ESP The Magazine

“The Rider life”

 Days of a Rough Rider on the Road to the Classic.

My name is Alberto Rodriguez. I am a Roosevelt Rough Rider and I am a student athlete living the Rider Life. Growing up was a breeze, until I hit that age of having responsibility. My whole life changed the day I saw my first game. To make it more exciting it was the East Los Angeles Classic. Since that day I said to myself “I got to do this” and in time my destiny was calling. I remember asking one coach, “I want to try out for football” he said with a smile as a discrete message of “ok let’s see what you got” kind of attitude, and from there, the rest is history. I would like to say that whether your in season or not, I realized it’s always a day to leave it all out there until your legs collapse. I’m home until I feel I had a good day of practice, which might mean I am not home until 7:30 or 8. Usually I’m one of the last if not the last to leave, in my eyes that’s what a true Rough Rider does even if I play or not the reward is knowing I gave it all I’ve got and shouldn’t be ashamed if it was enough or not. As a student athlete, what you got to remember is that student comes first the rest will take care of its self. No grades, no game it’s that simple. Yet the most common thing you will hear is “the coach won’t punt me in because he’s a jerk” or “they don’t like me.” What is not really realized is they have to check on themselves before any accusation. I never quit. Since I’m from ESP, I am an outcast. I struggle to get from the ESP to the main campus. Practice starts at 3, but if there is no study hall, then we are lifting at 2 o’clock. We lift like if it is our last day and then of to the field for a brutal day of hitting. To this point I have never gotten a concussion but I have gotten my bell rung so to speak. It is not the pain that bothers me when that occurs it is what my inner voice is telling me. “What are you doing, please stop! No more, no more.” Yet I ignore it but it is such a hard thing to do when your body says stop but your heart says go. I stay every day when everyone is gone. They call me a die hard because they see me push myself over the limit to what they think I have. As long as I have a breath in my body I can move, as long as I can move I will never stop, as long as I never stop I will never quit.