About a couple years ago I started my journey to become MMA fighter. I made the decision after watching the UFC for years and other MMA promotions and I did boxing for a couple years and even join a wrestling club so I had some ground experience and some punch experience so I figured I’d give it a shot.  Little did I know that the journey was going to be a lot harder than I thought. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) combines boxing with martial arts and wrestling. Because it puts all the forms together which is kind of weird when you think of it. Getting started seem to take forever but once I did and decided I’d stay with it, I felt right about it all the way up to my first fight.

While I was nervous at the beginning I knew I would have to have a different mindset that I could focus with. Normally I weigh in at 230 pounds which is pretty good. At the time of weigh in and don’t make weight. I’m overweight at 232 ,so yeah I’m 2 pound advantaged  but I think it wouldn’t count towards record. By this time he’s already made weight. I’ve actually made weight. I didn’t want to eat because I was nervous. Around lunchtime i believe i went for a run to boost my cardio and the whole time i just thought of what the fans would think or what the other kid i was facing was thinking he had already fought so i believe so i doubt he was nervous at all.

I remember that i called my coach after the run and asked him what time i should get to the gym he said he would call me when he was ready for me. Then i believe that I went to my basement and used my punching bag for a bit to work on my hand work. To be honest I think this made me more nervous to fight thinking that I would even mess up in my basement. That was definitely probably the worst part of the pre fight.

When I got to the gym in the afternoon I was very nervous and even got worse which upset me a lot so I feel like I should be even more confident by the time I got to the gym but I wasn’t. I still have really nervous throughout the day and I could go really mad at myself for this. I’m going to have no stamina or food in my stomach going into the fight. I’ve barely even had a glass of water all day to drink. My manager was like damn it now. I got to get you a smoothie or go make you one, otherwise you never know if you’ll last in the ring. I mean he had a point and I was just too nervous to disagree with him.

Fast forward about a couple hours later I get my gear on and I got on this stupid sweatshirt I wore to walk out to the ring with. There was a weird symbol on a black Nike sweatshirt.  I felt my shorts were way too short and tight the time. That was just something that nobody asked for and nobody want to see including myself but it was too late to go back. Then I walked over to the area where the coaches were. They went over what I’ve learned in my training I think they were wrapping my hands and talking to me. I started to lose focus of the coaches when I thought i would get knocked out in 13 seconds there goes everything I work for done in 13 seconds and I dont want everyone to be  laughing at me and then I can pretty much consider my career will be over so unfortunately I was not listen to him as you can tell .

Then it was time the moment felt like you was in slow motion. My entrance music hit fuck up some commas by Future at time for some reason I thought to myself this music appropriate for children but then I said why do I care it’s my flight. I was already starting to sweat and feel nervous I canfeel the crowd staring at me. The other kids friends and family were there just to see the fight and I thought to myself why am I doing this. My shorts felt Tighter then ever and I was not a fan and I kind of wanted to go home at that moment. Then I was pulled aside by the official and he goes over the rules with you and those other ring guys put like the Vaseline on your face for when you get punched. Then they make sure you cut your fingernails. Then they check your gloves and pads on your body is see if not hiding any weapons which I kind of find ridiculously I could sneak out LED pipe in there. Then I stopped right before I stepped in the cage said a quick prayer in the entrance way and stepped in and just feel the adrenaline running.

Then my opponent made his entrance and he came out. He was 25 years old and about 8 pounds heavier than me about a couple inches taller so he was already bigger and had a better recored which meant he could definitely beat me up. It’s possible that I could have beat him but i didn’t . Next thing you know I hear bell ringing and it’s time to go. I didnt treat it like any other match, like most competitive matches the first thing to do is just square up and land punches early on my account. Next thing you know I heard the bell rang and it was time. we approach each other in the ring and the next thing you know he got some good punches on me and it kind of set me back because of that I got more nervous. Then I kind of settled in my mind and once 4 I got a few good punches end in even somehow successfully landed a takedown and brought him to the ground. Then at the end of round 1 i was still up then round 2 started then it all wnet down hill and i got knocked out.But hey how many people can say they survived in the first round of the MMA debut and actually have a decent first round. So i was very proud of myself.

