With his will, Wildcat can find a way

Omar Eid, right, refuses to let cerebral palsy stop him from pursuing his passion for football.

Omar Eid realizes he will never actually play football at Will C. Wood High School. He can work out with the team, as he did this past week, but the bright lights will belong to the players who were not born with cerebral palsy.

Eid would love to try his luck when the time comes for the Wildcats to don helmets and shoulder pads, but the risks outweigh the rewards. The freshman’s frail body and lack of coordination would make him a sitting duck.

“I know why the coaches are thinking that way,” he said. “If I got hurt, it would be on their heads.”

Omar Eid is learning that nothing is unachievable.

His heart could handle the contact. As coach Carlos Meraz said, no player has a bigger one than Eid.

“I wish some of these guys had half the heart he does,” said Meraz, who is approaching his first season at the varsity helm. “I tell the guys to look at him when they take all this stuff for granted.”

Eid’s decision to try out for football stemmed from his little brother’s interest in the sport. Eid has now become hooked and is refusing to let anyone talk him out of giving it a go with the Wildcats.

“Frankly, people were saying I couldn’t it. They said I wouldn’t even go out,” Eid said. “I’m going out and I’m doing what I’m doing. It doesn’t matter what other people think. It’s what I think of myself.”

This is by no means the first time that Eid has been told he is incapable. And it will not be the last.

“A million times maybe. It’s been more than I count,” Eid said. “It’s discouraging. Usually, people think you have to have the body to do this. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. If you can do something mentally, you can do it physically. There’s no limits to what the body can do.”

If his teammates underestimate him, Eid is ready to “give some of them a run for their money.”

“I have a lot more discipline than some of the guys. I can work hard,” he said. “It’s harder for me because I have to go 100 percent and a little more. They can beat me if they go half of their 100.”

His teammates may want to spend a day in Eid’s shoes before they ever think of selling him short.  Eid has already earned a team “cat tag” from Meraz for being disciplined and determined.

The tag was hanging from a chain around Eid’s neck during Friday’s workout. He wears it with pride, and Meraz said Eid embodies the tag’s purpose.

“I’m learning nothing is unachievable,” Eid said.  “I don’t have anything to prove to other people. I know what I think about myself. I wasn’t born with talent. Not everybody is born with talent. Sometimes you have to earn it.”