In case you missed the first episode of my post, feel free to click on the link below. I am sure you don't want to miss out on my true life story...
https://read.cash/@George_Dee/my-childhood-passionep1-a6cbaf36
The fame I got from football began to rise real quick because we started conquering in every competition organized within and outside the neighborhood, many didn't know my name as long as I answer the nickname "PAPILO". This name came up in an advert of peak milk when a Nigeria footballer Kanu Nwankwo used his football skills to prevent a tin of milk from reaching falling, the owner of the store where he wanted to buy the milk from said "Papilo, I know one day you will make us proud.
The nickname alone makes me really happy because the footballer called that name was one of the mentors I had then when it comes to football, my mom actually gave up on stopping me from playing football. All she did was to ensure that I paid attention to my studies, which I did because I wasn't going to let all her sacrifices on me go to waste.
I got into senior secondary school and the challenge kept getting tougher with the school team, I needed to stay in good form to match the senior level because this stamina of a thing was becoming an issue for me. Months passed and I was finally selected for the senior team matches, it was a different challenge because the seniors had the best of the best player and they were the number one among the schools in that community.
They were been respected because they dominated every inter-school competition and win every competition they were invited for, this made the screening into the team very difficult which I succeeded in completing.
While struggling with the school, I was maintaining my champions spot on the street but some things came up and it ended that shine. Instead of throwing away that passion, I decided to channel my strength towards something else.
THE INCIDENT
On this fateful day during the school holiday, we started a competition on the street and I felt great about it. We kicked off earlier, we do play the matches in the evening but due to having lots of teams participating in the competition, we decided to start earlier.
As usual, things started cool but I couldn't make it to the end of that day on the field. I sustained an injury, my toe almost got chopped off after stepping on a sharp-edge stone. I wasn't aware of the injury because it didn't hurt me immediately it happened and we were playing on a sandy field.
I guess few minutes after it happened, I placed my leg on the ball and saw blood. I went to ask if anyone got injured and everyone said no, it was then I felt a sharp sting beneath my toe and that made me discovered that I was the one with the injury.
The injury looked terrible and I began to panic, there was no first-aid so I had to tie the toe to my leg and rushed home with some of my teammates. My mum rushed me to the hospital where it was treated and stitched.
The injury kept me away from football for over two months,
I felt down because I could only see the action and not participate in it.
Finally, the injury got healed and I returned to action again on the street but school football stopped because lots of replacement were made in my absence, I gave up on that because I got tired of trying to prove myself again and again to the same set of people. I just sticked to my street football, it was fun for a while until another injury came up for me but this time I was very unlucky because I broke my leg.
Did I say broke my leg?
Yes, I did. I was grounded for over six months because the injury didn't heal quickly. It took time because the injury was huge, I cried for days especially when I see my friends going to the field. I couldn't return to school immediately we resumed back, I was on crutches and instead of living in that sadness, I started writing football fiction stories to keep myself busy and happy.
By the time I started getting better, I was warned by the doctor to stay away from football for a while to avoid further damage to my leg. My mom begged me and persuaded to stop this football madness because of the family financial condition, most of the fund from my leg treatment came as gifts from families who loved me in the community.
I couldn't help but say goodbye to the field action because I hate seeing my mom worried or sad, I made up my mind to start writing about sport instead of playing football.
Today I write lots sports content on different platforms and it makes me feel very great but not as great as I do playing football. I missed the action and I think I have lost my touches the last time I checked.
Wow! I like football also, I played this sport on my secondary. But I'm not fit to this game, 'cause its needed a lot o f stamina. Goodluck to your next journey.