Lustmord
The Scourge of Christians
Offline
Thats awesome- if I had made the Monarchs/Dragons, we might have played against each other!I moved from The Netherlands to the US when I was 8, to Slidell. I played my first season of football when I was 9, though as a fat kid, I was put in the 11-12 year old team - based on weight you see. Hated it, lost every game, didn't understand any of it. I was happy to stick to soccer after that.
Being big, I got drawn into it, not completely against my will, in Junior High. Started two years there but didn't really like it.
Thought I'd escaped it when I went to High School, but, being big and athletic, I got the call at some point from the football coach during PE, 'Hey Big un', why aren't you playing football?' Was on JV half a season freshman year. Didn't manage to get forgotten about and was dragged into two a days coming into Sophomore year. Managed to quit for half a day until the 'boys' came to my house to bring me back. Ended up starting the next 3 years. All-district, all-parish, all state. At some point, probably half way through my sophomore year began to enjoy it. Was on the NO All-metro team with Marshall Faulk and Kordell Stewart.
Much recruiting etc. Choose to go to Duke. Had planned to commit to Virginia after George Welsh visited me in my home before their Sugar Bowl game that year and after visiting the campus in Charlottesville. But Duke visit blew me away, what an amazing campus and school. Red-shirted, then started 4 years at Center. Managed 2nd team All-ACC junior year, and honourable mention another year, I think. Got some post-grad scholar athlete scholarships which paid for the rest of my Master's Degree.
Had back trouble and was really into my academics and figured I was done with football so skipped pro-day and all that stuff. Had calls from the Cowboys and the Seahawks to sign up as a UDFA, but these calls went to my dad who told them I didn't want to play football anymore. I did try to call them back after I found out a few weeks later but they were already set at that point so I moved on.
Decided to travel a bit and figured may as well get my way paid so joined NFL Europe Amsterdam Admirals. I was and am a Dutch National so was pretty easy. Had a bit of a try out and that was that. Played in 1997 and 1999. Missed Kurt Warner who played in 1998 Did manage to play against LaRoi Glover in 1997 (Barcelona Dragons) as we had a joint practice - 1 v 1 pass rush at Center with him at nose, good lord that man was a beast! It's also where I had Darryl Terrell, who no one here seems to feel good about, as a teammate and OL brother - lovely chap altogether. Didn't really play much for a number of reasons - I treated it a bit like a paid holiday, NFL sponsored players gotta get film and my OL coach was not a big fan of Duke (and anyone with an IQ above his, i.e. c. 75) - if I'm honest with myself, that sequence is probably reversed, didn't see much point after the last two became apparent.
Eventually settled in Belfast and discovered they had football here. Played a little bit for fun and coached. Help set up a team in 2006 (First Chairman) called the Belfast Trojans and have been involved ever since. I mainly focus on OL and bringing fat folk who have never played to a decent standard of OL play. Passing on whatever knowledge I've managed to glean over the years is enjoyable.
That's me.