Mistakes Bring Out Character

Being an athlete mistakes are always destined to happen, you just hope and pray they don't happen to you in a big situation. I remember the biggest mistake of my high school football career. Senior year my coach moved me from linebacker to defensive end because the tackle for the opposing team was tall and it took him by surprise when a 5'11" 195 pound guy lines up opposite of him. He probably weighed about 250 pounds at best and stood about 6'5". He actually laughed at me and said that he can't believe how small I was and that he couldn't wait to use me on his highlight reel. I just gave a grin and got into position, ball gets snapped and I beat him bad got in the backfield to and took down their quarterback giving me my first sack of the season. This was my first start ever, I normally played only special teams but my coach gave me a chance and I took advantage. The next play resulted in the same outcome helped my teammate into a pass break up, which left them in a third down and long distance to a first. Even though we were only two plays into the game I had made this tackle eat his words. The third down play will haunt me forever, because this play is what made everyone start to believe that I wasn’t' good enough. I got in the back field to meet the running back 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and we made contact, I tired frantically to take him down. He slipped through my fingers and ran for almost 85 yards to get within our end zone and set up a scoring drive. That mistake brought doubt into everyone’s mind including my coach. He took me out of the game and benched me till the second half. I beat myself up about it all the way until the second half started. It put me in a mindset of deep failure; my next two plays were just as bad as the missed tackle. The offensive tackle who laughed at me took me to the ground twice in humiliating pancake blocks. I let that one mistake start to ruin my whole tempo. My head coach and teammates gave me a pep talk on the side line and well the rest of that game I did great. I ended that night with 1.5 sacks, 5 solo tackles, and 1 missed tackle. That one missed tackle basically put me on special teams the rest of the year. Since that game I did nothing but practice wrapping up the player and getting a firm grip and taking them to the ground. That one huge mistake where everyone saw it made me the player I am today. Many people doubt me; say I'm too small, not big enough, and not strong enough to play football. That one mistake turned me into a monster, because now I get to play college football, and all I do is work harder and harder. That one mistake replays in my mind over and over, to remind me why people doubt me. That one mistake helped me become a better football player. It showed me my weakness and I focused on that weakness until it became one of my greatest strengths. Failures and mistakes teach us a lot about who we are on the inside, what kind of character we have. Obviously after that mistake, up until my coach came to talk to me, my character was poor and weak. After that mistake, my character is strong and can't be broken. No matter how many times you fail you can always bounce back. You can fall a thousand times, but you will always stand up a thousand and one times. Let your mistakes guide you; I had to learn that the hard way, not only in sports but in education too. Let your mistakes give you that inner drive to prove yourself wrong and your teacher wrong. One grade doesn't determine your whole school year; just like that one bad play didn’t determine the end of my football career. Never give up, if anything when you fail strive that much harder to succeed. Let your mistakes be your motivators, don't let them limit you from the person you can become.