Falcons Luke example essay topic
Riley lines up for goal about forty meters out, and with a superbly executed drop punt, sends the ball sailing through the goal posts. He kicks the first goal of the 2005 premiership season, and puts the Falcons six points in front, after only three minutes into the first quarter. The crowd erupts into applause and begins to chant, 'Falcons, Falcons!' Luke knew that this season would be a lot better than the last. This year he is going to be injury free and the critics have already ranked him highly in the running for the best and fairest player at the end of the season. The Falcons were also tipped to finish in the top four this year, even though they did not have a full coaching staff. The game continued with a bounce from the umpire in the centre of the oval.
The ruck men battle it out, wrestling each other to get the tap needed for a break out of the centre. The football falls to the ground and is immediately smothered by desperate players trying to help their team. The umpire blows the whistle and signals another bounce. Again, the ruck men struggle against each other, but this time the ball is punched forward. Luke jumps high into the air to seize the football, however comes crashing down and lands awkwardly, with other players falling in a pile on top of him.
Everyone quickly jumps up and chases the pack of players following the ball. Luke is left lying on the ground, curled up in excruciating pain, holding his knee. The Falcon's team runners come sprinting onto the field to attend to the injured player, signaling for the stretcher. Luke stands up, ignoring the stretcher, and is helped off the ground by two trainers.
He is carried down into the clubroom's, where a physiotherapist attempts to identify the severity of the injury. Luke is in shock. Everything is a blur. The physio is testing the strength of all the ligaments in his knee, and has a very worried look on his face.
Luke does not even need to ask what the diagnosis is, he already knows, and it is all too familiar. Luke lingered in the clubroom's for the remainder of the game, not wanting anyone to see how upset he was. He had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee for the third time in the last four years, and required yet another full knee reconstruction. This meant another season off football.
Luke knew his career and his life dream was over. Not many players had ever returned to football after three reconstructions, and he is only 23 years old. After the game, Luke's teammates flooded into the change rooms, chatting away happily, congratulating each other on a great game. Beating the Magpies had never been a challenge for the Falcons, especially when they had a home ground advantage. The players staggered into a formation somewhat resembling a circle and belted out the clubs song. '... it's the emblem of, the team we love, the team of the red and the blue...
' Luke sang quietly with his head down, trying to exclude himself from the others. He was not in the mood for celebrating. After the song, the players all sat in the rooms, stretching and chatting away profusely, no one even looking towards the corner that Luke sat in. 'No one cares', he thought to himself. 'No one cares if my football career is over, not even my good friends or coach. ' He could not stand it anymore.
Luke walked out of the clubroom's. He had to get out of there. Coach Harris saw Luke leaving and followed him, knowing that although he could not enliven his spirit, he could try to console him in any way he could. As he walked outside, he saw Luke walking across the empty oval, bouncing a football, obviously contemplating his future. Darren Harris suddenly had a brilliant idea. Since Luke was such a hard-working and well-respected player within the club, he would offer him the assistant coach position.
At first, Luke was very uncertain about the idea. He had never thought about coaching a team before, but had also never been in the position of not being able to play football before. It took a great deal of convincing from his coach, but Luke decided to give it a go. After all, it was better than nothing. Inside, he felt privileged to be offered the position. For the continuation of the season, Luke grew stronger and more confident in his coaching abilities.
He found that he had a large amount of great football knowledge, and the players came to respect him even more. He viewed the game in a different way. No longer was it just a game of hard-ball gets and skill, it was a game of positioning and teamwork. The Falcons finished second on the premiership ladder, and made it to the grand final, which they won.
The players and coaching staff all congratulated Luke on his work, and carried him high on their shoulders as they walked off the ground after the end of a successful season. Luke decided that coaching was more appropriate for him, and the next season, he was offered the major coaching position, much to the delight of the whole club. He became one of the youngest ex-players to ever coach a team, and he did it magnificently for many years..