would not have been there. This showed me that all of the practice I put in at summer camp and the offseason was worth it, because coach wouldn't put me in if he thought I couldn't handle it. I would have to do my best to prove to him I was ready for the responsibility.
We were playing a team that was coming in 3-0, undefeated so far in the season. This really didn't worry me at all. I just had to focus on a few people on the field, if I could be better than them, there would be no problems. The defensive end I was up against was obviously bigger, but I doubt he was too much stronger than me. Most of the plays wouldn't be coming my way anyway, since it was my first time I think. All I had to do most of the time was just intimidate him. I did that very well by beating him to the push the first few times. After that he used my speed against me for a while and used a swim technique to get past. Fortunately he was unable to make any plays at that time. I was soon able to adjust to the swim and continue to block him. It got pretty tiring, I have to say. But it was fun to finally be able to play football, though I made some mistakes. Around the end I messed up because I did not know the plays well enough, so they put the other right tackle in for the fourth quarter. The only bad part about the game for me was how much stuff the other team talked. The ones that talked it rarely backed it up either. And I knew for a fact they wouldn't say anything without pads on. XD I could only laugh at them.
In the end I would say I did a decent job for my first time and against someone bigger than me. On pass protection he never sacked the quarterback, as a matter of fact our quarterback has only been sacked once in four games, and this is the game he was sacked in. My family thinks I did a great job, especially my dad. He was really proud of me, and I felt good to make him proud. Coaches say I could've done better though, and I can't agree more. If I just find out exactly what I have to do then I can do it.
So onto the actual game then. This was a team that beat the junior class 60-0 in our sophomore year so it was our worst loss. Best believe I got in on kick return on that game. XD Like every ten minutes. So we were pretty much looking for revenge. After they scored two early touchdowns though, it didn't seem like we'd get it at all. Our offense always takes a while to get warmed up for some reason. Both touchdowns were passes I believe, our safeties and corners really need to pick it up. Most touchdowns against us seem to be passes. We came back almost immediately when the defensive line forced a fumble. They did this a few times during the game, so the whole defense wasn't bad. We were able to make three unanswered touchdowns, and missed one extra point. The score was now 20-14, with us up. I think it was around the middle of the second quarter. They scored maybe two more times and the half was over.
In the second half the offense had trouble scoring again, even though defense gave us great field position most of the time. It just seemed like we couldn't pull it together. On top of that the referees were terrible. They made holding calls and even called a block in the back on me when I made sure to reach the guy's side. The play was going to put us in the red zone too. We scored again, but not until later. And when our tight end was passed to for the two extra points, he missed terribly on an easy catch.
Needless to say the coaches were disappointed. I was too, this is a team we could have beaten. One of the coaches said we should be able to win a game with 26 points, putting some blame on the defense, even though they made some good plays. A few stops would have taken some pressure of the quarterback, that's true, but it was everyone's fault altogether. So we missed our chance to even out our record, leaving us at 1-3. And we were defeated at home for the first time this season. Next week is homecoming, now we have to look towards that.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 6-48 Thornton Wildcats (HOMECOMING)
This was probably the biggest game of the year. Homecoming against a district rival team that's ranked in the state. If we won this one we could've bounced back from our season, I think we could have. They even came over the night before the game and painted their initials on our field. This game was one of the craziest I've ever played in, all kinda of drama and stuff. lol Amazingly though, they didn't talk nearly as much stuff as some other teams.
So I was working at tight end again all week, and once again to my surprise I was starting there. On passing plays I was not in though because I did not know the routes yet. But when we ran, I was in the game. I got a lot of playing time, especially in the first half.
They ran their first kickoff back on us, putting us in trouble really early. I did my job right and almost even made the tackle to stop the return, but some of the other guys on my team did not keep contain and he ended up getting to the outside. I had to dive for him just to try to make the tackle. They made two more straight touchdowns against us fairly early. We were able to score before halftime.
Not much I can say about the rest of the game, we played bad on both sides of the ball. And we got lucky on a fumble on kick return, they were pretty mad and I got double-teamed. Too bad I was stronger than both of them. XD Special teams even did badly in this game. All we can do now is build up from this loss. Our next three games should be wins for us, maybe we can start a streak.
