Messina Spartan Football Determination

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Determination is when one sets a goal and does not let anything or anyone get in the way of reaching it. It is never giving up and having the killer instinct to succeed. In John Grisham’s Bleachers, the day the Messina Spartan football players set foot on the field, Coach Eddie Rake is determined to not only make them better players, but also to make them better men. He pushed them, at times too hard, but he wanted nothing but the best for them. All in all, the determination Rake surrounded his players with changed their lives forever and gave them no choice other than to exceed. Every year as August rolled around, Coach Rake and the Spartans were determined to have a perfect season and win another state championship. The first step to achieving their goals started with football training. The famous Spartan Marathon was held the first day of practice at noon and it consisted of at least twelve laps around the track, after completing that the running continued until all the players dropped. If, for some reason, a boy would not complete the marathon, he was unfit to be a Spartan and did not make the team. The boys knew that in order to complete the Spartan Marathon they needed to be in shape. They were determined to become a Messina Spartan and knew they needed to …show more content…

Former Messina Spartan, Mal Brown, found himself facing a life or death situation while in Vietnam. While fighting desperately to stay alive, Mal could hear Coach Eddie Rake yelling, “You win because you’re tougher mentally than the other guy, and you’re tougher mentally because your trainin’ is superior. If you’re winnin’, never quit. If you’re losin’, never quit. If you’re hurt, never quit” (Grisham 151). Although he got shot, Mal survived and returned home, unlike his five companions. He survived because he could hear Rake barking determination at him after a football practice years earlier, driving him to never

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