Sportsbeat Heart of a Viking
Two-year football captain Nathan Street?s heart ached at the end of a tough loss to Brimley in September. The Posen football team went into that contest festival weekend believing they would win a game against a program who had won only once in the regular season the previous three seasons. Street, who didn?t know it would be his last home game that Friday night, had a lot of confidence the hometown fans would be sent home happy and the Vikings would end their own regular season losing streak, which dated back to October 2007. Posen lost 52-36.
?After Brimley, it was the toughest loss I think I?ve ever had,? said Street. ?It broke my heart.? The young leader kept his feelings inside when his disappointed teammates took a knee in the post game huddle in the middle of the field and looked up at him. STREET TOLD his teammates he was proud of them and the true sign of a ?real football player?, with a dedication to playing the sport the way it was supposed to be played, would be the young men who would come back next week and practice hard and were ready to fight again the following Friday.
And even though the Posen program has gone through some lean years during Street?s high school football career, he told his team, ?he?s proud to be a Viking.? ?I told them exactly how I felt,? he said. ?I?ve been a Viking all of my life and I?m proud to this day.? The senior had a productive season on offense and defense with high hopes of making the playoffs. The team ended up going through a season that was anything but normal. ?There were so many things that happened,? said Street. During the first week of practice in early August, there was a lot of underclassmen out to practice, but not a whole lot of upperclassmen. For the safety of the younger players, the regular season was canceled and the athletic department switched to the eight-man game a year earlier than expected.
The ?09 season took on an entirely different look than Street had ever envisioned. ?I ended up getting a couple of people out for the team that have never played,? said Street. ?Now they are ecstatic about the game. Really, when it comes down to it that makes me happy. I want to keep the program going just as much as any coach, or any parent.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~John Quincy Adams STREET, A TENACIOUS linebacker, whose hits had to have left opposing players bruised and weary, would not only like to continue his career at the college level
When the game was in hand, Street, co-captain Scott Couture and the other upperclassmen were coaching the younger players on the field in the huddle about what to do and where they needed to be. Eventually the coaches left the sophomores and freshmen on the field. Street and the other players kept yelling instructions from the sideline.
It also was in that game he earned the respect of the deaf players in the other uniforms. ?I respected that team so much for what they did,? he said. ?They hadn?t had a program in decades. I thought they played well.? Street led with a passion and humility that will be hard to match, but important seeds were planted during a season filled with adversity and life lessons learned.