When I was in high school and played football we had to go to mandatory weight lifting and I thought about those days and how I kind of missed clanging and banging the weights with the guys three times a week so then I thought why not do that. Go back to my high school and observe the new generation of Tiverton Tigers football players. I thought it would be a good experience to go through the old gym in my old high school and just see the boys doing their thing.

So I  contacted my old High School coaches and asked if they didn’t mind if I observed weight lifting.I told them this was a project for my college English class. They didn’t seem to mind and said they would be okay with it as long as I didn’t get in the way. That was the answer that I honestly thought I would get from them, literally word for word. It was good to pull up to the old parking lot and see my old school . This was my  old stomping ground  and I could not wait to open the door to that old gym and just  see it all. All the rusty equipment was probably from like the Seventies or Eighties when Coach Murray, our head coach took over. I still recognize a few young guys  that I played with.  There  are many freshmen I did not recognize. Seeing all this brought back some good memories.

When I walked into the gym I said hello to some people and I asked them to act like II wasn’t there . I explained to them I was observing  for a school project. I sat down on the bleachers and just watched and observed some of the stuff I remember add some new methods that they have learned from the coaches and other people since the two years I have been gone from high school. It was cool to see some of the kids that were freshmen when I was a senior in high school. I could not believe how big they were height  and muscle wise. I was completely amazed . Then again looking at them also made me realize how old I was.

To hear the coaches looking at them and telling them what numbers to go over such as  how much they should be benching and just observing the details of their weight and how much they’re going to put up on the set.  To  see the weights  moving up and down with sweat dripping down  their faces and bodies. These  kids were pushing their bodies to the limit. The rusty plates and bench bars scraping the other metal and banging together was a sound I thought I wouldn’t miss at all but it turns out I actually did.  Going through bench press  was hard enough for some of these kids but then I remembered they had so much other stuff to go through such as squatting and power curling.

Seeing them hit the squat racks was an interesting sight as well as seeing them have to pick up the heavy weight and then put these weights on the bar right before they squatted. Then the kid got into position where two kids who are spotting him get on each side of the rack. He made the all-clear sign and just went for it picking up the weight putting it on his neck using all the force his legs and back to go up and down. He had two caps on each side of the bar which is in pretty impressive for a first set. It  shows  the dedication and motivation of these kids and how they are preparing and getting ready for next season.

The last work out that the team did was power cleaning. Power cleaning is a workout where basically  you are picking up a bar up with weights on it and pulling it up and down while jumping .It is very intense and requires a lot of muscles in the back and shoulder region. To see the guys put the momentum in and shift their weight and pick up the bar and just get a clanging of the bar going up and down and then seeing it slam to the ground when they were done. That’s kind of what you do with power cleaning you just kind of drop it. That was a very intense sight and showed a lot of emotion and sweat on the kids faces.

So this was my experience with the football team and their after school weight lifting school program. I took a lot out of this experience and it definitely brought  back  good memories that I had when I was a Tiverton Tiger at Tiverton  High School. To  see the kids out there putting in the hard work and dedication like I did two years ago kind of put a smile on my face and to observe  their dedication was a whole other thing. I am very proud and happy that I got to do this assignment.

 

There has been a lot of speculation lately at the NFL’s drug-testing policy is too easy to pass and it’s not a strict enough policy for the players to follow because they seem to be getting away with a lot more and more of drugs lately and steroids, which it’s not good for the sport  at all and for the wellness of the players. The Nfl drug testing policy should be more strict for players who have not been caught yet because they are only tested once a year.

