This story is a part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk masking the psychological aspect of sports activities. Follow Peak here.
Tyler Milioto is a senior kicker at St. Charles Catholic High School in Laplace, Louisiana. He plans to play soccer in faculty subsequent yr.
I seemed up at the clock inside the Superdome. There had been 35 seconds left, and we had solely two timeouts. We had been down 21-20. I’ve watched soccer for lengthy sufficient to know the recreation was over.
I walked to the bench, put my head in my fingers and thought: There isn’t any method that simply occurred. How did you simply do this? How did you simply shank an additional level to tie the state championship recreation? You simply lost your team the recreation.
Right earlier than that, my highschool, St. Charles Catholic, was down 21-14 with lower than a minute left in the Louisiana Division II state championship recreation. Then we scored a landing, and I missed the additional level to tie the recreation.
My first response was: No method. The holder, Dax Pregeant, tapped me and stated, “Come on, we’ve got to get this onside kick. We’re good. Forget about it.” But the different team recovered the onside kick, and after that, I sat with my head in my fingers. As a senior, I knew that was the final time I’d ever kick in a recreation.
Then my teammates ran over to me and yelled: “Get up, get up!” I was confused. I seemed up. Somehow, it was third down, and we nonetheless had a timeout. What occurred was the different team kneeled it on first down, however one in all their gamers took off his helmet and raised it in the air, which was a private foul and stopped the clock.
I needed to heat up once more, however when I seemed for my tee on the sideline, I couldn’t discover it. They had packed it up already. They had additionally taken aside the kicking internet. So dads on the sideline took the internet and held it up with their fingers.
Because the different team was kneeling out of the shotgun, they stored backing themselves up. We used our timeouts on second and third down, after which they shanked the punt. I knew I was going to must kick once more after what simply occurred.
I began praying to God: Please assist me overlook about that. Please assist me overlook about that.
Our offense picked up a couple of yards on first down, and I went onto the area to aim a 44-yard area purpose. The longest area purpose I’d ever made was from 43.
Then, earlier than I tried the kick, the refs stopped the recreation. For the subsequent couple of minutes, they reviewed the final play to see if our participant was out of bounds.
It was actually hectic, however I walked forwards and backwards and thought: I’m glad I get an opportunity to kick this once more as a result of in any other case that was going to be the final time I kicked a soccer in a recreation. It can’t get a lot worse than what simply occurred.
I didn’t get in my personal head. The very first thing that helped me with that was after I missed the additional level, I didn’t hear something unhealthy from my teammates. And when I warmed up, everybody advised me: “You’re good, bro. You’ve got this. We trust you.” That helped my mindset.
On the additional level, I had thought an excessive amount of about what would occur if I missed. This time, I checked out the followers and thought about the celebration afterward if I made the kick. I by no means thought about what would occur if I missed.
When I lined up, I reminded myself: Step proper there, kick the ball. Step proper there, kick the ball. I didn’t attempt to do something totally different as a result of it was a giant second. I did my regular routine, similar to in observe, and advised myself to chill out.
And then I kicked the ball as exhausting as I might.
After I made it, I don’t bear in mind what occurred or what I did. I needed to do all the interviews, and I didn’t even know what to suppose. It was me, Coach Wayne Stein and our quarterback Landree LeBlanc. I stored whispering to them: There isn’t any method that is taking place. I can’t do that proper now.
In sports activities, you may’t ever hand over. If you make a mistake and sit on it and get mad at your self, that’s solely going to mess you up in the future. If I had been nonetheless upset at myself and nervous due to the additional level, I don’t know if I would have made that area purpose. I couldn’t be nervous simply because I had missed earlier than. I’d kicked so many area targets in my life. I knew that I might make it so long as I didn’t get in my personal head. You must know what you tousled after which put your errors in the previous.
You by no means know. Crazy issues can occur.
— As advised to Jayson Jenks