By Kieran Senk
Western New England is a school that takes a lot of pride in its sports teams. I had a great opportunity to interview one of the university’s football players, Matthew Gilbert. Matt has been a friend of mine throughout my college experience, and I decided to get to know more about his unique experience playing for WNE athletics. Matt joined the WNE Football team in his junior year of college, something not a lot of people can do. I was curious to know why and how he enjoyed his career as a player.
His favorite sport in high school was soccer. He was “one of the greats” on his high school team. Matt could have played sports in college but took a different approach than most athletes. He wasn’t aware of the opportunities sports in college provided and didn’t know if he wanted to put in all the work. “When I first got to WNE, my goals were to settle in and focus on my academics rather than my athletic career.”
I was curious to know what Matt thought of school without sports.
“I really missed sports,” he said. “I was living with three guys on the football team and started to really miss practicing with friends, playing sports in general and being part of a team.” I knew that was true. He had sports in his veins, and the itch was creeping back into him. When a spot opened up on the football team, he didn’t wait and jumped on it. “I was sitting in the dorm when my friends who play football came back from practice and they told me the team needed a kicker. I realized this could be my opportunity to get back on a sports field and play again. Since I played soccer, I figured how much different could a football be than a soccer ball?”
“I obviously was very excited, so right away me and my roommates went to the football field to start practicing. Within ten minutes, I was kicking thirty-to-forty-yard field goals. We took a video and sent it to the coach.”
Matt’s teammate, Cam Morris, confirmed this story. “After he made the field goal, the rest just worked itself out.”
After hearing Matt’s wild story, I had to ask how it felt to be an athlete again. Was it physically challenging, or was it natural?
“It was difficult at first, I was more out of shape than the other guys, but thankfully I had some friends on the team to show me how to get stronger faster.” I knew Matt was an athlete and that it wouldn’t take long for him to mesh with the team, but I was interested to know if the WNE staff and players accepted him.
“It wasn’t hard to join. All of the WNE coaches treated me well. I was surprised at how much they accepted me as a junior with no football history. I knew a lot of the kids, so I didn’t really need to make too many new friends.”
I wanted to know a little bit about his career and what it was like playing. I asked Matt what his first game and point were like.
“Any game, concert, or time you are in front of fans, it’s a wild feeling. I’ll never forget the pressure I felt to not miss. I had it in my head that, if I messed up, I would be cut.” Matt nailed the field goal. Matt would go on to play two seasons of WNE football. The end of his last season was tough, he said. “I was proud to make my last kick, like my first. My emotions were everywhere, I remember just being proud I had the opportunity at WNE to play college sports and enjoy every moment of it with a great team and coach.”
