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SOUTH BEND — Time could have tempted punter James Rendell into second-guessing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with Notre Dame football.
Traveling to his new team/home last month, Rendell had two hours to sit and think aboard the plane that sat on the tarmac of Melbourne Tullamarine Airport in his native Australia. He had three more hours of emptiness during an unscheduled stopover in Honolulu, and then again while waiting for a connection, after a missed connection, in Los Angeles.
More time for Rendell to ponder life followed on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago before a two-hour car ride from O’Hare International Airport to, as he pronounced it SOUTH Bend.
Australian punter James Rendell speaks with media on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at Irish Athletic Complex in South Bend.
Rendell may have worried more than he wondered during that journey along the Tri-State Tollway, not a road for the faint traveler of heart. It was there that Rendell realized that you drive on the other side of the road here, so that journey for Rendell, like for so many others, was unnerving.
Finally, after 9,820 miles (9,720 of those in the air) and 33 hours of travel, after delays and missed connections, after too much time to think, Rendell arrived on the Notre Dame campus. There, in late May, everything made sense. It felt like something that Rendell didn’t expect.
It felt like home.
“It was meant to be,” Rendell said last week in his noticeably thick Australian accent. “As soon as I got here, it was all worth it. It’s been quite the journey. In a weird way, I feel like I’m destined to be here.
“I don’t feel out of place.”
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/james-rendell-went-australian-rule-114843600.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2024-06-25 11:48:43
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