Saturday, November 12, 2011

Non-Aggressive Versus Aggressive Behavior

One of the biggest problems I had in high school sports was I wasn't aggressive enough. I was competitive but I never really wanted to hurt someone. The only time I really would get physical enough was when I had my buttons pushed or if someone was playing dirty. So I am not running cross-country or wrestling here at college but apparently in intramurals, there are a few kids who still are pursuing their high school dreams of professional sports. They just are way too into it and so they throw a couple cheap shots when they are down.

We are in the playoffs for intramural soccer and it is single elimination. We took a little time as a team to hit our peak but we couldn't have planned it better. Last game, we had a lot more control over the ball, great ball movement, solid passes, people stayed in their positions, and we just played as a team. I ended up personally with an assist for a goal and two goals myself. In the end, we won 4-2. It was just a solid game and both team played well, we just happened to be a little bit better that day. Today was a slightly different story.

Today I was not the next Ronaldinho by any means. In fact, I didn't score at all. My roommate however had a solid give-and-go which set him up with a great goal. We won in the end 3-1 because of Ryan's goal and two other goals that were crosses that went off the defense and into the back of the net. Still, a win is a win and we took it with a smile on our faces. The reason for the post though is the first game was just a solid game and everyone played fair.

This last game however, as the opposing team started to fall apart, poor passes, struggled to trap the ball, a few of the players began to play overly aggressively. They started shoving and pushing off, stiff arming, cussing, and just gave me a hundred of different reasons to give them a real reason to complain. One player in particular was a real jerk and I wish I could have had an opportunity to play closer to him but he went out to send in a corner. I saw one of his teammates who was also getting overly aggressive call for the ball and start into the box. I am not a huge guy but I grew up playing basketball and all sorts of sports with my older brother... 5 inches taller than me, 60 to 80 pounds bigger than me. Needless to say, I had to learn how to lower my center of gravity and really hold my weight and my own. So this kid sends the ball in, his teammate cuts into the box towards the goal and I just lower my weight and I step into him and just level him. The ball goes off of him and goes out of bounds so we get the ball back. To say they were upset might be a small understatement. I'm sorry but they deserved it plus it was a solid hit. After that, I just didn't let up and was more aggressive. I didn't mean to hurt anyone but I did send a kid limping off the field because he was trying to dribble through me and I wouldn't let him.

I am grateful for my mission. When I came home, my family said the biggest thing they saw as a change was my personality. I was less competitive after playing games and I wouldn't get upset when I wasn't playing well. Still, every once in a while my past behavior comes out and rears its ugly head. Good thing I am big enough to actually back up my scrappy behavior.

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