Portland Man Preps for Australian Rules Football Exchange Program


terence-featured

Editor’s Note: This is the beginning of an ongoing series written by Australian Rules Football player Terence Brasch. He will be chronicling his trip to Australia as a member of the United States Australian Football League Exchange Program and is writing a weekly post on his personal blog.

An offer to travel the world landed in my lap the other day. Where does it take me? Literally around the world to play some sport I just learned to play a few months ago… But to do this means I have to throw everything to the curb. Girlfriend, friends, family, job, and school all to the side. I am now staring down the split in the road. I could stay the road already traveled and keep all the great things I have, yet the other road leads to the unknown future in a far away land.

I’ve been told to travel while I’m young, and to do it before I start the rest of my life. I don’t even know what that means, the “rest of my life.” I don’t even know where to start the rest of my life. No plans for the future, so I say yes to this trip. Perhaps it’s selfish of me to do, but I must chase my dreams where ever they lead me. It is the only way to make dreams come true.

[quote align=’right’]I’ve been told to travel while I’m young, and to do it before I start the rest of my life. I don’t even know what that means — the “rest of my life.”[/quote]When I think about traveling I think about filling my soul, fulfilling this need in my heart, and keeping my sight free the haze of my social structure.

I’ve worked in restaurants and bars most my adult life, and I would usually be getting off work when places like that close. I would make it home around 2:30am, just in time to watch all the info commercials, reruns, and all the strange sports being played around the world. What happens to catch my eye late at night? Australian Rules Football, some strange sport, that is best explained by watching it. Aussie Rules is a sport that requires the skills of soccer, rugby, basketball, and volleyball.

A few years went by, and I was still casually following the AFL while I studied at Oregon State University. My classes seemed to consume my life during this time, and in all honesty I wasn’t doing to hot. After almost flunking out of school I chose to quit all of my extra curricular activities to focus on school. This resulted in spending most of my days studying at a local coffee shop, or exercising at the OSU rec center. Now, on a completely normal day, I was sitting down to eat a slice of pizza at a popular pizza parlor across from campus, and I saw a flyer on a bulletin board in the back. On the flyer was a small black and white man kicking a red oval shaped ball. The red footy, an easily recognizable symbol of Aussie rules, had caught my eye from across the restaurant. Someone at Oregon State was trying to start a footy club, so I emailed them immediately and soon enough I was having a kick with a group of 3 or 4 guys weekly.

The Portland Steelheads made their way down to Corvallis to come teach us the rules and to play an exhibition game with the Corvallis club. During the match I ran around like a chicken with my head torn off, threw up from being so out of shape, and hardly got a touch on the footy, but I knew I had to play more.

Unfortunately to play more I’d have to commute to Portland once a week just to play, but at this point I didn’t have another choice. I’d spend my weeks focusing on school, kicking the footy around every day, often alone, and working out for hours. What was my reward for all of this? Well I got to spend my Sundays driving up to Portland to play, and once school ended I packed up and moved to Portland to make the commute easier.

Now I knew I had the athletic ability to play, and I also knew I wanted to go to Australia to play, but that just seemed like a huge dream, until I found out about an exchange program with the USAFL. I let them and my team know that I was interested. Several months of silence go by until a couple of weeks ago. Since then everything as moved very quickly. Every day there seems to be more news. I am excited for this opportunity, but for now all I can do is wait, train, and save all the money I can.

*     *     *

I have always wanted my travels to be more than just seeing the sites, something more than a vacation, but the traveling I seek has always seemed unreachable.

When I was younger I would picture myself as a great explorer. I had dreams of solo backpacking trips around the world. I use to tell myself that, once I could travel, I wanted to experience culture and people more than just seeing the sights. I wanted to live like everyone else, play like everyone else, and dress and feel like everyone else. All I needed was the means…

Years go by and the dream fades. Where does the dream go? Usually to the back burner. What do I mean by that? Well the first thing that got in the way were my excuses and fear. Having no money, or not wanting to be away from the comfort of my home or family. The fear of not succeeding in life, and the pressures of doing, “what you’re supposed to do.”

terenceHow many years have gone by of doing what you’re “supposed” to do? Where have the years of schooling, working, and socializing got me? Well I’m twenty-five, living with mom, working part-time, and still no degree or sense of where I’m headed. That is until a few days ago.

From the very moment I started playing footy I knew I wanted to be a leader and voice for this amazing sport. In order to do that I needed to learn from the best meaning I had to travel to Australia eventually. Though in the mean time I’d practice as hard as I could every day.

During my time in Corvallis I didn’t have much coaching, but I’d watch videos on the internet. I knew from wrestling my whole life that technique and knowledge beats strength and speed any day, so I would go out to student legacy park and practice my kicks. Often alone I’d set up cones and work on my agility, run sprints, and try kicking the footy into a small triangle to work my accuracy. I’d do this for 2 to 3 hours, five days a week every week. To practice my hand balls I’d lay in my bed and pass the ball up and back to myself, or if I was at school I’d find a wall and pass it off the wall. I was absolutely obsessed with working my technique, but I knew I had a lot of catching up to do.

My nose for scoring came from my first game played in the Portland Australian Football League (PAFL). During my first match I scored five goals by taking advantage of everyone treating me like a rookie, and took every opportunity to run to open space to get the ball and then score. I’ll admit it was never that easy again. Though to get any respect in any sport, one must be humble and let their work ethic and play on the field speak for them.

As footy season ended all the parts of life I ignored needed to be taken care of. Things like my finances, relationships, and family. I’d say moving back to Portland was supposed to be so I could focus on playing more footy and training harder, but I quickly fell back into old habits.

Thankfully, once I got word of traveling to play footy, it snapped me out of my slump. This time it’s different though, instead of just my determination alone pushing me, I’ve got the determination of many! It is absolutely humbling knowing that so many people want to see me to succeed in my journey. I have had help in every aspect of my life recently from team mates helping me train, friends buying me gear that I need to train, to encouraging advice from my growing list of mentors.

I’ve been training almost daily, and I am starting to realize that I need to rest too. My body hurts from over exertion, so today I’ll rest knowing that so many people will be proud no matter what happens. It’s one of the most important lessons of all this, and something I’d want anyone else to know in any situation. When you do something you love, and you try your hardest, people notice. You don’t even have to say anything and they notice. They won’t do anything to stand in your way. Instead they will naturally offer to help, and do what every they can do for you to reach your full potential.

Lastly I’ll leave you all with some exciting news for the week. I’m one step closer to knowing when I’m leaving, and the answer to the question everyone has been asking!!! Where am I going?!?

I”ll be traveling to the town of Dimboola, Vic, to play and learn from the Dimboola Football/Netball Club. Now what do I know about the club? Not much yet, but that will come in time so keep following!!!

Tags:
0 shares
X