I did pretty good overall. While watching the film, coach gave me some compliments, I get off the ball quicker than any other tight ends and I do my job. And if I don't know exactly what my job is, I just try my best to knock somebody down. I plan to do the same thing in the next game when we take the long ride to East Aurora.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 0-14 @ East Aurora Tomcats
I think it's pretty obvious what went wrong here. The offense couldn't score, mostly because of penalties that could've easily been avoided. That pretty much made the difference in the game. At halftime, the score was tied at 0-0. We shouldn't have even let it go that far without us scoring. Honestly, I really don't know what we were doing this game. Maybe we were off because of the two hour ride to the school on a Friday night. We played in our first cold game too. After waking up from a nap and going straight into the cold, it's pretty hard to play your best football. We can't use that as an excuse though.
I have to say this was my worst game by far. I was blocking the wrong guy most of the game, but there was a reason for it. Every time I tried to it the linebacker, who I was supposed to get, he jumped in the way. So instead of getting the linebacker I pushed him instead, so I did something. We could've gotten more yards on several occasions if I had just followed my directions. I wasn't in for too much of the game either because we were passing a lot. I have no idea why we were passing though, the receivers hands were so cold they barely caught anything. And besides that, our running game was doing pretty good. It always has, our running back has over 700 yards for the first six games of the season. But we continued to pass. We should have won even with our passing though.
The sophomore quarterback was moved up to Varsity, because the Junior one was messing up and not coming to practice. He has pretty good accuracy, but things change a lot in a game. A lot of times he threw at receivers that weren't really open. It was often incomplete though, since the corners and safeties could only knock them down. He was pushed pretty far too, since he had only a week to learn all of the Varsity plays. That's why I think we were a little bad too.
No matter what though, there was no excuse. The team we lost to wasn't very good at all, and there was no reason for us to lose that game. I was pretty disappointed and I'm sure everyone else was too. We could've done a lot better than that, and we should've won the game in the first half. The coaches thought the same thing. The next game is against another district rival, Thornridge. We're better then them too, as long as we don't lose focus again.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 0-8 Thornridge Falcons
The Falcons are a pretty weak team, not much size to them but a little speed. I'm really disappointed with this loss because it was a game we should have won, and not even by a few points. We should have won by at least twenty. Last week we went into a scoring drought and it lasted through this game too. It was their first victory of the season. Obviously the game was pretty uneventful, a lot of defensive stops and only one score in the whole game. They went for two because they don't have a kicker. If we would have at least scored once I'm pretty sure the game would have been over.
I played a pretty good game, other than slipping a lot. The field was muddy because it had rained the night before or something. Other than slipping a lot, I made some good blocks. And I even went for some passes because I learned all of the routes, and I was open for an easy touchdown once, but the quarterback didn't see me. It would've been my first reception in a game and it would've most likely been a touchdown. I'll have to wait a little longer though.
Coaches were obviously disappointed, we lost against a weak team, and a division rival. There were people on that team that I used to go to school with. I really don't know what's wrong with the team, coaches are teaching us the right thing and it works, but sometimes they don't do it.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 2-34 Bloom Trojans
This game had possibly the worst start in school history. We had the kickoff at the beginning and they ran it back for a touchdown. Then we had kick return where they recovered it deep in our territory. The very first play they scored with a run play. That put us down 14-0 in the first 20 seconds of the game. We put ourselves at a disadvantage very quickly.
Not much to say about this one, we were able to get a safety against them, but our offense didn’t score again, even though we had a few drives down the field. By the end of the game the offense hasn't scored for around 12 quarters. Defense did a good job on most plays, but passing plays continually catch our secondary off guard. The next, and last, team we played was sure to take advantage of that.
Thornwood Thunderbirds 8-41 @T.F South Rebels
Possibly the most dramatic setting of all of High School football history. The only thing that would've made it even better is if both teams were undefeated. Unfortunately we weren't even close. It was a rainy Friday, last game of the season and we were playing at their school. When we got their it started raining even harder and lightning started striking. When lightning strikes they don't let you play football for about 20 minutes afterwards. We had to wait inside the school until they said it was okay to go outside.
