actually going to the kitchen and coming
back I know right it was pretty good one
day my dad came home from us he kept
visiting and he got me this this
football Miss America footballer I know
what it was I said you know what I don’t
need this whatever fast forward and two
back to my university days and I was
going through my stuff I actually found
it again and I said hmm
what is this and actually brought it
with me today you see this is what is
right now it says here to collet from
Tom Landry who’s Tom Landry you say well
I researched out that guy and found out
that Tom Landry was actually one of the
seen superstar coaches head coaches for
the Dallas Cowboys
he was almost for like 22 years one of
the best coaches they had all around and
his achievements and those 22 years is
more than any of the coaches from 1988
upwards of today by a mile
so what got me interested like why me
why American football I could have done
soccer
yes I will be calling a soccer by the
way I know a lot of people don’t like
called soccer but we got called soccer
from now and yeah we we will actually a
bunch a group of guys going towards
self-park bunch of friends taking a
football around is throwing around no
big deal there it eventually became more
and more interesting and next you know
we had a team of like 2030 guys 24 a
year and a half due to unfortunate
events our head coach back then couldn’t
be with us anymore
he had to leave due to personal reasons
we were leaderless we had no Visionnaire
we had no purpose he had no backbone so
what was next for us we thought was over
that was the fun year-and-a-half
hang around you know what guys thank you
but you see I’ll give you a number it’s
about it can range between 10,500 to
11,000 that’s it kilometers that’s the
distance between the UAE and Canada so
why Canada well on that day in September
2010 I
met a friend of mine who’s actually a
good friend of mine right now named
Dustin he introduced me to the whole
sport and explained to me how the whole
mechanics worked so me and him we
started together and decide what can we
do to improve this what can we do to
make this a better community not only
for the adults but for the kids as well
given a time frame work a bunch of staff
we managed to create something
extraordinary it was a new time of era
for new friends new bonds new children
this was the birth of the American
American Football League now the
American the amorous American Football
League what is it exactly well it’s a
community project we decided work with
work with myself and Dustin hope we
bring American football not into the UAE
but it to be aware in the Middle East as
you can see we started off in July 2000
yeah July 2012 so I thought we had about
our roster was approximate about maybe
how many like 65 adults and 20 kids
today we have over 200 plus adults and
over 100 plus kids as of the roster 2013
and actually we just finished our first
season of thousand twelve thousand
thirteen we actually crowned three
champions from Abu Dhabi two from Abu
Dhabi one from the Bible so let me ask
you something and it have you ever been
told that you can’t do something that
you want all your life like there was a
limit something that was holding you
back some people might say you’re too
skinny
we’ve too fat you’re too short you too
tall this is what’s stopping you
in American football our role for
everyone was open we had no one to say
you can’t play this you can’t play that
you can’t do this you can’t do that
there was nothing we hope we welcomed
everybody with open arms so when I spoke
to when I spoke about when I said I
wanna speak about American football I
see how can work how can it be affected
with life some people might think it’s
the sport but you’re wrong
American footballs more than a sport so
we have life I’m here to show you five
things that a few five things I would
actually mean why is it part of the way
of life the first thing discipline all
your life whenever you when you were
first stepping onto that field you’re
being watched all eyes are on you you
have a number this number represents who
you are whether you’re in this team or
that team people recognize you so it’s
important for you to understand that
when you are disciplined you are ready
and American football teaches you that
it teaches you not only from that but in
life and you will be with people like us
and I have been discipline myself by the
way like us who are helping people
discipline at a young age perseverance
perseverance is all about you know there
might be a time in life where you might
think you know what I didn’t make my
budget I don’t like it I don’t get my
salary I didn’t get this I didn’t get
that and your emotions will just fly
same thing that my football you might
miss a catch you might miss a run you
might miss so many things you might even
find a time with the ball just tips your
finger falls onto the onto the hands of
your opposite team run straight to the
end zone and your team has lost that has
happened by the way that has happened
and I’ve seen a guy on the floor didn’t
want to get up he was he felt ashamed he
felt like it was over he wanted to quit
he wanted to quit but if you stay good
at what you do and if you stay focused
and challenging yourself you trust me
not only your perseverance will grow
tremendously now with every sport with
everything in life you have two sub
goals so what does goal-setting have the
other American football you want to be
stronger you want to be faster you want
to be smarter you want to make sure your
execution is pinpoint perfect today I
might want to do 30 push-ups tomorrow I
want to do 40 push-ups I wonder I run
the hot 40-yard dash in four seconds I
want to do it in four four three point
