Mařenka v Americe

All right ladies and gentlemen, it has been a 2 weeks since my last article, and here I come back with a brand new one about my football experience! But hopefully, I'll also get to how did I deal with leaving all my "Czech" life behind, with feelings of homesickness etc. First of all, I gotta say, that signing up for football was one of the best things I could've done. So if you're a Ballard Bombers football member, thank you. I couldn't have even imagined of how awesome you guys will be, so thank you so much for all the good times we had, it helped me so much, especially soon after I arrived. When I came to watch the very first practice, I was really uncertain if I will even make any friends at all, I was thinking of how long will it take for me to fit in and become a part of the team. So yeah, I was pretty nervous. And the way how these guys behaved to me, how they started to talk to me right away, it just felt unbelievable to me. At the beginning, I was required to have a few practices without pads. I'm not gonna lie, it really felt weird to put on a helmet and pads for the first time. Right now, I'm kinda sad that I didn't come here earlier, so I could start training sooner and be completely ready for games as soon as season starts. Our first Varsity game was at city called Boone, and no, I was not playing. I was not even suiting up, I just wore a jersey and jeans. And I gotta say, at the beginning of the game, I was not really impressed. Well, I can honestly say that it changed drastically over the time of the game. When we went to the overtime with Boone, I suddenly understood why everyone make football such a big deal. After watching that game, I started to comprehend what each roles are about. And after few practices, I can honestly say that I fell for football. I gradually started to play at the JV games and even made my appearance at the Varsity games. Yes, Friday nights are really something special. Even in the morning, even at the school on Friday you can feel the atmosphere of the game day. It is kinda hard to describe the moments before the games in locker room, I guess you'd have to experience it yourself to actually get the idea. From the Monday JV games, over Wednesday guys nights and pre game practices, to Friday nights that were both painful and amazing, football was certainly the biggest and most amazing experience during my exchange. But it's not only about the sport and the hard work itself. I fell for football mostly because of the people in football team. I can say that it's probably hard to understand for people from Czech Republic, but the relationships between the guys are so awesome and friendly, it just felt unreal to me at first. Whole team eating dinner together basically 3 times a week? As I said before, I couldn't have hoped for a better group of guys (even though they can be a bunch of d***s sometimes :D). Statistics-wise, we were the 3rd team in the history of Ballard High School to make it through first round of play-offs, so I can honestly say that it has been one hell of the season. It was an honor guys, thank you very much.

Now, my sister recently asked me of how did I deal with all the pressure of leaving everything behind. Well, I think I just described one of the huge factors of my acclimatization here. One thing that also helped was that as soon as I left Czech Republic my mind instantly switched to "it's on you now" mode, so I kinda enjoy the "feeling of adventure" now. This journey here was certainly the most important step and thing in my life so far. No doubts about it, I can see how my mindset is changing overtime, as I experience new things here (and the religion is a huge factor here for me too, yeah, I'm surprised too). It is true that I still think about my previous life, and that I've been homesick (like 2 days so far, thankfully), but all the new lovely people, experiences and the entire new world around you will surely prevail over the feelings of homesickness. So if that hadn't been clear from my articles so far, if you're thinking of going to different country, alone, for a long period of time, JUST DO IT. Oh, and one more information, I recently decided to extend my exchange here, so I am staying whole school year instead of just one semester, yaaay!
See you next week!