So when we did go outside we could only get some stretching done before lightning struck again. We stretched about 7 or 8 times, and the game was being pushed back constantly. Finally the lightning stopped enough for us to actually start, so we did warm-ups. It was so muddy, the ball was almost impossible to catch and you couldn't run full speed or you'd fall. Basically everybody wanted to play in this weather.
So we kicked the ball off and our kicker, who hadn't been kicking too well, was able to kick it into the end zone. best kick all season from him. The other team started at the 20. An overall good start. Their first play was a pass and the receiver ended up running all the way down the field for a touchdown. Pretty much showed what would happen for the game. So after the touchdown lightning struck again and the game was rescheduled for the next day. Though I wanted to play in the mud I would get more time with my team this way, so I was okay with it.
The next day came and it was turned into a Saturday morning game. Our cleats were still wet from the night before, a very uncomfortable feeling, and we would start the game with a deficit of six. The other team still had to kick their field goal and it went in. Now we were down seven but would have our chance to attack. The field was still pretty slippery, but we could deal with it this way. Since the other tight ends were seniors and it was their last game, I didn't play tight end as much as I did in games before. Instead a lot of the juniors wanted to stay in there position. I played a lot, just not as much as usual. XD
So the game pretty much went like the one play did last night. They passed at least three more touchdowns passes it seemed to the same guy that scored the touchdown before. It was basically the same play from the same side of the field too. Whatever cornerback was supposed to get him kept getting outran. But in the end we ended our scoring drought of about 15 quarters. Our running back, Dairo, was able to run in, and he got his 1,000 yards for the season. Fifth best in school history.
Final Thoughts
Season didn't go nearly as well as I hoped it would. Seniors had to leave out with a losing record again, 1-8. It's all pretty depressing, but I'm so glad to know that I have another year left. I'm using this offseason to do everything I can to bring my team some wins, even if they don't do anything. All I can do is better myself and maybe I can make a difference by myself. I plan to make this last season the best season, not in winning record, but a personal one. And though I did pretty good this season, I can still get a lot better.
I'll do the best I can to recruit teammates, though that hasn't worked at all so far. So I'll just have to push those that are already on the team to do better. We're losing some important people. Our running back, 4 out of 5 offensive linemen, the other two tight ends, the best linebacker, three defensive linemen, and even our best receiver. That's just the start of the list. If we want to get a better team than we had this season, then we have to make ourselves better. I don't see it happening without putting in the work.
[Mugiwara Luffy] · Wed Sep 10, 2008 @ 03:14am · 2 Comments |
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School snuck up on me this year, so I'm a little late on the journal this time. Once again I didn't just type things up as the days went by, I decided to wait until the end of summer to type up the whole thing. XD Well, I don't write many journal entries, this would make the fourth overall I think. I only type about important stuff, so read this. lol And looking back on my last summer post, I was either tired or drunk when I typed it. XD And I don't drink so I was tired. Just referring to the crazy stuff I typed. Okay, without further to speak about, we'll start with the most important thing. That would be money.....lol
Work
Yes, this summer I got my very first job. My sister did too, we worked at the same place. It was through a program we found out about at school. So this was just another thing the two of us could compete about. For those of you who don't know (no one knows probably XD), I have a twin sister. We don't look alike at all really, but I love her anyway. Her username is Moshi-mo3.
lol Back to the topic. My job was to mow lawns for elderly citizens in the township. Sounds pretty easy, but I think everyone knows how hard it is to deal with old people sometimes, right? You have the nice old people, the mean ones, the weird ones, and even ones that come outside and watch you cut the whole lawn. All of this at minimum wage. XD Needless to say, there were some funny times on the job and even some annoying times. We went out in groups of three, a crew leader (who drove), and two others. Every truck had two lawn mowers, a weed whacker, gas cans, and a blower. I hate weed whackers, but my reason has nothing to do with the job so I'll save it. XD Most of the time I mowed, but there were a few times when I weed whacked too. The bad thing about weedwhacking is that if you wore shorts you'd pop rocks and stuff into your leg, leaving all kinds of bruises.
