Chap­ter 22: “Be Hun­gry for It! Be Angry!” focus­es on the trans­for­ma­tion of a foot­ball team dur­ing the pre­sea­son, high­light­ing their growth and deter­mi­na­tion to improve after a dis­ap­point­ing cham­pi­onship loss. Under the lead­er­ship of strength coach Galvin Drake, the play­ers showed sig­nif­i­cant phys­i­cal progress, with a col­lec­tive strength increase of forty pounds. This trans­for­ma­tion reflects their renewed focus and matu­ri­ty, as they ded­i­cat­ed them­selves to becom­ing a stronger and more com­pet­i­tive team. Their approach to train­ing, marked by a sharp­er sense of dis­ci­pline, demon­strat­ed their com­mit­ment to cor­rect­ing past mis­takes and prepar­ing for the sea­son ahead with a height­ened sense of urgency.

California’s new laws on play­er safe­ty had an impact on the team’s prac­tice struc­ture, lim­it­ing full-con­tact ses­sions to just two per week. This reg­u­la­tion was part of a broad­er effort to address grow­ing con­cerns about con­cus­sions and pro­tect ath­letes dur­ing prac­tices. As a result, the team was required to use prop­er equip­ment to main­tain safe­ty stan­dards while still fos­ter­ing the integri­ty of the sport. Despite these lim­i­ta­tions, the play­ers remained focused on their goal of becom­ing stronger and more resilient, ready to face any chal­lenges that came their way dur­ing the sea­son.

As the team geared up for their first full-con­tact prac­tice ses­sion, they elect­ed their captains—Trevin, Jory, Felix, and Kaden—who would lead the team both on and off the field. Their lead­er­ship would be crit­i­cal in main­tain­ing team morale and moti­va­tion through­out the sea­son. Michael Mabashov, known for his ener­getic coach­ing style, pushed the play­ers to per­form with inten­si­ty, encour­ag­ing them to embrace a com­pet­i­tive spir­it. His mantra, “Be hun­gry for it! Be angry!” res­onat­ed deeply with the team, inspir­ing them to approach every drill and prac­tice with a sense of urgency. Felix Gon­za­les, in par­tic­u­lar, stood out dur­ing a two-on-two drill, impress­ing team­mates with his agili­ty and ath­leti­cism, which sparked excite­ment and antic­i­pa­tion for the sea­son.

Mean­while, Andrei Voinea, a senior play­er, worked hard to refine his skills as a back­up cen­ter. Despite not being a starter, Voinea’s phys­i­cal­i­ty and height (six feet, four inch­es) made him a valu­able asset to the team. Voinea’s jour­ney to the foot­ball field had not been with­out obsta­cles. Com­ing from a hear­ing school with no sports teams, he was deter­mined to excel with the Cubs, and his tran­si­tion to a deaf school allowed him to bond with his team­mates more deeply. Voinea’s dual tal­ents extend­ed beyond sports; he was also an aspir­ing video game pro­gram­mer with dreams of work­ing for Dis­ney. His pas­sion for both foot­ball and tech­nol­o­gy drove him to push him­self hard­er every day.

The chal­lenges Voinea faced as a deaf indi­vid­ual were not lim­it­ed to the foot­ball field. Com­mu­ni­cat­ing in a school set­ting often required him to rely on inter­preters, mak­ing some inter­ac­tions more dif­fi­cult than they would have been for hear­ing stu­dents. How­ev­er, at the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf, River­side (CSDR), Voinea found a sense of belong­ing and cama­raderie with his team­mates, which fueled his love for the sport. Despite his nat­ur­al tal­ent, his coach­es encour­aged him to devel­op a more aggres­sive mind­set on the field, push­ing him to become an even stronger pres­ence dur­ing games.

As the pre­sea­son came to an end, Coach Kei­th Adams and his team turned their atten­tion to the upcom­ing sea­son open­er against Chad­wick School. Coach Adams empha­sized the impor­tance of study­ing game film to gain a tac­ti­cal advan­tage, as well as main­tain­ing phys­i­cal aggres­sion through­out the game. Strength coach Galvin Drake also took the oppor­tu­ni­ty to chal­lenge the play­ers to adopt health­i­er eat­ing habits to fuel their bod­ies for the demand­ing sea­son ahead. With the rig­or­ous train­ing com­plete, the team was ready to face the chal­lenges of the new sea­son, con­fi­dent in their prepa­ra­tion and moti­vat­ed by their pur­suit of a cham­pi­onship.