Every now and then someone new will pop in the gym and catch my eye with perfect form, technique, discipline and passion for working out. I watched this kid for weeks, thinking he must have a story. You rarely see young adults with this type of training and strictness.
As I was sitting in my office, someone stopped in to chat. I asked about the boy who was training alone but very firm in his athletic dedication. His response was, “his name is Charles Firmin.” I about spun around in my chair and spit my water out.
Who? That name is so familiar to me. WAIT! HE IS A NACHMAN KID. Yes, I remember him. I was on duty a many of recess with that 5-year-old and walked him to dismissal every afternoon. So, I walked over to him and introduced myself as Miss DeKeyzer. His said, “OMG, I knew you looked familiar.”
A few weeks go by, and I ask for his story. I’m not real sure how I knew he had one, but I was going on a limb. Little did I realize, what an incredibly amazing journey Charles had. He was eager and willing to share his faith, his athleticism, his skepticism, his self-doubt and his triumph over it all.
Thank you, Charles, for your story and continue to make a difference in the lives of others. Your story has a purpose and your purpose has strength.
Stay Strong,
Mrs. Mitzi

Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
The reason I begin with this short, yet powerful, scripture is because like this article, I aim to keep God first in ALL that I do. From pushing my body to its limits, to simply sitting and talking with friends, and everything in-between, God plays a vital role in how I decide to live my life day to day.
From the age of 3 to my last semester of college, there was never a season of the year where I wasn’t lacing up some sort of athletic shoes getting ready to compete in an event or competition. Being active and involved in sports was instilled in me at such a young age, by the time I realized what it all meant, it was like second nature to me. I always had to be doing something active, whether it was playing a sport or just simply being outside. Things became more serious once the competition levels began to increase and it became more than just signing your name to a roster and getting a jersey. Once middle school and high school rolled around, you had to actually tryout for teams and have a certain level of skill to even make the roster. I had always played sports for the love of the game, but I had never truly been pushed, or even pushed myself, to a point that required more than just loving sports. I had never seen sports for the bigger picture of pushing yourself for the program itself, for the teammates around you, and for a variety of goals at the end of the season and once this all entered into the field, something in me changed with my love of sports and physical activity. These things became more of a, “have to,” than a, “want to.” This change of heart to me really didn’t happen until my freshman year of high school. As children, we all had those dreams that we just knew were going to come true no matter what, like; being on the cover of a Wheaties box, winning gold for our country during the Olympics, or even playing basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils. Okay, maybe the last one was just me, but I digress. Growing up I had always dreamed of and planned on playing basketball for the legendary Coach K as a Blue Devil and I knew nothing was going to stop me from doing this. At the time, and before I truly came to understand the world of collegiate athletics and what it takes to play on such an elite level, I was honestly full-heartedly set on one day playing at Duke. This changed very quickly during my freshman year basketball season at Alexandria Senior High. At a whopping 5’3’’, 114 pounds, it became time once again to lace up those shoes and hit the court. It took one practice for me to realize that Duke may be a long shot (I ended up hitting a late growth spurt and graduating high school at 6’ 150 pounds but we’ll get to that later). I learned quickly that a future in basketball may not have been a future for me. I’ll be honest, during my early high school days I did not value the idea of a strong work ethic and what it took to be a, “hard worker.” Our basketball coach loved to put us on the line and make us run, and for good reason. Basketball is a sport that requires a lot of conditioning and endurance, I just didn’t have the motivation required at the time to really invest the work required. Due to this lack of work ethic, I decided that that would be my last year to play competitive basketball. Although this was upsetting to realize the sport I had loved to play most would no longer be a part of my life, I have never been one to quit anything without seeing it through to the end, so I decided to finish out the season and suffer through the grueling conditioning. Even though my basketball days were done at this point, I still wanted to be involved in a sport so I began to ask some friends, “what is something I could do, still be part of a team, and not have to work that hard at?” Honestly, this is the exact question I asked friends. Sad, right? Well after a little research and having nearly every person respond with same answer, it seemed I should give being a place kicker for the football team a shot, so I did. I joined the football team the next year as the backup place kicker and quickly realized this was the easy, steady going, non-physically challenging role I’d been looking for, and honestly, I wasn’t bad at it, I was just a tad lazy… After three years of playing football and being a kicker, I was given the opportunity to continue playing at Louisiana College. I was extremely blessed to have this opportunity and was so excited to begin playing, but there’s no way I could have dreamed of the impact this decision would have over my life during those next four years.