You know what I learned about having a job? You don't really get a lot of money. XD Sure you get paid, but once you get a job no one wants to buy anything for you anymore. Like fast food or small things. I ended up spending a paycheck just trying to eat on my lunch break. Of course I got some things fo myself, but not nearly as much as I thought I could. I had to leave the job because football practice, but next time I get one I'll have to manage my money better. My sister ot more money then me, only because she worked before the school year was over (I had conditioning after school) and she is still working.
Overall I'd have to say I liked the job. Pay was decent, I had funny co-workers too. The only problem was occasionally dealing with senile old people that liked to come outside without being fully clothed. XD
Football: Practice, 7 on 7, and Scrimmage
Yep, now we're on the highlight of the summer. This is what I was doing most of my break right here: Football. Practice makes perfect, and we got plenty of practice. We're still very far from being perfect though. This summer it was originally intended for me to practice as a tight-end and defensive end, coach was impressed with how much I improved in agility and strength. However, I started to fade away from the tight-end position and focused on defensive end. Back then I wasn't much of a defensive guy, I wanted to be one of the people scoring touchdowns. But then I realized it was just as fun, maybe even better, to hit people really hard and make tackles. So for a while it was me and two other guys playing defensive end. You only need two on the field at a time so we subbed in but still it was very tiring. Football is an extremely painful sport, and if you play it with all the strength you have then chances are you will have some body problems in the future. XD I'm willing to risk that though, whether we lose or not. I don't want to leave high school with regrets.
So every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thrusday it went like this, practice started at around three and went on for around five hours. Sacrificing time, energy, and my own body to help my team. It's really a tough sport, and you need to have the drive to do it. And whether your school's team always wins or never wins, you have to respect them. Every day they go out and practice, while you probably go home or hang out with friends. You risk a lot when you join a sport....especially one like football.
I can honestly say that all the practice has gotten me a lot better. I'm stronger, faster, tougher, and I know more of the basics. My stamina has gone up, just by a little. lol If I ate better it probably would be great, but I'd probably be skinnier too. I don't want that at all. XD
Sometime in August if I remember correctly, we went to a 7 on 7 meeting where five schools showed up. If I remember correctly, it was at Eisenhower high school. Only one of the teams there were in our conference, and they were our rivals too, that team is the Thornridge Falcons. This is the only team we knew about there and the ones we were looking forward to going against. I would have to say we did pretty bad against the first few schools. That's only because we weren't getting physical or trying hard enough. We wouldn't be playing them anyway, so that's probably why they weren't trying. Or it's because it was the first time of the year we went against people we didn't know. Either way, after the second group we really started playing.
I was the second-stream tightend at the time, so I was able to get in for a few plays too. I didn't know all of the plays completely, and I didn't get many passes, but I caught them when they came my way. The first-stream was dropping some simple catches, so coach put me in first for the last two teams. And to my surprise I stayed in most of the scrimmages. The whole experience was a great way to test out how well our plays worked, and I did pretty good.
About a week before school started, Varisty scrimmaged the Sophmores. Unfortunately, they weren't too many sophmores so half of them were made up of Varsity scouts. I was one of those scouts, and I also got in for Varsity too. The whole thing involved a lot of running, tackling and hitting. I got very little time to rest, but that was normal. It was always like that during the summer. In the end, I made a few good tackles, and gave the starters I went up against a pretty good workout. And I even did good in my own position too.
That was pretty much football for the summer. It took up more time than anything else I did.
Arkansas Fishing Trip
Every year for the past three years I go to Arkansas with my dad and granddad to fish. This year, since it is starting to get warm later in the year, we went early in the summer. We used to go during Spring Break, but it was too cold and the fish didn't bite. With the weather the way it was, we expected to catch a lot more fish. It was extremely sunny and hot on most days. But it's not the fishing really look forward to, it's the time I get to spend with my dad and granddad. They are two of my favorite people in the world. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be hard just being with them. lol
Even though it was warmer, the fish still weren't biting as much as we anticipated. And we went to a new resort this year. We caugth a few, but mainly focused on relaxing. Most of time on the boat I spent reading for a summer project. The book wasn't all that bad, it was Tom Sawyer or something. lol Overall, the food was good, my granddad makes sure to bring good food everytime we come, but he forgots a lot of things that are important. I dunno if I want to go again next year, but if I decide to it won't really be for fishing. That's not why I went this year.
