WHY I FOUND SUCCESS IN MY LIFE.
So a lot of times you know I like to joke around and talk goofy about being a snapper and that’s what I am and love doing it but I feel like I should tell you how grateful I am to be a snapper and how grateful I am to play football at the Division 1 level. But its something that did not always come easy to me and something that I worked harder than anything I had to ever do. Now I also don’t claim to say that I’m perfect as you will read I’m not, but here are some things that helped me get to where I am.
1. BE UNSTOPPABLE. BE. UN. STOPPABLE
When I was younger my dad would talk about wrestling with mike and I all the time. We were always interested in it and couldn’t wait to start. So my opportunity had come to start wrestling. My brother and I were both soo excited. But when I was in 3rd grade I dislocated my shoulder and then again in 4th grade I dislocated my shoulder. My dad had told me not to wrestle because of the intensity of the sport on an athlete’s body.
But I assured my dad that I really wanted to do this. I think it was because my brother did, if you know Mike and I at all we always do the same thing, as cliché as being a twin sounds. I loved doing things with mike. I don’t know why I mean look at the guy. Ha-ha. Anyhow My 5th grade year at wrestling I started out and my first match had come after 2 months of learning and preparing, against Bolingbrook (back when it was known as BJ Brooks) and I was so excited I finally couldn’t wait to wrestle a real live match.
I went out all excited and ready to go. The match lasted :15 and I got pinned and lost. I felt so embarrassed. I didn’t even stand a chance and all my friends had won. I wiped off the loss and went back at it. Every day at practice I was just a “Fish” as the weak kids are known in the wrestling world. I couldn’t do anything; I went back and lost another match. And another. And another. All I could do was loose. I couldn’t win at all. I was the opposite of the Dj Khalid song. I was working just as hard as all the other kids in the room and still couldn’t win. I lost every. Single. Match. That year. 0-18. In 5th I could not win. So I kept at it. I don’t even know why, I guess it was just because I couldn’t stand to loose so I just kept at it until I finally knew I could win a match. Try to loose 18 straight matches and pursue through that.
The next season had rolled around and after wrestling all summer long I finally won a match (Against mike at an offseason tournament ;)) which kind of made it a little sweeter. The next season I went 6-12. Then the season after that 18-9 and a state qualifier. I finally had made it to state after going through a season of loosing every single match I had ever wrestled. You just have to have the drive to win at anything you do. EVEN IF IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO FIGHT 10x HARDER THAN ANYONE ELSE DOING IT.
“I don't care what's probable,
Through blood, sweat, and tears, I am unstoppable." –Anthony Robles (2011 National Champion Wrestler)
2. Sacrifice what you want at the moment for what you can have for a lifetime.
My freshman year of college football I had came into camp scared and nervous and not knowing what to expect. I had been dropped off after spending my whole life with the family that I loved and would always be comfortable with. I was now, in a way, by myself, and having to compete. As you can imagine my first couple of days of camp I didn’t preform as well as I would have liked. So I faced the decision that was looking at me right in the face. Quit, leave everything you worked for and you will escape the frustration and failure and you wont have to see it again. Now as everyone around me knows that was not going to be the option I chose. So I took the route that I only knew how. After practice every day after our lunch I would go down with my kicker in the lobby…listen to that…I went to the LOBBY OF OUR DORM ROOM and would snap for an hour, snap after snap until I was perfect. Andrew Haldeman (one of our kickers) would come down with me every day after lunch during our only time off and would come to catch and hold for me.
Not many people know what football camp was like but if your not on the field or eating your sleeping. Just so your body can function. Sleep becomes something you need and look forward to. But that’s what I wanted at the moment. I knew if I would just ignore the subpar play of mine and sleep, nothing would be fixed and I would be in the same situation I was in day after day. So instead of sleep, I snapped. Snapped every day in the same lobby in the same dorm. Every day. There was one night Haldeman, bless his heart, came out to the middle of campus at 10:30pm (knowing we would have to be up at 6:30 the next morning) came out and held and caught for me. Next thing you know I was snapping perfect balls, well close to perfect ;) and was back on target and back to my normal self. This process took about 2 weeks to get through but it was something that I knew I had to do in order to compete during the hardest of hard in the dog days of the hot Michigan summer.
“I believe that if you put in the work, the results will come” –Michael Jordan
3. SURROUND YOURSLEF WITH GOOD PEOPLE
One of my coaches in high school always said to me “If you hang around garbage, you start to smell like it” I’ve been always fortunate enough to have a strong family around me that always supported me whenever I needed anything but I’ve also been very lucky to have the friends that I do. All of the have helped me no matter what wither it was because my truck had ran out of gas (ha-ha most of my friends remember those days!) or if it was someone I needed to talk to because something was on my mind. All my friends have been there for me at one time or another and they are all good kids. I’m very lucky to have them because without them I would not be where I am at today. I know it sounds Cliché but it’s the truth if you’re surrounded by people that do bad things or are never supportive of you, your dreams will never come true. I’m not saying my friends were angels but they were pretty darn good people.
4. HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF!!!
To be a long snapper confidence is something that you have to have. That and your talent that you have worked on day after day. Snapping is like being on an island where you have to land the ball on a quarter size target or else your fired. You need confidence. It isn’t just something. Its one of the only things, it’s a tool you need to finish the job. It is also something that is not bought either, nor is it something that’s only relatable in sports. Confidence affects every aspect of your life. Whither it’s meeting people, meeting a girl, talking to your boss or just carrying yourself in public. I’ve always said confidence is like a GPS your lost without it.
5. DON’T LET YOUR FALIURES CONSUME YOUR LIFE, YET GUIDE IT TO PERFECTION
There is a saying at western “Fail fast and forget” So things don’t always go as planned, that’s life! Heck it would be more boring if you were always succeeding at something. When my brother would wrestle in high school he would have a ton of victories. He was all conference his junior and senior year but he would always say he learned more from his loses then his victory. He watched film of how come he lost and fixed it. He didn’t let the loss (failure) consume him and say, “Well I mean darn that’s it, I can’t beat this kid.” He figured it out and let that guide him to his success. If whenever you fail don’t let it consume you and affect every aspect of your life because then you will continue to fail. If you use it to guide you then shrug it off you will become successful.
6. BE ABLE TO BEND
Something that has helped me get through the tough times as well as the good times is being able to bend. Life throws so many curves and different scenarios that can happen. Being able to bend and be flexible to what is going on around you will guide you to success. You will find yourself one dimensional and not very happy with life if you can’t go with the flow and let things slide and take advantage of different opportunities.
7. Finally BREATHE! LOVE LIFE AND RELAX NOW AND THEN
Throughout this blog I talk a lot about how I have had to work hard and dedicate my time to working out or training or what have you but make no mistake everyone needs time to relax and unwind. Something that not a lot of people know is I love poetry and music. Its my avenue to express what ever is on my mind, I love doing it. I also like to relax with my friends or kickers. If you work yourself everyday and grind life out everyday you’re going to work yourself to an early grave. LOVE THE LIFE YOU LIVE!!! Smile! You’re alive and breathing and have just as much of an opportunity to be successful as anyone in the world. I wasn’t always the strongest, fastest or brightest kid in the world but I knew what I was good at and rolled with it. YOUR NOT GOING TO BE GOOD AT EVERYTHING but the things that you are good at are what make you, you. So smile, breathe and tell a joke every once in a while. Life’s too short to be uptight!
Again thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to read this, it means a lot that you do!! Feel free to shoot me some feedback!
Yours truly, Nicolas Monaghan J
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