“He never told me until I stumbled upon it!”
Charlie Davies came home from school one day with a permission slip for his parents to sign. The six year old thought this would allow him to participate in American football. “Because that’s what all the kids in my neighbourhood played.” Even when his father, a Gambian immigrant who first came to the United States to play college soccer and was later a semi-professional in Massachusetts, looked at him and asked him if it was what he really wanted, Charlie said, yes please! It was only when they went into a store to pick out cleats, shin guards, and a ball that he realised his error. “I was thinking, what have I gotten myself into? But Dad was so excited that I couldn’t tell him it was a mistake!”
Contrary to what you might expect from a story like this, Charlie didn’t get picked for the team. “I was sad and felt like I had disappointed my father a little bit.” His father, however, went straight to the heart of it. “Do you want to be good at this sport?”
Every day after school, Charlie would finish his homework before his father picked him up, on his way home from work. They would go to the field to practice until neither of them could see the ball anymore. Two weeks later, the coach of the same team approached his father, asking if Charlie could play for them now.
“My dad took me to the rival team!”