The Wedgebuster
There used to be a football kickoff formation called “the wedge”. The NFL banned the practice in 2009 while the NCAA put it to rest in 2019. This is all for the better considering the violent nature of the technique. We know too much about CTE to force athletes into unsafe playing conditions anymore. Irrespective of its danger, it existed, and I was party to its lessons. What I learned from the experience formed a foundation for my approach to work.
The wedge was a wall of between five and seven men that formed shortly after the kick. This mass of humanity raced at full tilt upfield with the ballcarrier in tow. Defenders in pursuit either had to go around the wedge (unlikely) or find a way through. There was only one way to accomplish the latter:
For every wedge, there had to be a wedgebuster.
Though I played several positions in my youth football days, special teams was a constant. The coaches reconfigured the starting teams weekly. One week later in my junior season, as the coaches were calling out the kickoff team realignments when I heard, “Ventre! Two!” It took me a moment to realize what the coaches had just asked me to do.
“Two” was the wedgebuster.
I can say with unshakable certainty that at no point in my football career was I the biggest nor the fastest guy on the team. I was a solidly middle-of-the-pack in terms of the core physical attributes of a football player. What I lacked in size and raw power I made up for in guts, determination, and attitude because I know my stature had nothing to do with the conversation that followed.
“Coach. What am I doing at the two spot?”
“Ventre, you’re not the biggest guy on the team, we know that. But, you’re a little crazy, you hit hard, and you’re damn sure going to get the job done.”
Perhaps that was a complement. Maybe it was a fact. Someone acknowledged my near-pathological focus on going all-out when it counted. That’s the lesson I replay in my head constantly to this day.
Never lose the crazy. Keep sight of the target. Find the wedge that is keeping me from the next level and don’t let up until the job is done and I’m through the other side.
Be the wedgebuster.
