WEBVTT 00:00.009 --> 00:02.670 Didn't have nobody to , to really hold 00:02.680 --> 00:05.429 my hand in , in a way . Um But like I 00:05.440 --> 00:07.607 said , that was a blessing in disguise 00:07.607 --> 00:09.819 because now rookies come in or even um 00:09.829 --> 00:12.380 guys who been on other teams and come 00:12.390 --> 00:14.446 to this team and they tell me like , 00:14.446 --> 00:16.557 what are some ways or I could elevate 00:16.557 --> 00:18.890 my game or , or stuff like that . And I , 00:18.890 --> 00:21.001 and I've been in , in every situation 00:21.001 --> 00:23.223 they could think of as a young guy that 00:23.223 --> 00:25.223 could help him out . So , uh it's a 00:25.223 --> 00:27.390 blessing in disguise . You'll grow the 00:27.390 --> 00:31.059 next of it . Yeah . Um We're getting 00:31.069 --> 00:33.340 ready to have a bunch of young high 00:33.349 --> 00:36.290 school , young men out on field next 00:36.299 --> 00:38.299 weekend to play some seven on seven 00:38.299 --> 00:41.340 football uh that are uh look to you as 00:41.349 --> 00:43.516 a role model , right ? They want to be 00:43.516 --> 00:46.099 at your level one day . Uh Some of them 00:46.110 --> 00:48.110 absolutely may make it on that , on 00:48.110 --> 00:50.459 onto that stage . Some of them may not 00:50.549 --> 00:53.069 uh whether it's for injuries uh and , 00:53.080 --> 00:56.619 or for other reasons . Um You go back 00:56.630 --> 01:00.200 in time to 16 or 17 year old 01:00.400 --> 01:03.000 Naji , what would you tell those kids 01:03.009 --> 01:05.489 that are facing adversity ? Uh that are 01:05.500 --> 01:08.379 at a fork in the road , uh to either 01:08.389 --> 01:10.750 keep to , to continue , what advice 01:10.989 --> 01:13.910 would you give ? So me at 16 , 17 , 01:13.919 --> 01:16.470 right ? And just really anybody , um , 01:16.480 --> 01:18.591 you kind of still figure out what you 01:18.591 --> 01:21.680 wanna be in life , you know . Um , and 01:21.690 --> 01:24.023 you look at other people and , you know , 01:24.023 --> 01:26.301 you see how they're doing their things . 01:26.301 --> 01:26.300 I was in an environment where the 01:26.309 --> 01:28.253 people I looked at , they were not 01:28.253 --> 01:30.870 doing good at all . Um And I love 01:30.879 --> 01:32.712 looking , listen to motivational 01:32.712 --> 01:34.435 speakers . I love listening to 01:34.435 --> 01:37.239 motivation speakers and Les Brown . So 01:37.250 --> 01:39.306 he told so , you know , he told me , 01:39.306 --> 01:41.528 but I , I was reading , I always looked 01:41.528 --> 01:43.694 at his videos every time because I had 01:43.694 --> 01:45.861 to work on my mentality . And he think 01:45.861 --> 01:45.440 one thing that stood out for me the 01:45.449 --> 01:47.680 most when he said , um he said , do not 01:47.690 --> 01:49.690 go where the path may lead , but go 01:49.690 --> 01:52.023 where there's no path and leave a trail . 01:52.023 --> 01:54.246 So I'm like , man , like that stood out 01:54.246 --> 01:56.468 for me ever since I was young because I 01:56.468 --> 01:58.412 would see other people following a 01:58.412 --> 01:58.389 direction that's not really where I 01:58.400 --> 02:00.733 wanna go . And I'm trying to , you know , 02:00.733 --> 02:02.956 kind of at a young age , you're kind of 02:02.956 --> 02:05.067 saying like , is it OK for me to walk 02:05.067 --> 02:07.289 my own path ? You know what I mean ? So 02:07.289 --> 02:09.456 um that , that's hard , it's extremely 02:09.456 --> 02:09.210 hard , extremely hard , especially at 02:09.220 --> 02:11.470 that . Yeah , extremely , especially at 02:11.479 --> 02:13.646 a young age , you know what I mean , I 02:13.646 --> 02:15.757 didn't even have like a role model or 02:15.757 --> 02:17.979 something . So um for me to walk my own 02:17.979 --> 02:20.257 path , you know , do make my own trail . 02:20.559 --> 02:22.670 It was extremely hard because you got 02:22.670 --> 02:24.615 to face adversity , you gotta face 02:24.615 --> 02:26.837 everybody telling you what you can't do 02:26.837 --> 02:29.720 and what you can't amount to um man , 02:29.729 --> 02:31.562 and you know , for me to , to go 02:31.562 --> 02:33.785 through that journey and for me to , to 02:33.785 --> 02:36.750 be where I'm at today , man , I will 02:36.759 --> 02:38.815 tell people like , you know , do not 02:38.815 --> 02:40.815 lower the path you leave , but go , 02:40.815 --> 02:40.610 there is no path to leave a trail , 02:40.619 --> 02:42.675 leave your own trail , leave , leave 02:42.675 --> 02:44.675 your own , make your own story . Um 02:44.929 --> 02:47.649 Don't follow the , the , the that that 02:47.660 --> 02:49.604 crowd that you know , is not gonna 02:49.839 --> 02:51.895 amount to anything , you know what I 02:51.895 --> 02:53.950 mean ? Um And when you do uh achieve 02:53.950 --> 02:56.061 what you do , go back to that to that 02:56.061 --> 02:58.172 same place . That's what I do and try 02:58.172 --> 03:00.172 to motivate other people and saying 03:00.172 --> 03:02.339 like , you know , walk your own path , 03:02.339 --> 03:04.506 it's ok to stand out , you know what I 03:04.506 --> 03:06.839 mean ? Those are who makes the diamonds , 03:06.839 --> 03:08.728 you know . So that's what I say . 03:08.728 --> 03:10.839 That's great advice because the , the 03:10.839 --> 03:12.895 challenge in high school at that age 03:12.895 --> 03:12.339 when you're trying to figure out what 03:12.350 --> 03:15.279 you wanna do in life and the social 03:15.289 --> 03:17.690 pressures never changes . It doesn't 03:17.699 --> 03:19.990 matter what day what decade we're in . 03:20.179 --> 03:22.290 That's a real thing . So I think that 03:22.290 --> 03:24.457 all resonate with the , with the young 03:24.457 --> 03:26.729 kids . Listen . Uh Yeah . You know . 03:28.949 --> 03:32.649 Yeah . Uh I think it doesn't matter 03:32.660 --> 03:34.827 how , what you look like , how old you 03:34.827 --> 03:37.049 are . You're always looking for some uh 03:37.049 --> 03:39.695 some kind of inspiration . Uh And it 03:39.705 --> 03:42.134 may be inspiration for my , for myself 03:42.145 --> 03:44.895 because I , I doubt my ability uh to 03:44.904 --> 03:47.015 lead all these young men and women or 03:47.015 --> 03:49.237 maybe it's an angle to connect with one 03:49.237 --> 03:51.460 of our young uh airmen that has come in 03:51.460 --> 03:53.348 because I , I'd like to think I'm 03:53.348 --> 03:55.460 relevant with 16 , 17 , but I'm not , 03:55.460 --> 03:57.725 let's be real . So , uh I , I , I'm 03:57.735 --> 03:59.957 always looking to improve myself . It , 03:59.957 --> 04:00.794 it doesn't stop .