“Matthew Gono: Patience is absolutely necessary”

Photo credit – Atlanta Falcons.com

Author: Alexis Byrne

“Matthew Gono: Patience is absolutely necessary”

Matthew Gono is an NFL football player who plays for the Falcons. His current position on the team is offensive tackle and plays as the number 73. Prior to playing for the Falcons, he played for his college at Wesley College in Delaware as an offensive tackle position as well.

I had the pleasure of being able to speak and connect with this talented NFL player and happened to ask him a few questions. Some of the topics which we discussed were over his experiences as a football player, as well as some advice regarding life.

Specifically, the questions that I asked him were the following: 1. “What made you fall in love with football?”, 2. “What was your welcome to the NFL moment?”, 3. “What does your training routine look like?”, and 4. “What is one piece of advice that you would give yourself when you were growing up?”. The answers to these questions, along with commentary are in numerical order.

• “I would say just the aspect of fighting and going to battle with your friends and teammates is the fun part for me. I love to compete and fighting together and enforcing your will with your teammates over your opponents is always exciting, especially if you win” (Gono 2021).

Gono has a love and passion for competing against his teammates and friends in general when it comes to football. Of course, the main goal of the competition is to win but he has fun while competing as well.

• “My welcome to the NFL moment was during training camp rookie year when I had a one-on-one pass rush against Vic Beasley. I’d never gone against someone so fast and strong so he kind of got in my chest made me fall over lol they were recording on tv as well of course, but I definitely knew I had to react faster after that” (Gono 2021).

Matthew’s welcome to the NFL moment was against a very fast and strong Vic Beasley, who is also a player for the falcons. His speed and strength helped Gono gain a taste of what to expect when it comes to playing for the NFL. He had fun while doing it and showed him that he could be just as fast.

3.)  “Right now, I’m on Injured Reserve, so go to work out with the strength coaches 3-4 times a week, lift weights then run, and I go to rehab after that” (Gono 2021).

Gono is currently injured but still stays motivated throughout the week to train with his strength coaches and weight lift. He squeezes some time in after to continue his healing from the injury through rehab. This dedication is inspiring and motivating.

4.) “I would advise myself to understand that things usually aren’t going to go according to my plan which is okay, and that patience is going to be absolutely necessary” (Gono 2021).

This piece of advice is very influential in the sense that most people have an issue with patience, including myself. Plans may be made but at the end of the day, sometimes things do not go according to plan. Sometimes we just need to be patient and wait for the next move. This is great advice!

Overall, it was so great to be able to connect with Matthew Gono. It was a fun experience to be able to ask these questions and hear what his thoughts were based on the questions themselves. All these answers to the questions that I asked are very much inspiring along with motivating especially number four. Patience is key when it comes to life, and it is “absolutely necessary” (Gono 2021). Thanks, Gono!