Welcome to Natchitoches

db meets the faces behind a college bass fishing team.

“Just remember in the winter…”

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”

Vincent Van Gogh

I know some pretty cruel words.

Up top of my cruel words list is just one word, one word that I have had to deal with my entire life.

A word that sends chill bumps through my body.

A horrible, horrible word, curse word to me, and the word is…

…expectations.

Let’s be honest, you look at me, you look at photos of me and you come up with an expectation of what I am based on nothing…but looks.

All my life I have been, a category.

Many of us are, categories, what’s yours:  bookworm, geek, wallflower, stud, meek, Yankee.

Categories get us through the crowd that is life, it is the blinders of the human race.

Being a category though has helped me, because trust me, I never let expectations define, YOU.

I try to treat everyone as a blank canvas, and watch, and listen as the portrait of who they are, comes to life in front of me.

Try it.

Last night in the library of Northwestern State University of Louisiana, I met with 8 scruffy looking young men, the young men of the Bass fishing team, the young men who will be competing these next few days in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Central Regional tournament…

…and I could have written them off, Animal House slacker types, but the canvas was clean, no expectations given or taken.

Meet them.

“…far beneath the bitter snows…”

Going from left to right in the group shot, meet first the two kneeling, Justin Cooper & Aaron Belgard.

Justin is 20 years old from Converse, Louisiana, a Junior here at the school majoring in Bio Med/Natural Sciences with a 4.0 GPA

Aaron, 19 from Deville, Louisiana, a Sophomore majoring in Industrial Engineering, GPA 3.8

Standing above them, left to right in the middle row:

Dustin Nash, 19 from Leesville, Louisiana, a Sophomore majoring in Criminal Justice with a 3.3 GPA.

Tyler Lafite, 22 from Many, Louisiana, a Senior majoring in Industrial Engineering, 3.8 GPA.

Logan Lapraire,   19 from Deville, Louisiana, a Sophomore in Industrial Engineering, 3.2 GPA

Standing up top left to right:

Johnny Ledet  Bass team President from Natchitoches, Louisiana, a Junior majoring in Business Administration, 3.4 GPA.

Gregory Green, 18 from Pickering, Louisiana, a Freshman hoping to major in Industrial Engineering, GPA 2.5.

Thomas Merchant, 19 from Leesville, Louisiana, Sophomore majoring in Business Administration, 2.8 GPA

Listen as the canvas comes to life.

 “…lies the seed that with the sun’s love…”

Johnny Ledet:  “Yeah, most of us have been fishing all our lives, but college fishing has opened up the country to us, we get to meet people, other anglers from other colleges all over the country, we get to know them, get to know where they are from, get to make friends we never would have had if it wasn’t for fishing in college.”

If this college bass fishing tournament thing does nothing else, that statement alone is worth keeping the program afloat.

The more people you meet, the further you travel in this world to new places and faces, the less categories you have in your heart.

From behind me someone says, “But it isn’t a party, we all have to have and keep a 2.0 average, we all have to be progressing to a degree.”

The team consists of 18 anglers, these guys are just half of the team, the missing teammates had homework, work, exams, girlfriend commitments that kept them out of the photo.

As I was leaving the team Prez, Johnny throws this at me, “Last week myself and a couple other guys went to Natch Central (Natchitoches Central High School) and we talked to some of the students there about fishing and coming here to this school, great school, and fishing.”

Me:  “How did it go over.”

“Fine, some of those kids in that school have been fishing all their lives as well and would do just fine fishing this tournament this week but…”

But…

There is a part of me that shuts down when I hear the word, “but.”  In my experience, “but” has never turned out well.

“But,” he doesn’t look like management.

“But,” he doesn’t write like everyone else.

“But,” “but,” “but.”

So when Johnny said, “but” I lifted the pen up off the notepaper and just looked at him, but what.

“…but the coolest part of talking to the high school kids was the fact that several told me that if it wasn’t for fishing, wasn’t for the opportunity to be on a college fishing team they wouldn’t even be thinking about going to college.”

And Johnny smiled.

And his teammates smiled as well.

They knew, they’d done good.

“…in the spring…”

We are all born a blank canvas, let not expectations be your paintbrush.  Make your own artwork and enjoy the artwork of others.

If you were to categorize this night in the library, it would be easy, 8 young southern rednecks meet one old New England Yankee hippie.

Movies are made of lines like that.

But these kids who have met new and different friends throughout the country came with an open mind, brought their own paint.

As did I.

And we goofed on each other.

And we laughed with each other.

Told stories of far, and local.

And got together, as friends, for a group shot.

Look closely at those faces, confident faces, knowing faces, faces not etched in expectations.

And that, is the face of this thing called, College Bass Fishing.

 “..becomes the rose…”

The Rose

Bette Midler

db

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

 Dr. Wayne Dyer