This article was in the South Bend Tribune today (Friday, 10-01-10) We are very proud of our son. He is definitely a unique individual and we are very happy that God placed him in our home this year.

High school football: Thumbs up for Guedes
Football, not futbol, a kick for Brazilian exchange student at Adams.
COMMENTARY
By AL LESAR
Tribune Columnist

SOUTH BEND — Minutes into the first high school football game of his life, Will Guedes learned a valuable lesson.

The Adams High kicker lined up for a PAT. The snap sailed high, over the holder’s head.

Guedes, an exchange student from Brazil, didn’t understand the game very well, but he knew that wasn’t good.

“I saw the ball rolling on the ground and I knew the other team (Chesterton) could pick it up and run the other way,” the 5-foot-7, 136-pound senior said. “I jumped on it and grabbed it with my arm. Then, everyone started piling on me. My helmet started shaking. My hand hurt, but it was more fun than it was painful.

“The next time, though, I told the snapper not to do that again.”

“That was Will’s welcome to American football,” said Adams coach Frank Amato. “This is football with ‘two o’s’ (football), not a ‘u’ (futbol, or soccer).”

A left-footed kicker, Guedes never played organized soccer in his hometown of Brasilia. There are no school sports, just clubs. His main sport is diving. Guedes placed second nationally in his age group two years ago, and fourth last year. He plans on diving at Adams this winter, but, for now, the focus is football.

“I always thought football was about, take the ball and hit someone,” Guedes said. “I never realized the strategy in it.

“I’m impressed with the support a football team gets from the students and the community. The technology is amazing. Coaches on the sidelines talk on phones.”

Guedes, who arrived in South Bend two months ago, tried for a couple weeks to divide his time between the soccer and football teams.

Didn’t work.

“I wanted to give all of myself to football,” he said.

A couple times a week, kicking is a significant part of the Eagles’ practice. The other days, he and his partners — a kicking tee and a contraption that holds the ball — spend their workouts at the other end of the field, working on distance and accuracy.

“My goal is a field goal from 50 yards,” Guedes said.

Through five games, he owns a 30-yard field goal against Washington and about a half dozen PATs. That first three-pointer was a milestone for the guy who taught himself the proper kicking technique by studying it on the Internet.

“All the team was celebrating for me, throwing me up in the air,” Guedes said of the kick that put Adams ahead of Washington, 9-7, early in the fourth quarter.

“While all that (celebration) was going on, Will’s saying, ‘It’s not over guys. The game’s not over,’” said Amato. “He’s a unique guy.”

Adams ended up losing that game to the Panthers. Guedes took it hard. Though a newcomer to the program, Guedes has struggled through the Eagles’ 1-5 start to the season.

“It’s hard to come to practice after a loss,” he said.

That’s why last Saturday, after Adams got its first win by beating Riley, was so much fun.

“That was joke day,” Guedes said.

Football has helped Guedes, who speaks Portuguese and Spanish along with much-improved English, get comfortable in his new surroundings. Making friends hasn’t been a problem.

“People in America are so open, so friendly,” Guedes said. “That’s the best thing about being here, the friends I’ve made.”

He’s noticed that at just about every Adams football game this season, a fight involving fans has happened.

“Caveman behavior,” he called it. “It’s a problem in Brazil, too.”

“The funniest thing about Will, before every kick, just before the snap, he’ll give the holder the ‘thumbs up,’” Amato said. “That’s the kind of kid he is, always positive.”

It’s easy to understand in any language.

You can read the article online at South Bend Tribune