Coco Keys
Okay, my friend Cashew010 invited me to Coco Keys early in the summer. I didn't think I'd be able to go but my mom let me, and I'm really glad she did. Even though the car ride was long and cramped his mom drives fun and turns the music up really loud. His mom is great, wish mine was more like her sometimes. lol So Coco Keys is like some kind of indoor water park thing and some more friends were invited. It had slides, water basketball court, stuff like that. And there were all kinds of other people invited too, some of Cashew's friends and mine.
The only bad part I can remember about that weekend was when someone ate an extra slice of pizza. I was supposed to get two but I ended up with one. I'm still mad about that one, even if it makes me sound fat. lol Otherwise we had a nice hotel, had a good time, and played games when it was too late to swim. Of course I won all the video games, cause Cassius can't compare to me in those kind of things. Or anything for that matter. XD
Movies
Well, I was able to see a movie over the summer and even buy a few I've been looking for. The only movie I went to see is 'You don't mess with the Zohan.' Went ot go see it with a few friends, including Cashew010. It seems like he was with me all summer. lol I would say the movie was pretty good, it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. And when the movie was over we went to wal-mart and even rode in carts so it was a good night. XD
There were two movies I was looking all over the place for. So on another day, I went with some friends again (Cashew and his brother were there) and we went to the mall. I had a lot of money since I had gotten a job but I still didn't buy much cause I'm so used to not having money. lol
United 252
I'm a Christian and every year at my church they have a huge youth gathering called United 252. it's a really big church called Family Christian Center in Munster, Indiana. Like I said, this thing happens every year but this was my first year going because I joined the church right after it happened I guess. So this was my first year going, and I really liked it a lot and felt I got closer to God. It lasted for about four days, and there was plenty of other teens there.
They fed us everyday. And usually I would have had to pay for all of this but I won a contest that got me in free. I found out that most of the people I met there actually went to the church too, so I still see a lot of them. There were speakers like my pastors: Steve and Kent Munsey. There was also Chris Hill, Carl Lentz, Benny Perez, John Gray, and Michael Rowe. Though I had't heard of many of these speakers before, I feel that they really got through to me.
Overall it was a great experience, and I hope to go to the next one. I really look forward to possibly bringing friends as well.
Windy Gap
This was probably the best part of my whole Summer. I went to an actual camp, for a week with some friends from school. It was in North Carolina in early August. A friend told me about it before the previous school year ended, and I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately the friend that told me didn't get to go. There were plenty of other people from my school there though, people I knew and people I got to know.
Throughout the week we were fed, had all kinds of things to do. It was so much fun I can barely describe it. They had all kinds of things to do, including horseback riding, go-kart racing, a climbing wall, a pool, several contests, and an everyday show while we ate. The best part about it was that this was a Christian Camp. I got to have a good time with my friends and still have a relationship with God. I feel that I really needed that trip and I plan to do it again next year.
I have gained religious mentors, people that I can talk to when I have a problem, and I'm closer to some of the friends I have. Hopefully some of my other friends come too next year, I plan to invite a lot of them. I didn't really get much into this, the camp was so much greater than what I can really type. I just can't wait to go next year.
[Mugiwara Luffy] · Sat Aug 30, 2008 @ 11:07pm · 1 Comments |
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I've enjoyed all the time I was able to take off thanks to the holidays at the end of the year. They are my favorite, not only because of the money I get. lol I also get to spend time with my family, and I love my family more than most kids my age do. This holiday season was fairly busy compared to the rest, but it was all fun in the end. It all started before even Christmas. My favorite time of the year begins on Thanksgiving.
This Thanksgiving we did something we don't usually do. My mom cooked and we stayed home to eat. Some cousins came over and we were able to hang out with them for a few days, just doing things you do when family come over. It was the first time I got to see these cousins because they're fairly new additions to the family and live out of town. Got along great with them even though they were two girls. XD The food was good and I ate like I usually do, leaving little left. then I woke up the next morning and ate more dressing and ham. I think it was all gone the next day. Unfortunately I never got a chance to go to my grandma's house like I usually do. So I missed out on all the food over there. Of course after Thanksgiving I had normal school for another few weeks.