Damy a panove, vazeni a mili, bratri a sestry je mym potesenim vas po delsi dobe privitat u jednoho z mych clanku. V dnesnim se doctete o tom jake jsem mel zkusenosti s americkym fotbalem a snad se take dostanu k tomu jak jsem se tu vyrovnaval se vsim tim natlakem a styskanim si po domove.
Taaakze, jako prvni reknu, ze zapsat se na fotbal byla ta nejlepsi vec jakou jsem mohl udelat. Jsem neskutecne vdecny vsem klukum z tymu, diky nim to tu pro me je pohadka.
Ani ve snu jsem si nemohl predstavit jak moc uzasne si budu fotbal uzivat, kolik zazitku si ze sezony odnesu, kolik zkusenosti mi fotbal da a hlavne jak moc mi tenhle kolektiv pomuze vyrovnavat se se vsim hned potom co jsem priletel. Kdyz jsem poprve vyrazil na trenink, poprve kluky videl, nebyl jsem si ani trochu jisty ze si najdu vubec nejake kamarady, premyslel jsem jak dlouho mi bude trvat nez alespon trochu zapadnu, tak ze na me kluci nebou koukat jako na "foreignera" ale jako na plnohodnotneho clena tymu. A to jak se ke me kluci chovali, jak se se mnou ihned zacli bavit a zvat na Movie & Halo nights a spolecne vecere, ohromilo me to. No, abych se vratil zpatky k fotbalu samotnemu, musel jsem povinne podstoupit cca tri treninky bez chranicu, lekarskou prohlidku, a az pote jsem byl ready pustit se do treninku na 100%. Nebudu lhat, kdyz jsem si poprve nasadil chranice a helmu, pripadal jsem si jako slon v porcelanu. Momentalne me trochu mrzi ze jsem nedorazil o tri tydny drive kdy zacinaly treninky, abych mohl byt driv ready na plnohodnotnou sezonu. Nase prvni "Varsity" zapas byl v mestecku Boone, ani jsem se neoblekal, na zapas jsem jel v kalhotech a dresu, a z lavicky sledoval jak se kluci rozcvicuji a rikal si jestli tohle je sport pro me. Ano, byl jsem ze zacatku ponekud skepticky. Ze zacatku zapasu jsem si rikal ze to treba neni ani tak zajimave. A kdyz sel zapas do prodlouzeni, atmosfera byla nekde ve vesmiru a my jsme si na "sidelines" skakali po hlavach. Po tom co jsme vybojovali vitezstvi v prodlouzeni jsem pochopil proc tu vsichni delaji z fotbalu takovy big deal. Po par trenincich jsem zacal chapat jednotlive role a muzu uprimne rict ze po cca trech tydnech jsem se do fotbalu zamiloval. Postupne jsem zacal nastupovat v zakladu na "Junior Varsity" zapasech (kde jsem se v druhe pulce sezony stal kapitanem obrany kde jsem hral bud jako defensive end nebo outside linebacker) a take se objevovat v patecnich zapasech "Varsity" (ve "special teams" a na stejnych postech jako v JV). Jo, patecni vecery a noci jsou neco vskutku specialniho. Je to tezke vysvetlit, nicmene kazdemu bych pral aby si to zkusil na vlastni kuzi (jake to asi musi byt s fotbalem na vejsce nebo v NFL?). Dokonce i rano ve skole je citit atmosfera, vsichni uz premysleji o zapase a ne az tak o skole. :D A popsat ty chvile v kabine nez jdeme na zapas? Myslim si o sobe ze jsem dobry v pisemnem projevu, ale tohle jde jen tezko popsat. Kdyz nas trener hecuje a energie v kabine je nekde naprosto v oblacich, kdyz se pred vstupem na hriste s celym tymem modlime, kdyz stojime na hristi a hraje hymna... Kdyz 20 sekund pred koncem skorujeme na vitezstvi... Kdyz stojim na hristi vteriny pred snapem a nervozitu prevalcuje adrenalin, kdyz pri tretim downu sundavam quaterbacka 5 yardu za line of scrimmage... Od pondelnich JV zapasu, pres drsne treninky a zabavu na guys nights, az po predzapasove treninky a patecni vecery (ktere byly i bolestive i uzasne), fotbal byl naprosto jiste nejvetsi a nejuzasnejsi zazitek a zkusenost meho dosavadniho pobytu. Ale to vsechno neni jen kvuli sportu samotnemu, ale hlavne kvuli lidem ktere jsem mel kolem sebe. Je tezke pravdepodobne tezke pochopit, ale behem sezony se z tymu opravdu stava jedna velka rodina... Jak uz jsem zminil v predeslych vetach, ani jsem nemohl doufat v lepsi skupinu kluku (asi proto jak dokazou byt obcas stejni k***ti jako mi drazi kamaradi v Hradci). Pokud bych mel mluvit o statistikach, byli jsme 3. tym v historii Ballard High School co postoupil pres prvni kolo statnich play-off, takze muzu rici ze to byla velmi uspesna sezona a pro me zazitek na cely zivot.

Nedavno se me ma draha sestricka zeptala na to jak se vyrovnavam s timhle vsim natlakem toho ze jsem tak daleko od domova a ze jsem prakticky nechal vse za sebou. Myslim si ze clankem o fotbale jsem ujasnil jeden ze zasadnich faktoru moji aklimatizace tady. Taky mi hrozne moc pomohlo prave to ze jsem tady "sam" a vse zalezi jen na me a na tom co si ja tady zaridim, coz si momentalne uzivam na 100%. Obecne, tahle cesta do USA byla bez debaty ten nejvetsi a nejdulezitejsi krok a zkusenost v mem zivote. Sam vidim jak se psychicky menim, jak se mi meni hodnoty, jak ziskavam vsechny nove zazitky a zkusenosti (k memu prekvapeni na me hodne pusobi i vira a to jaky dopad ma vira na lidi tady). Nebudu popirat to ze obcas myslim na svuj predesly zivot a na vsechny lidi v Cechach, ale dikybohu jsem byl "homesick" asi jen dva dny, ale vsichni ti novi pratele, lidi a nove prostredi vzdy predezenou pocity styskani. Pokud to do ted nebylo z mych clanku jasne, pokud mate moznost, prostredky a jen uvazujete nad tim jestli jet a nebo ne, na nic necekejte a skocte do toho po hlave. Oh, jeste jedna novinka, z puvodniho pul roku tady se stal rok, necekejte me zpet drive nez v cervnu, yaaay!
Tak zase za tyden!