FOOTBALL CREED

1
FOOTBALL CREED
I AM A BROTHER Alone I will fail, together we
WILL succeed I AM A WARRIOR We suffer together so
that we WILL persevere together I AM A
CHAMPION We WILL train and we WILL play through
exhaustion And one day I will lay down my black
helmet And find that I am something more I AM A
MAN We defend this creed with fierce intensity
And we WILL always honor THE MISSION
WAR G-MEN
2
The G-MEN Code
Loyalty to School, Team and Teammate Serve
with Honor and Integrity On and Off the
Battlefield Ready to Lead, Ready to Follow,
Never Quit Take responsibility for your actions
and the actions of your teammates Excel as
Warriors through Discipline and Innovation
Train for War, Fight to Win, Defeat our
Enemies Earn your Gs everyday
3
Each of us contains an invisible part of our
bodies we cannot see, but one that we can feel.
This part of our body is called the soul. It is
through our souls that we search for the meaning
of life. However, one cannot discover the meaning
of life without fulfilling the soul first. Some
people search their entire lives without ever
truly finding or understanding what the meaning
of life is for them, or how they can fulfill
their souls. For the athlete, it is simple.
Through athletics, the meaning of life is often
discovered at a young age. Fulfillment of the
soul is then achieved through the athlete's
understanding that he cannot live without
competitive athletics. In other words, the Old
School Athlete must Live To Play."
4
"The warrior spirit reminds me that no one can
stop me today That this is my day. Hidden inside
of me is a warrior who reacts on instinct waiting
to be released. As I buckle my chinstrap,
instinct consumes my body and mind, knowing that
I have worked harder and prepared myself to
conquer the man across from me. Life will no
longer be the same. I will push myself to
unbearable pain only to have that pain fade away
each time the ball is snapped. Fatigue plays no
favorites in football. It only fears those who
have worked hard in the days before the game. I
visualize myself making plays only champions
could make. My heart races as the game is fast
and bodies move in blurred motion. Blood and
sweat bead off my body as the game goes on. My
emotions take over, challenging my limits. It's
simple! The battlefield is made up of warriors
that play an intense game based upon the elements
of speed, strength and endurance. This game is a
way of life, and it has taught me all that I
know. After each battle, I lie physically
exhausted, left only to ponder on the Blessings
From The Battlefield."
5
"The mind of an athlete is a powerful weapon. My
weapon begins working each time I step into the
locker room. A special room, my room, where my
pregame rituals always remain the same. It is in
this room where I first take seat on the bench,
when I mentally begin preparing myself for the
game. I begin with a thought process, which tells
me there are two kinds of athletes in this world
Athletes who set goals and meet them. In
addition, athletes who set goals but never act on
them. Myself, I am an athlete, born and raised. I
act on the goals I set for myself! As I begin to
undress the layer of life, which matters no more,
I remind myself how lucky I really am. How lucky
I am to have my health. How lucky I am to have
been given these abilities to play this game that
I love so much. But most of all, how lucky I am
to dress myself with pride in this uniform once
again. As I lace up my shoes and look around the
room, I pray that my teammates have similar
thoughts. I pray that they understand the
significance of this room. That this is our
meeting place. The place where we have shared so
many good times, but also helped one another get
through the bad. The place where we have come
together again to prepare ourselves for another
fight of our lives. I have now fine-tuned my
weapon, and I am ready to make my goals become
reality. I am ready to go out there and play this
game as if it were the last game I was ever able
to play. I reflect upon one final thought How
thankful I am for the opportunity to once again
enter and leave The Locker Room."
6
Every athlete has an inner voice of pride. It is
the voice only athletes can hear, pushing them to
the brink of exhaustion, demanding excellence and
condemning failure. Failure, understand, is the
driving force behind an athlete. Every athlete
has experienced failure, and now trains so they
will not experience it again. This inner voice
knows the difference between training and
exercising. Many athletes exercise, stopping when
they have reached a perceived limit, or when it
becomes uncomfortable to continue. But only a
select few athletes have the heart and desire to
train unconditionally. Only a select few push
past their physical and mental limits. Only a
select few push past the pain and discomfort.
Only a select few have the courage and the
character to understand that training makes them
quicker, faster, stronger, but most importantly,
allows them to gain a mental edge over future
opponents. So when failure laughs in my face as I
desperately try and earn the respect of that last
repetition, it must realize one thing Each time
I train, I not only hear, but I answer The Inner
Voice."
7
You might be asking yourself, "What could this
mirror I am looking into possibly have to do with
athletics?" You should be asking yourself this
question, because you should never stop asking
yourself questions that deal with your work ethic
as an athlete. You have never thought about it,
but you and this mirror share the closest and
most intimate relationship between you and
anything else in your life. You will not admit to
anyone else that you did not work as hard as you
could have today, but the real truth lies deep
inside you, and even deeper inside the mirror.
The one great thing about you being the athlete
and the mirror being the mirror is that the
mirror will never lie to you and you will never
be able to fool the mirror. The truth surfaces
each time you look back into your own eyes with
each passing glance and reflective stare. You,
the athlete Contemplating whether you can accept
or not accept all you did this very day to be the
best athlete you can be. Understand, you are the
only one who has to look at yourself through this
mirror - not only today, but every day. You are
the only one who has to look inside before you
sleep at night wondering whether your conscience
can reconcile with each passing beat of your
heart the thought that you may not have given the
game all you should have today. And because today
is now over, you are the only one who knows what
you must do tomorrow. These concepts reveal the
greatest truths that you will ever know about
yourself, as you see what you want to see through
your own eyes. You see the real you in your
purest form. What is left then, are two
questions, and only your soul holds the key Are
you honest with your virtues, your weaknesses,
and most of all yourself? And can you live,
without any regrets, each and every time you look
at The Athlete Inside The Mirror ?