College Admissions Essay: A Career As A Football Player

The age old question has been brought up significantly in the past couple of years and can be considered a national controversy. The answer is you can’t downright pay college athletes due the NCAA “amateurism” ruling. There are many plausible ways to compensate these athletes that are bringing in more money than the school knows what to do with. The NCAA has billions of dollars that they mindlessly shell out to programs for “updated equipment”, locker rooms,gear, etc. Also the NCAA says they pay for schooling for the athletes and that is enough, however not every athlete at a given school gets a “full ride”, or even half. This leads us to the main problem.

Does it make sense for an academic institution to run a multimillion dollar entertainment business, which is what college football and college basketball have become? Does it make sense for these institutions to pay the student-athletes who participate in these football and basketball programs?

Ten years ago I saw my first soccer game and up until recently I wanted to be a soccer player ahead of my second passion which is computers. Like most kids, all I ever dreamed of is being a pro athlete. I played soccer all 4 years of High school. I went to the camps and training sessions of many colleges. I even went to the extent of trying out for many professional teams. On March 29th of this year I went to Score Indoor, an indoor soccer arena in Fairburn, to play a small scrimmage game. Something in my head told me that I shouldn’t play but I shrugged it off. 20 minutes into the game I was tackled hard and long story short, I tore my acl. Tearing my acl crippled so many of my plans. In June I had probably the most important tryout of my life. I was going to try out for 3 of the biggest teams in Mexico. At the time I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. All I ever thought about was going pro.

Totally caught off guard, I slowly rose from the table and strode to the front of the room. Eyes from all around gazed up at me; eyes of teammates, parents, mentors, and coaches. What had coach just said? Did I really just receive the Lauren Townsend award? I am no star athlete. I was nowhere close to being the most valuable player, so hearing my name boom throughout the cafeteria sent me into a state of shock. Tears of joy and pride built up behind my eyes, and it took everything I had to hold them back. It had been a long road coming up to this point, and I had never felt more honored and proud.

As a child, I was taught that with hard work and determination I could achieve anything. Unfortunately, this is a myth, and limitations are a part of being human. I was forced to accept this reality during my junior year of high school. Ever since I was a little girl, I looked forward to playing varsity basketball on the orange and black court at Dalton High School. Finally, during my third year of high school, I was given the chance to start as point guard on the girls’ varsity basketball team. Suddenly, my dream turned into a nightmare, and I was sitting on the bench watching other girls play the game I loved. Gretchen Wald, a teammate, was experiencing the same problem. Luckily, she remained by my side throughout the experience. Together,

It’s a fact that most kids when they grow up and watch American football they want to be an offensive player or a defensive player, but what about special teams? That’s right special teams and specifically the place kicker. That’s the one that trots out onto the field after the offense or defense scores and kicks the ball through the uprights, trots off the field, sits on the bench until it happens again if it happens again. Most people see this and don’t think much of it so much so that they don’t even consider the kicker an actual player. Back when I was in school and was the starting kicker for Bethany High School week in and week out I would hear jokes about me not being a player and how I don’t do anything. This simply isn’t the case. It’s actually

College can be the greatest experience in a young adult’s life as well as the most stressful, if you have already completed your college years you probably remember how strenuous and taxing those few years of your life were. Now imagine dealing with 6am workouts and fitting a 3 hour practice in the day while having a full load of classes on top of that. The issue at hand right now is if being a collegiate athlete has a negative influence on academic performance. Some argue that just taking a full course of classes can be a plate full but to add the extra work and time needed to be competitive in collegiate sports can be overwhelming. However from being a college athlete I can say from first hand that it is a lot of work but can be done with good time management and extreme dedication.

As a child every American boys dream was to lace up his cleats, strap on his helmet and storm out of the locker room into a sea of wild fans. I was able to live this dream by playing Division 1 college football; a feat that only 1% of high school athletes get to experience. I quickly realized that football was no longer just a game, but it was a multi-billion-dollar industry, and I signed on to be an unpaid four-year intern. The typical “work week” consisted of 30-40 hours of practice, film, weights, and travel, on top of a 15 credit hour course load. Time management played a key role in my success both on and off the field. I had to prioritize my school-work and optimize every second of my valuable free time. There would be days where I would

I’m not much of an athlete so when my teammates were out in the soccer field, I would cheer them on. I participated in sports because when I got to high school, the upperclassmen would assert freshmen to go out for activities and “get involved” is the common thing to say and it’s very true. When I heard we had an Academic Decathlon team my freshman year I was excited to join. Unfortunately, I didn’t join until my junior year. Even though my teammates would be absent and I would be the only one at the meeting with the instructor, I still came every day. The next year, I joined AD and a myriad of members were freshmen and both of the coaches would tell them how I showed up and they should too. As for my community service, when I’m asked or see

I am a strong inspiring student athlete who deserves to be given the chance at an education. My mother is a single parent of five children and every day is an endless struggle for us emotionally and financially. She works two jobs to support us. My father was absent for the majority of my life. It forced me being the second oldest to become protective of my siblings and be their outlet. I used basketball as my outlet and started slacking in school. I soon came to the realization that I cannot play basketball if my grades are bad which made me improve them promptly. That all changed last year, on July 25, I was in a terrible car accident on my way home from a basketball tournament. I lost four fingers on my right hand, fractured my left eye socket, and had a 12 inch laceration on my head. They say

I chose LSU because of football. I have a dream and I want it to be a reality. My grades don’t look so good but I believe in myself in getting a scholarship. LSU can help me with football. They have a great football team that cooperates together and can get the ball down the field. My plans are to get better grades in college, better grades would mean graduating and moving on to the NFL to pursue my dreams of being an NFL player

All the pain was hilled and I went home from the emergency room and I did not go inside until about seven to nine o'clock ,practicing for our first game. I came back to the field beating and running my hardest, come to find out my coach told me I was the best player on the team for 2012. Then he nailed the mvp sticker on my green and orange jersey. Till this day I still have the same jersey I had when I was nine years old hanging up on my wall. I was #34 a.mahogany (the best player of 2012). It was also my last time smelling and touching the soft grass in 2012 because i was too old and we was going to New Orleans to go to see my family in my home town. But when we came back again and I joined the same team again and got #42 and I did the same thing I did in 2012,but that was no good because my team was not helping me do anything like tackling, blocking, not running. I had to do it all myself and we did not make it to the playoffs because they do not know how to play like a team but if they did what I did practice at home they will get

Participating in a college sport is a way of preparing one’s self for a new path to cross after graduating. Opportunities also come that will enable a person to participate in the “real world”. In making the most out of a person’s college athletic career, they must understand the life lessons they get, their level of responsibility, learned skills and the connections they have

When the college application process started there weren't any schools that I was necessarily interested in. In my eyes no matter where I decided to attend, I would be getting an education but that mindset of mine quickly changed after visiting and learning more about Lasell. I knew immediately when I stepped on campus that this is where I needed to be for the next 4 years of my life.

The coach screams, “There’s three seconds left of the game Val, SCORE!” running so fast trying not to trip over myself; I swing the stick and hit the ball past the goaltender and shoot to assemble the score 8-7. “RING!” the scoreboard goes as the time ran out. I felicitate the other team and celebrate the victory with my teammates. Active is a great adjective to describe me: I’ve played sports my entire life. Can you imagine me being born with a field hockey stick in one hand and a basketball in the other? Can you spot a future Olympian coming out of the womb? I can. Wanting to be an athlete that succeeds and wanting to continue learning how to become an improving player can leave a legacy. How will people remember me, being the considerably