If a person puts their mind to something they want to do in life, time will pay off. It does not matter how much time that person puts in, it is all about dedication, motivation and support from family and friends.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Christopher Godwin is an example of an individual who stuck with his passion and achieved his dream.
Godwin grew up in Middletown, Del. attended Middletown High. Godwin was One of the Gatorade players of the year in high school, selected to play in the Under Armor All-American game.
Named all state his sophomore, junior and senior years of high school and all year conferences wide receiver kick returner, which lead him to be the top lead player of Delaware by ESPN.
People who want to achieve greatness should never stop doing what they have a passion for. There are a lot of opening doors and opportunities for what people set their mind to.
Godwin was one of the top performers in both the bench press with 19 reps and the 20-yard shuttle with four seconds flat. Due to his success at the combined competitions, he was interviewed by multiple teams including the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles , San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Godwin received a full-ride scholarship to Penn State Main Campus and later got drafted in the third round and became 84 in April 2017 of his junior year.
Godwin received several awards his three years of college at Penn State, named to Phil Steele’s and the Athlon Sports All-Big Ten third team, All-Bowl team honors from NCAA.com, Sports Illustrated, Athlon Sports and tons more.
“Playing in the NFL has been my dream since I was old enough to realize that I could make a living by doing something I loved doing for free. And I started playing at 6 years old and I’ve been striving to get to this point since I started playing,” said Godwin, who plays professional football for Tampa Bay buccaneers
The NFL is a professional American football league that includes 32 teams, divided equally.
“From the outside looking in the NFL seemed like this glorious life because people think they just practice a few times a week and then show up on Sundays and play,” Godwin said. “I saw it as they didn’t have to worry about any schoolwork or anything like that, just football all the time and then enjoy your free time. But once I got here, I quickly realized it’s not as simple as that. In college, a typical day for us was whatever class you had in the beginning of the day, then meetings at 2:30, then practice from 4:00-6:00, then done for the day, so I figured in the NFL you practice and have meetings in the morning, then you’re done by, like, 1:00 and have the whole day to live.”
Having a balanced schedule the key.
Godwin has a busy schedule that starts with getting to work at 6:30, attending meetings, having lunch break, going to practice and then attending more meetings.
“Although my assumption before getting here was wrong, I have a much greater appreciation for what we as professional football players go through to get to game day each week. And that’s not to mention the added pressure of needing to perform daily in order to keep your job,” said Godwin.
“I feel like there are a ton of perks of playing in the NFL You have to go out and seek them because nothing will just fall into your lap. Aside from the retirement benefits, I would say a perk would be having access to a lot of influential people,” said Godwin.
Everyday Godwin gains different connection from different sports and other players. It’s away to push him and his team more .
“There’s so many players on the team that can impact your life and vice versa that it’s beneficial to just build connections with those guys,” Godwin said. “Aside from teammates, there are people in other fields that you come in contact with– other athletes, clothing brands, educators– that we have access to because of our occupation and that’s a dope thing because networking is huge in our society. I’m not really one to go out and party and stuff like that, but I know a lot of guys that get hooked up whenever they go to clubs because they essentially make more people want to go to see them there.”
Different obstacles players may have to face, but they have to be strong enough to face them all with their team to help each other build and become stronger.
“There are struggles that we all face each week of our preparation,” Godwin said. “Some are just more serious than others. One of my first struggles was just adjusting to the little details that I would need to be successful at this level. Some of the things I would do in college won’t work in the NFL, so I had to go through those struggles to figure out what exactly I needed to do to be successful. One of the bigger struggles I had in my rookie season was dealing with injuries toward the end of the year.”
“Everyone knows the NFL season is very long, but I think it goes a little unnoticed how much of a toll it takes on the players bodies. For example, I hurt my ankle the second-to-last game of the year, but I saw that as just another struggle/obstacle that I had to overcome, so I played with it the last game of the season and ended up having my best game of the year,” said Godwin.
Players may or may not have someone they look up to on the team, but they always have that respect for them to gain.
“I don’t know if I would say I look up to anybody on the team because they’re my peers, but there are guys that I have a ton of respect for and ask questions to often, to try to improve myself as a player,” said Godwin. “Some of those guys being in my position– like Mike Evans, Desean Jackson and Adam Humphries— those guys have been at it for a while and had success, so I’d be a fool to not pick their brains and try to better myself while I have access to them.”
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