Seconds - I Am Second

Well tomorrow is the big day. I begin my keeper training tomorrow night. Officially "preseason" starts on Sunday when the team finally gets together and goes to a wilderness resort for some "team bonding fitness," but I figured it would be a good idea to start a week in advance and get a head start on perfecting techniques and building on last season. My goalkeeper coach and I will be training every night this week so that once actually/legal preseason starts the kinks will be out and the fundamentals will be perfected. We also are bringing along the newcomer this year, Braydon, and he will also be working and competing in the goalkeeper position. I'm looking forward to a new face in the GK crew and I'm excited to work and help teach my teammate.

As most of you know, this is my senior year. The last year for 99% of every athlete. I am determined to give it my all so that I am not apart of that statistic. I understand however that overall in life, there's always a plan. A plan laid out by God before you were even born. He knows everything and anything you'll every do or become, so if soccer isn't in my future then so be it, its out of my hands. Of course God wants me to succeed but that doesn't mean that it has to be professional soccer. He has the blueprints. He knows best. The minute you start to believe that your first and He's second and what you think and what you have planned is more important than what He has planned for your life, thats the minute that your life starts to go the wrong way. My point is that all i want is for my plan to be fulfilled. I do not understand why things happen but I'm a firm believer that God has life under control. He tells us that He will never give us more than we can handle. So I happily and gladly accept the fact that I am second and God is first.

I found this website last year and it has truly been awesome to watch these testimonial videos and I fell in love with the message. Ironically the website is called iamsecond.com. I highly suggest and reccommend that you go to the site and just watch some of the stories. It's not a sports site, nor is it about music, drugs, addiction, or abuse but instead its about ALL these things and lots more. Just go to either the featured films or even click on the struggles portion and choose a topic that may hit home for you. Here is a short clip of Sam Bradford and his testimony. (Sam is a professional football quarterback in the NFL. He played for Oklahoma University, where he won the top award, the Heisman trophy.)

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/sam-bradford/

I am proud to say that for this season, I will be wearing a "I Am Second" wristband over the top of my glove as a reminder that God is in control.

"I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his All, All the time."

-Hayden

Thanks for reading