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”
Enter my very first challenge as part of the Louisiana College football team. Summer workouts began quickly after school ended for the year and I had no idea what to expect. I showed up to the field and it was me along with the strength and conditioning coach and one other incoming freshman (The rest of the freshmen had gone to the workout time earlier in the day). The workout for the day consisted of twenty 110-yard sprints with minimal rest in-between each rep. I made it to rep twelve before catching a calf cramp and being forced to call it a day. Not only did my calf cramp, but I felt like there was a 100-pound weight on my chest and that my legs were like jello. After the run I sat in my car and thought, “is this for me? Can I do this for four whole years???” I sat down that night and had a long hard thought on if collegiate football was for me. I got on social media and came across a quote that read, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” This was like a huge slap in the face and just the wake-up call I needed. I decided to continue working out that summer and see where it went from there.

Work as hard as you possibly can.
Continuing with summer workouts, they would not get any easier, but to my surprise they would become a lot more enjoyable. It felt like out of nowhere I suddenly loved to workout and push myself beyond what I thought capable. A reason for this, I believe, is due to one of Louisiana College football’s, “Big 3,” rules which was, “Work as hard as you possibly can.” Seeing this quote in the weight room everyday gave me a goal and allowed me to reflect day by day on if I did indeed work as hard as I possibly could. I strived to be sure that by the end of each workout I gave everything I had in order to better myself physically and mentally. After a lot of hard work and my new found work-ethic, I transitioned from entering my freshman year collegiate football career at 6’ 150 pounds to ended my freshman year at 6’1 (not sure where the extra inch came from after high school but hey I’ll take it) and 180 pounds of lean, solid muscle. This is by no means meant to sound boastful or arrogant, but just a little insight to what hard work, dedication, and patience can surmount to. I would end up gaining a reputation on the team as, “the human ab,” “an Abercrombie & Fitch model,” or the weight room being my home and my dorm room being my home away from home (this one may actually have been true…). At the end of my freshman season I was awarded the team’s award for, “Hardest working freshman in the offseason strength and conditioning program.” An award I would again receive my senior season as the hardest overall working player on the team for the strength and conditioning program. Ironic isn’t it? Going from beginning to play football and being a kicker because it was an, “easy,” position, to being awarded the hardest worker to a program that required so much work and dedication. My college senior year self would have flicked my high school senior year self halfway across the field if they met face to face. All these accomplishments and the new motivational work-ethic was great to me, but it still felt like there a void in my life. Something felt empty.

You don’t HAVE to do anything; You are GIVEN the opportunity to do anything. Everything you encounter is a blessing.
Growing up I had always been involved in church and had a knowledge of God and his teachings. But I never truly understood or appreciated all of the blessings He placed to me in my life. During the later part of my freshman year at Louisiana College I joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, or FCA. Going to my first meeting I was open-minded and excited to see what the Lord would lay on my head and my heart, but I had no idea the radical change I would experience in one night. The lesson dealt with giving our all to God because He gave His all for us. This lesson was related to not only sports but with everything we encounter in life. The lesson lead me to a realization that everything we encounter in our lives is a blessing. Literally everything you do, from waking up in the mornings, to commuting to work or the grocery store, to sitting down and watching the news at night, EVERYTHING is a blessing granted to us by God. For this reason I decided to implement this way of thinking into my daily routine and this is what pushes me day to day to be better than I was yesterday not only in the weight room, but in life in general. God grants me all the motivation, strength, desire, endurance, dedication, and physical ability to do everything in life. I look to honor Him by putting my all into every aspect He grants me. You can work hard in life and have respectable goals, but if God is not at the forefront of these goals, then they fall short of their highest potential.

Titus 2: 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.