Fair Play: An interesting tale of pursuit

HAVE you ever done everything to purse your dream?


Of course you have, but have you, really?


Have you really undergone that trial, where your will was tested?


Your resolve?


Your strength?


Have you faced the test?


Yes, sticking with the Philippine team, despite all those blowouts is some sort of a test, but that's not really what I mean.


It's a totally different affair.


Everybody dreams of being a professional footballer, and in the Philippines, everybody's closer to their dream.


But what if you're not from this country?


What if you don't hold a Filipino passport, even?


Would you, armed only with your life-savings, pursue your dreams? 


I know a guy who did, and his is a rather interesting tale.


We all hear about folks playing football just for the love of the game, but his is really that case.


After getting in touch with a few clubs here, through Facebook, he flew in, searching for that once chance to get a club.


And he did but it wasn’t that high paying job he envisioned, or even a decent paying stint, or even a stint that pays.


He played for nothing--not even a practice allowance--while guys in the division were earning a cool amount, enough to buy them their dreams.


And playing for nothing in a country where playing football is suddenly a living?


Makes you want to give up, doesn’t it?  Pack up and leave for home never to return?


He's got so many stories to tell like, one when the generosity of a cab driver helped him, when he had but P20 at 5 a.m., because he couldn't withdraw his remaining P400 from the ATM and he had a late night, because of football, what else.   He naively assumed, that P500 he had that night would be enough.  


Or about that time when he had to say he was on a diet when folks around him were ordering loads of food but the truth was he couldn't afford what they were eating?


Things like that could drive you into desperation, wouldn't it? 


Or how about the time when, after the water was cut from his place, to avoid the stench he grabbed a soap and showered under the pouring rain.


And despite all of these, he showed up for his matches, without getting paid, even while the rest of his teammates have sort of forgotten their campaign.


You can’t survive in a new place without friends and he also epitomizes that, meeting new friends when he needed most—like when he needed to fill his stomach or a place to crash.


Like I said, his is a rather interesting tale.


And I hope he will have a happy ending.


Yep, this interesting tale isn't finished, the season is, but his isn't.


So I hope he'd get a few breaks here and there--good guys like him, really do deserve that chance-- and he'd get to tell the story, himself.  


Perhaps, we might learn a thing or two.