A ‘Strickt’ View of Antonio Strickland
Antonio Strickland, a sports management major who plays wide receiver for Bluefield College Football, has been a pretty familiar face and name through his years at Bluefield. He is a man of many talents and but one thing he wants to do is help people. “I want to be able to build my facility for anyone who is in need.”
Strickland is from Jefferson, Georgia but was born in Winder-Barrow, Georgia. As a child, he would always find himself being active in sports. “I’ve been playing football since I was five years old. I started with flag football and moved on to play tackle a year later. Throughout the years, my relationship with football has only gotten better. It’s the one thing that gets me through everything and makes me see the light in the dark.”
With the many ventures Strickland has gone through in his life, he was fortunate enough to have played for Bluefield College for three years as he plans to continue his journey as a Ram. “I’ve been playing three years for Bluefield. I feel like I’m the X factor on the team when the team needs a spark or even a big play to be made; I’ll be that guy no matter the situation. I also bring hope that one day the team can be great as long as everyone buys in. Since I’ve been in college, I’ve received first-team all-conference and all American honorable mention. Receiving those medals let me know that everything I’ve done toward this point was worth it, and as I said, you can see the light at the end of any tunnel. You just got to want to make it.
When playing a team sport, your team’s success is primarily dependent on how many players value teamwork. With teamwork in play for Bluefield College football, you don’t have to worry about Strickland’s work ethic with his team. “I’ve learned that you can’t do it all. You can be amazing in every part of the game, but if you don’t work together and have good composure, you set up for failure. The past teams that I’ve played with have shown me that you’re not going to win every single game, but if you try your hardest and at the end of the game when you have nothing left, you’re going to feel like the winner.”
Being a football player for any team can be a challenge. Strickland shared with me what it takes to prepare for games throughout the season. “Receiving those medals let me know that everything I’ve done toward this point was worth it, and as I said, you can see the light at the end of any tunnel. You just got to want to make it. I feel like the worst backlash is the way we play the game with so much emotion. People don’t see what we go through the week. They see the game day. We beat our bodies up every day; we wake up every morning to lift weights to perform for all of you.”
Tim Weldon, another one of Strickland’s teammates, said, “His work ethic is on another level. The amount of hard work he puts in on off-days shows when it’s game day. He is easily one of the hardest working people that play on this team.”
With the many challenges that come with being a part of a team sport, Strickland shared the many challenges he and other teammates would have to face throughout the season. “People get angry when we show too much emotion in the game. Well, it’s probably because we work so hard at what we do, so when it’s not going your way, it’s not going to feel great. You’re going to be angry and maybe cussing a little, but it’s all for the love of the game. Just do me, and if it comes a time where my personal life runs into football, I inform someone that I had something come up, or I handle it afterward.”
In life, everything isn’t going to fall your way. Strickland shared with me that he understands that it is true. A lot of things in life aren’t going to be in your favor. “But I’ve learned that it’s not always going to go your way. You have to fight adversity and keep going no matter what,” said Strickland.