Varnam in uniform ()
Two weeks of intense practice come down to this: I’m riding on a bus with people I hardly know and we have a game looming with a team I first heard of the week before. Why does this make me so nervous? I sleep through most of the bus ride and when I wake up we’re at Methodist College; the colors green and yellow already make me nauseous. My stomach is fluttering, and I don’t know if it was the Golden Corral food we ate earlier or just my nerves. I slide my borrowed headphones on and put in Danzig to get pumped up and calm down a little; music is my pacifier. We unload the bus and go to the locker rooms to get dressed; Coach says we have an hour before we have to go out. I think to myself that this going to be a long hour. I pass the time with more music and imagining what the other team is going to be like. I just came from a good high school program where I’m the average size for linebacker. Too bad that’s not the case for college. The first day of practice I felt like a dwarf on the field, with everyone a lot taller and stronger than me. What a radical change. We head down to the field for warm-ups. This is always my least favorite part of games, because my emotions are always so high. I don’t know, but I always turn into a different person before games. Methodist wins the coin toss, so that means that after the “Star Spangled Banner” I’m going straight to field for the kick-off. The ball is kicked and I sprint down the field, barely dodging a block by a guy who probably outweighs me by a hundred pounds, but I don’t have time to properly absorb that. I have a job to do: make a tackle. The deep receiver for Methodist tip-toes past two tacklers. I’m in perfect position to stop him. My mind goes blank and I dive. I miss. But I somehow manage to grab his legs and pull him down. The nervousness is gone. Three quarters trudge by, and my jersey is pristine – not the slightest bit dirty. I don’t care though; I got the first tackle of the first game. I know that as a freshman I’m not going to be getting the kind of playing time I got in high school; I knew this before I got to Guilford. I’m pacing up and down the field like I always do at games, and I hear something I didn’t expect: “Varnam, get ready, you’re going in!” I clumsily throw my helmet on and run to the coach. Is he joking? Does he really want me in there? I run on the field, my heart pumping louder than the fans’ cheers and BOOM the ball is snapped. What do I do now? For a split second I panic, but I gather myself and remember my almost boot-camp-like training. I take a deep breath, I close my eyes on contact, and before I can properly take a mental picture of it, the game is over. My first game has breezed by me, and I almost missed it. I am relieved to have it over now; its impact on my psyche was unimaginable. From here on out, it’s smooth sailing.The Quakers take on Hampden Sydney Sept. 25 in an away game, then Greensboro College on Oct. 2 for Homecoming.