One player discovers the ‘grass isn’t always greener’ elsewhere

There were more than 17,000 high school sports transfers recorded in the last school year in California, and one of the most bizarre involved the offensive player Chaminade Harout Agazaryan.

One Monday in January, he came out of Chaminade. On Tuesday, he started football lessons and training in Burbank High. Tuesday afternoon, when his mother came to get him after football training, he said to him: “I don’t think it’s the right place for me.”

“You are probably right,” she said. “How do you feel?” Do you want to return to Chaminade?

“Yes,” he said.

Wednesday morning in Starbucks, he met Chaminade’s football coach David Machuca, and asked to come back.

Thursday, he was back in Chaminade in the same classes. He felt embarrassing, but his teachers joked: “Have you ever missed?”

It took courage to ask for a second chance and what a decision it turned out to be. Five times this season, Agazaryan has been appointed team captain by his coach. The 3 -foot senior 3 inches and 255 pounds was an offensive out of competition and a defensive line player.

“It was incredible,” said Machuca. “You are talking about a child who has made a 360. He represents what I believe important to be a captain – dedication, to keep people responsible. He does everything correctly. “

There are so many lessons to learn from Agazaryan.

“The grass is not always greener where you are going,” he said. “I discovered that there were not many places better than Chaminade.”

It was his parents who gave him the green light to transfer even if they wanted to stay.

“Honestly, at the time, I had a lot of friends [at Burbank]”He said.” They sent me sms every day. I was not doing very well academic here. I thought I needed a restart.

He quickly determined that he was wrong. But would he have a chance to go back to his old school?

One of the most important decisions he made was to have a conversation with Machuca Before He left. So many times, students and their parents do not even inform the coach they leave.

“I think you have to go on good terms because I know teammates who left last year who did not talk to the Machuca coach at all,” he said. “I felt like a man, I had to speak to him.”

This previous discussion made Machuca open to welcome to Agazaryan as long as the parameters were followed.

“In fact, I told him that when he left, I’m really happy that we are about to have a conversation,” said Machuca.

The second chance was not wasted.

“It was much better,” said Agazaryan. “I think when I came back, my head has changed. I was a much better person, better in class, better in the field. I felt that I checked my emotions more. ”

The coaches complained that it is more difficult to train players these days, because they know that if someone takes something they say in the wrong direction, they immediately think of transferring to another school.

Agazaryan warns: “Never burn your bridges because you never know what will happen. It is not because a thing that the evil occurs does not mean that you should remove your things and leave. You have to build a relationship with everyone on campus, so you will be really happy. ”