Winter Break came sooner than I expected, but the snow didn't come as fast. My family celebrates Christmas, and we know the true meaning of the holiday. Because of this we don't buy too many gifts for each other. We leave time to think about God and all the good things he has done for us. Afterall, it is his birthday. XD This break we went out of town to visit my auntie, uncle, and cousins. Stayed there for about a week and it was one of the best time I had. Even though the ride there was about 8 hours long I was still happy I went. More cousins I hadn't seen in a while came over while we were there and they played American Idol on the PS2. I didn't play though, the thing doesn't like my voice. XD It was fun to watch everyone though, and my sister ended up winning. We went to go see "the lights." Not sure where it was but there was all kinds of lights everywhere. It was better than I thought it would be, lights don't entertain me much. And after a few days of laying around playing games my auntie decided we should do something since we came over. We ended up going shopping, I didn't buy much, just walked around with my sisters and mom. There wasn't much I wanted from any place we went. Soon the time came, we had to go back to Illinois. I was just happy I got to see everyone again. My sister stayed up all night and ended up sleeping all the way home. So I had to try to stay up with my mom all the way back to keep her company. XD
Once we got back from Tennessee me and my sister had to go straight to our dad's house, where we spend every New Year. We throw a party with crab and seafood and stuff. Too bad I had to do most of the cleaning for that party. XD I had to clean up the basement, where the walls and ceiling had been torn down, leaving concrete and wood everywhere. I had to pick up the concrete and break it up so it would fit in a garbage. Then I had to carry the garbage upstairs. My dad told me to move all the wood to the other part of the basement so I could sweep and mom the floor. After all that was done all I had to do was bring in enough wood for the night. It took a few days to get all of my chores done. That including cleaning my room (it wouldn't be messy if people didn't throw stuff in there while I was gone. lol), sweeping and mopping all of the floors (I always do that), dealing with wood (All the time, even in summer), shoveling snow (It snowed a lot at the worst possible time. XD), and cleaning the basement (The worst part of the job). Once company came over though I got some time to play games with a few cousins, of course my dad had to call me so I can do some things but that always happens. When the countdown was starting everyone went downstairs to avoid stray gunshots and stuff. I got to spend New Year's with my good family and friends, like I always do. I think that it might be my most favorite part of the year after all of the work. Most families don't have traditions where they're all together for the New Year, but I'm glad I do.
And still after New Years day, there are a few more days of break left. I used those days to go to my grandma's house. Me and my sister hadn't been with her for a while and it was a good time to be there. We helped her work in her church, since she takes care of finances and things. Did that the first day and part of the second, but afterwards we went to go see a movie. The movie we saw was The Great Debaters. I won't tell everything, but it was about an African American college debating team becoming very successful. It was based in 1935, in the South where Jim Crowe laws still existed. My grandma thought it was a good idea to see it since we're African American and all. XD And it was produced by Oprah or something. I enjoyed the movie, better than I expected. My sister didn't like it as much. After the movie my Grandma brought me back to my dad's house where I took out the rest of the garbage and he brought me to my mom's house.
And now the morning afterwards I typed this. lol There are a few small details I should add. I finally beat all of the bosses on Paper Mario 2, a game I think came out in 2005, but I'd have to check. XD I never thought I was ready to beat a person at the bottom of a pit but I did it and won at my grandma's house. Also, I did do some clothes shopping sometime between Christmas and New Year's. I got some Ohio state gear and other clothes. Ohio state is a college my dad loves, and they have a great athletic program, including the football team. If I can, that would be the first place I go.
Now I'm just waiting for school to start again, can't say I'm ready for it but I get new classes, maybe a new lunch period. I had a great break and hopefully everyone else did too.
[Mugiwara Luffy] · Sat Jan 05, 2008 @ 05:21pm · 3 Comments |
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![[Mugiwara Luffy]](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/41/58/6d498f99485841.png?t=1341883411_6.00_11 "[Mugiwara Luffy]")