Winners Adjust

Introduction “On a warm, sunny Sunday, I left Panama City Beach and headed to Daytona Beach, to attend my 2nd All-Star game. Everything was going according to plan. I was fresh off an MVP performance in my first All-Star game, and I was ready to display the same performance in my next outing. As I arrived in Daytona Beach, the first thing on my agenda was to attend orientation followed by a team meeting. I also have to receive my practice and game gear. After completing those tasks, the head coach informed me that practice was scheduled for the next morning. I headed back to my room to stretch so that my muscles could relax and be ready for practice. After stretching, I took a nice, warm shower, and immediately went to bed. Waking up to beautiful weather, I was excited to have my first day of practice. The practice is slated for 9 am, and I feel like a kid in a candy store. It starts with team stretching, followed by 1-on-1’s. I dominated in 1-on-1’s and now I was ready to display the same dominance in 7-on-7. I huddled up with the first offensive group to take the 1st rep. After getting the play call from the quarterback, I jogged to the line of scrimmage, buckling my chinstrap. While in my receiver stance the quarterback screams, “Down! Set! Hike!” I EXPLODED off the line!……… Let’s rewind to the beginning of things!” Chapter: Pre-Game Who is Matt Fisher? Everyone has goals and dreams which they pursue in life. While pursuing these goals and dreams, difficulties and obstacles will arise. What defines a person’s character is will they quit, or keep going when things are not going the way they expect. Born in Tampa, Fl., on November 3, 1990, I, Matt Fisher faced many obstacles in my life and often found myself in crises. With the end goal in mind, my will to win kept me chasing my goals and dreams. I knew that if I quit, I could NEVER accomplish any of my goals, but if I made the necessary adjustments, anything was possible. This mindset helped me adapt so that the odds of success would be in my favor. My journey didn’t go as planned, but I was able to make the proper adjustments in order to be satisfied with the results. From early childhood to early adulthood, my loved ones knew that I was destined to be a winner, competitor, athlete, entrepreneur, and most of all, a leader. Throughout my entire life, I dealt with people doubting me due to certain behaviors that I displayed. Truthfully speaking, some of my behaviors didn’t match who/what I wanted to become in life. Instead of people trying to steer me in the right direction, they chose to doubt me and count me as another statistic in the system. I knew then that it would be up to me to choose my path in life. I faced many trials and tribulations in life but I didn’t let them make me quit. Failure was something I wasn’t ok with and I definitely wasn’t settling for it. I continued to pursue my goals and dreams and told myself that I would NOT let anything stop me from doing so. I dedicated my early part of childhood and adulthood playing sports with hopes of making it to the pros. I played basketball, tee-ball, and football. Being that I possessed a small frame, many doubted me and often told me that I was too small to make it to the pros. I couldn’t control my size, but I could control how hard I worked. These doubts fueled me and I set out to prove my doubters wrong. Football was my favorite sport and I started playing at the age of 6. I fell in love with it thanks to my cousin Camron Akins (Cam). Cam was my idol and he too was from Tampa, FL. Even though I was 7 years younger than him, I trained with him almost every morning during summers, starting at the age of 5. Cam and I, along with his dad, would get up at 4 a.m. to take a jog around the neighborhood. As we jogged, Cam’s dad trailed us in his van just in case one of us couldn’t complete it. Once we completed the jog, a weightlifting session followed in our grandmother’s garage. This took place for three straight summers, and it instilled hard work and dedication within me. Cam was a standout athlete in basketball and football and was known throughout the nation due to his athletic abilities. Growing up, I wanted to be like Cam; I literally mean be ‘just like him.’ I followed ALL of his footsteps, but I never informed him that I was doing so. He is the reason why I wanted to be a wide receiver. He taught me everything I know when it came to football. Cam had a very bright future in football, and I couldn’t help but notice that it motivated him to stay on the right track. My parents noticed this as well. He was the ONLY cousin that I was allowed to go with, without my parents questioning where we were going. He was a standout wide receiver in high school and was granted a full scholarship to the University of Tampa State. When Cam took his official visit, he took me with him where I got the chance to meet the head coach. I had the opportunity to shake the coach’s hand, see his championship rings, and tour the athletic facilities. Even when Cam enrolled at the University of Tampa State, we remained very close. I visited him often and it motivated me to follow in his footsteps. My first tackle football stint started in Tampa’s City League when I was 11 years old. I performed very well and my future looked promising. I was doing a great job in following Cam’s footsteps. During conservations with Cam, he informed me that middle school is when the scouts start looking for the next star. As I approached the 6th grade, I was very excited because I knew I would have an opportunity to try out for team sports and start my legacy. The 6th grade is where I experienced my first dosage of failure. I tried out for the football and basketball team, but I didn’t make either one. The crazy part about this is that my grandma spoke with the head coach for both teams almost every week. I felt as if I had a spot on both teams but this wasn’t the case. It taught me that no one is going to give me anything in life; I would have to earn it. Even though it was still early in my career, this experience led me to doubt myself, and question if I wanted to continue playing sports. During my entire 6th-grade year, I wasn’t involved in any sports. As a result, I had A LOT of free time on my hands. Even with a lot of free time, I didn’t use it to my advantage. When I should have been working on improving my athletic abilities, I indulged in things that got me in trouble. My first school fight occurred when I was in 6th grade. A boy snitched on me in class and I was placed in time-out for the remainder of the class period. Time-out doesn’t sound too bad, but time-out during a 2-hour class period was extremely hard for me to deal with. I figured fighting was the way to resolve this. Upset and in rage, I was ready for class to end so that I could take matters into my own hands. I saw the guy in the hallway, immediately approached him, and punched him in the jaw without saying a word. He instantly grabbed his jaw and went into surrender mode. This incident ended with me receiving 5 days in ‘In-School Suspension.’ It appeared as if I was steering away from chasing my dream to make it to the pros.