Sports

We all have a story to tell. A story where we all face some kind of hardship in our lives. You never know the struggle a person is going through. Behind every smile, there’s a story to tell about a personal struggle to reach a goal or achieve something better than themselves. A new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We help write that story by setting goals. If I’m gonna tell a story, I’m gonna start with my name.

My name is Ricardo Barnett. I have a dream and a goal that I want to turn into a reality. A goal of becoming a professional athlete in the NFL. Since I was a little boy, I always wanted to be something in life. Go to school, get my education, play sports. Football was the first sport I played growing up. I started playing football when I was maybe about eight years old. I always sat down and watched football on TV, such as the NFL or even college football. After graduating high school, I continued my education at a two-year junior college called Trinity Valley Community College. I was given the opportunity to continue my education and play football. I started as a walk-on wide receiver. I earned my way up as a starter and earned a scholarship in my sophomore year. After my two years at TVCC (graduated), I got a scholarship to play my last two years at Houston Baptist University. I’m grateful for every opportunity that was given to me and it’s a true blessing. At HBU, I had some interest from NFL teams. Been blessed with a pro day to show my abilities after graduating from college. Knowing it’s a tough process, I never gave up on my dream. I always kept pushing no matter the situation. Growing up, I dreamed of making it to the National Football League. People say you’ll never make it in life. Those are just words that don’t have any meaning. If people are going to judge me without fully understanding the content of my character, then their opinions just aren’t worth it.

On January 7th, 2019, I signed to play for the Indoor Football League called the National Gridiron League. That’s my first step on reaching where I want to be, which is playing in the National Football League (NFL). I always better myself each and every day, learning every day about new things in life. I know who I am, and I know what I want to do. I learned to enjoy every minute of my life, be happy, and not wait for something outside of myself to make me happy in my future. I learned to always know how really precious life is and the time you have to spend it, whether it’s at work or with family. Live every minute of your life to the fullest and focus on the positive to reaching where you want to go in your future.

We all want to reach a goal and accomplish that goal in life. The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. You want your voice to be heard. You set your mind in the right direction for yourself to accomplish what you want. You want to let people know your story of how you got where you are today and you want to continue doing what’s going to make you happy. You have a vision where you see yourself five to ten years from now. And you can only do that if you’re being honest with yourself and being a person of high character. You have an opportunity every single day to right the wrongs of your life into positive things. No matter the struggle you go through, never give up on yourself. It’s your job to overcome those adversities, to turn a negative to a positive. People will hate on you because they think that you are better than them. Haters are our ammunition. They motivate us to continue fighting for our rights. That’s why we continue to share our story. Only God knows where the story ends for me, but I know where the story begins. It’s up to us to choose whether we win or lose and I choose to win. Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart and your story will touch the ones that want to make a difference in their own lives and get a good life out of it.