I remember growing up and watching ESPN in the morning preferably SportsCenter. Hearing stories of current football players failing drug tests at the time and hearing the rules of the NFL drug testing at the time to. I remember always hearing about how they always usually get tested once a year before training camp soI wondered why players didn’t just wait 30 days to get it out of their system and then just do what they want during the season. Or why don’t they just wait till if they are careers over I mean the NFL career is not a long one due to injuries and stuff so why don’t they just wait to do all the smoking they want then and other Substances.

The first article that I found focused on the recently dead Aaron Hernandez. The article talked about how we all know Aaron Hernandez like to smoke a lot of weed and do other type of drugs there on the NFL offseason so the question of how was he able to bypass all these drug tests and stuff for as incredibly stupid as he is. The article was by deadspin and the author of this was Barry Pethesky. Throughout this article he made very good points and use very good information and had a good evidence on how the NFL testing is remarkably easy with stuff he has seen from players current and past and just up he’s seen by watching these players failed drug test and then other players who somehow passed the drug test you probably have seen or not based off the stuff you seen them doing their personal life.

One quote from the article that made a good point was if every NFL player is regularly tested for marijuana,”how was Hernandez able to pass every drug test he took?”(Pethesky). Which is a good statement about most nfl players and their daily life. Some other players like josh gordan get caught all the time but other players are able to escape it.

Another point the article made was “if a player passes his one test, he won’t be tested again until the next April-August. One former medical personnel called it an “intelligence test, because it’s once a year, and you know it’s coming.” One agent quipped that players sometimes will throw “smoking parties” as soon as their testing is complete” this is something from the article that I liked about how the players will party as soon as the testing is done(Pethesky)

This one talks about how easy it is for nfl to bypass the nfl drug testing. He talks about how the nfl drug testing is really two programs and how they work. A quote i really enjoyed was about how someone like aaron hernandez passed the nfl drug test “Hernandez knew that it’s easy to beat the NFL’s tests for substances of abuse: Stop using in time for drugs to clear your system, pass your one annual test, then start using again as soon as you’ve submitted”. This just shows and talks about how they basically barely get tested and know how to break the system.

My last source was from sports illustrated. The title of the source was five things you probably didn’t know about the nfl drug policy. The author of the source was Jacob Feldman. He talked on how their are things like saticies and other things for the nfl Policies and suspensions from the past and present. Some of the information i got was “Players outside the “intervention program”—those who’ve never had a violation—are tested just once a year. Anyone under contract is tested once”(Feldman). Another thing that I pulled from the article was that players who fail their first drug test we randomly drug tested throughout the rest of their career which is something I found to be very good and maybe NFL drug test policy less easy.

So after i did the research for this paper i found it to be True that the NFL drug testing policy may definitely be too easy for the players to pass. To only be tested once a year and to facely have the rest of the offseason off and during the season to do kind of whatever they want is ridiculous. I  personally don’t understand how the owners or even the commissioner are okay with this. But it Is their policy so as fans we have to accept it and enjoy the game we love.

Works Cited

Feldman, Jacob. “Five Little-Known Facts about the NFL Drug Policy.” SI.com, Sports Illustrated, 12 July 2016, www.si.com/nfl/2016/07/11/nfl-drug-policy-substance-abuse-suspensions-tests. Accessed 10 May 2017.

Petchesky, Barry. “It’s Remarkably Easy To Beat NFL Drug Testing.” Deadspin, Deadspin.com, 6 Apr. 2015, deadspin.com/its-remarkably-easy-to-beat-nfl-drug-testing-1695935246. Accessed 10 May 2017.

Smith, Michael David. “Aaron Hernandez Knew That Beating NFL Drug Tests Is Easy.”ProFootballTalk, profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/05/aaron-hernandez-knew-that-beating-nfl-drug-tests-is-easy/. Accessed 9 May 2017.

“Why Passing NFL Drug Test Is So Easy?” | Best 4 Drug Test, blog.best4drugtest.com/why-passing-nfl-drug-test-is-so-easy.html. Accessed 9 May 2017.