seven seconds by there is impossible by
the way can’t do anything blow four or
four point two
think a high that you okay a fourth
thing is the high you can buy a high you
can buy what does that mean
I’d even know what I mean by the way I
never knew what it meant and funny
enough the person who told me about this
was my friend Dustin when I first met
him that day at home like why did you
join Mike a football turns out he’s
actually in a professional
semi-professional am i right
yeah so refreshingly I don’t want to
like make sure cuz he has a ring as well
by the way he won that tournament he has
a ring and it’s a very big ring she see
it I asked him like what made you join
American football why American football
he’s like call it simple like a high I
can buy what do you mean a high Kampai
what does that mean I never knew
eventually as I progressed through the
sport I realize what he’s meaning when I
put on my first helmet I put on my first
suit when I put on the pants I burned
the shoes when I walk into the field I
was slowly feeling something that I
never thought I’d feel before I felt
happy I felt like this was something I
would love to do passionate past the
passion and the motion was intense from
the moment I grabbed the ball the moment
I ran for the first time for the moment
I even tackled the guy down yeah I
thought got the guy down by the way it’s
all about feeling you get from
accomplishing something
it’s a high in life and it’s a healthy
and productive way to go through with it
finally with every sport with everything
in life you have teamwork I mean this
event TEDx as mine was brought down
through teamwork everyone works through
together with us so what difference
what’s so special about teamwork forget
ten people forget 20 people think of
being in a team with 90 people that’s a
lot of people that’s a lot of trust and
that’s a lot of dedication so what I
want to show you here right now just a
few simple activities that we’ve been
going through as you can see here
actually that’s our team the one in blue
I’m on this picture by the way but I see
this guy he’s trying to go and run to
the end zone right now
unfortunately he was taken down easily
he’s a good player by the way he’s
probably the lead rusher he’s I’m
surprised as having an app for him right
now we can just go left and right and
don’t know what but the amount of energy
and the amount of people that goes
through this the feeling you see not
only over the players with the parents
the community everyone enjoying
themselves and here we got the kids by
we’ve also reached a level not only as a
national as more an international level
we had an opportunity a while back to
face a team from Kazakhstan good thing
we want don’t worry about it we want
like twenty eight zero so it’s a good
watch out for us and we’re looking not
only to expose ourselves in – just like
the Middle East and Asia we’re looking
to expose up to the whole world and I
think while back our team actually came
back as you can see here sorry um just
go from here this must be better all the
stars you see here is the amount of
teams there are in the Middle East and
Asia veteran to American football and
people think why so many I mean it is
shocking that you find so people why not
America I mean this is the home home
place of him doesn’t stop there doesn’t
stop anywhere all our media coverage has
blown through the roof we have been
getting more and more and more talks
saying American football in the desert
how is that possible
and in Marathi playing American football
how’s that possible giving all that our
exposure not only that we put up our
games online for everyone to see and the
reception we’ve got from him was intense
and immaculate the blue you see right
now everyone who is watching us all eyes
are on us not from not only from Middle
East not only from Asia the entire world
is watching us people we’ve been getting
to talks from Saudi from Kuwait from
Qatar from Egypt hey guys we heard
you’re doing this we want to join how
can you do that how can we do this from
becoming a community project for for us
individuals we become a mentor for the
entire DC see the entire
Middle East and as you can see just boy
with stats and graphs we have four teams
to one lab with uh b2 and Dubai one
Elaine and I’m hoping also this is a
special information I mean I would like
to get this by the way Dustin and give
this up okay good
we’re actually announcing a second team
to be open in Abu Dhabi it’s gonna keep
growing I mean you can’t stop growing we
want to keep growing this is actually an
O I think it’s like a month ago we just
came back they came back from Beirut we
face The Merck University of Beirut
everyone’s calling for us everyone’s
asking us hey guys listen what’s going
on we want to join we want to do we want
to play it’s been going crazy inch by
inch has never heard that term before
has any of you seen the movie any given
Sunday no it’s that famous Al Pacino
speech it’s a crazy on YouTube you
should check it out but forget YouTube
check out the movie itself it’s crazy
movie inch by inch you see you go
through our things it’s part of life
whether its life whether it’s football
the margin of error is so small you
could be a half a second too fast half a
second too slow half a second too early
half a second too late eleven men walk
onto that field they would die for that
inch they would die for their teammates
they when I’m on the field I know for a
fact that I would die for that inch I
mean look at the person next to you
looking that person dies you will see a
person that is willing to sacrifice
themselves for that inch because they
know where the time comes you’ll do the
same thing for them and that’s what
football is everybody that’s what it is thank