Eng 101 - Essay on Boys to Men

Damon Medcafe

Professor Mason

English 101

July 3, 2011

Boys to Men

Coach Aaron De la Torre a man that cannot be described in these 700 words but I'm going to sum it all up. This man changed my whole outlook on life and made me view it in a new perspective. From playing football to developing into a man and taking care of my business in the classroom.

I met coach De la Torre going into my junior year of high school. At first I didn't really care for him because he tried to change me, then I was stubborn. As the year went on he began to grow on me as I did him. He did things a lot of people wouldn't do and I began to believe that he wasn't such a bad man after all. I remember there was a time me and my mom were into it about some things and he took me aside and sat me down and had a 1 on 1 conversation with me and he told me " Don't let this effect you its your mother and no matter how mad you are at her she will always be your mother and you will always love her." I never had anybody really talk to me like that or even pull me aside to talk to me. Coach De la worked with me everyday to become a better football player it was my first year playing this position. Everyday it seemed he had me staying after school working my butt off to become the football player that I am today. I remember it like it was yesterday everything that he was telling me "shoot your hands, move your feet, head up, eyes in the backfield" and it really started to become clear to me this man was here to help me not change me but to help me.

I was already somewhat becoming a man handling everything at home with my mother having multiple sclerosis to not knowing sometimes how the bills were going to get paid we always found a way though. Coach De la would always make sure that I was taking care of my mom and my sister. He used to tell me that I should never make my mom lift a finger if I could. He also taught me how to drive because we didn't have the money to pay for drivers education he risked his truck because like he said he would do almost anything for me. He also treated me like I was his son, yeah we may have gotten into arguments but no matter what at the end of the day we still were there for each other. I really don't know what it was but just being around him made me want to become a man sooner than later.

It was halfway through my junior year and my grades and thing were starting to slip horribly. I tried to blame it on everything from problems at home to problems with girls but he told me it was nobodies fault but my own. Coach made sure I went to every tutoring session I could get into even if it wasn't my teacher I was still in the classroom getting help. He would make me be the first one at school