The pressure was on. Myself as well as my middle school football team had been practicing for weeks to beat our opponent, Southport Middle School. They had beaten up the year before and it was our turn to pay them back.
With my eyes glued to the ball. Just waiting for the center to snap it to the quarterback I made sure my cleats were dug in and ready to go. As the center moved the ball I charged forward shoving the center out of the way and slamming my shoulder into the quarterback and taking him down before he had a chance to blink. After the play, there was time to think to myself about the past week, the events that had transpired, the important decision I had made, and about that one sunny day at practice.
Because there was already a quarterback, I was not able to start at that position, rather I got to start as a safety on defense. Although I was the starting strong safety, I managed to get some reps under center, running the offense. I had gotten my first chance to play varsity quarterback. Game 3: Millburn vs. Caldwell. It was a scorching hot day, and we crumbled as a team, losing by nearly forty points. But towards the end of the game, coach pushed me onto the field. I wasn’t the starting quarterback, but this moment was the one that haunted yet animated me. The first snap goes five feet above my head. I had to chase for the ball, pick it up and scramble, and somehow escape and run or make the throw. I was in honest disbelief, unsure of my capabilities. Reconnecting with my past mistakes I decided to tuck the ball and run. I sprinted to the nearest sideline passing multiple defenders getting a brief rush of exhilaration. I ran for 18 yards and my first touchdown, my elation increased at the sight of my teammates rushing towards me to celebrate. I was able to emerge as an important asset to our football team that year, expanding my knowledge and learning from all the other
I was pushed around, yelled and cursed at by some of the biggest dads I have ever seen, but I kept my spirits high in order to pursue greatness. I wasn’t used to wearing a helmet and pads, so catching a football was a challenge. A few weeks down the road, after many hours of observation, the coaches put me on defense in the position of Defensive End. I had no idea what this position was and what my job was. I learned that the Defensive End (DE), plays on the very end of the defensive line and the job of the DE is to rush the Quarterback and to stop any run plays in my direction. I wasn’t very good at doing my job and my coach sought me out and reminded me of that every
“Football has actually helped my life out so much, without football I don’t think I’d be as far as I am,” Thayer said. “Understanding the game of football is one thing, but it actually teaches you how to be a man in some circumstances and how to grow up a lot faster. I’ve had coaches that are out here who help me daily and they help me understand that everything’s not going to go your way and when it doesn’t go your way keep your head up and keep pushing and that’s when things come your way. So, I think football has taught me a lot and it’s actually driven me all the way here and to be able to go from high
Football, some would say, is America’s new favorite pastime. It’s enjoyed by adults and children alike. Many kids grow up playing the sport. Starting from the peewee level and progressing until they reach the high school level. Sometimes, if they’re good enough, maybe even farther. However, high school football is where players really take strides to become better at the game. As with any sport, there are injuries. Yet, there is one injury in particular that has some petitioning for significant change to the sport, even to the point of banning it. That injury is concussions.
Not on the outside, but on the inside. Now, I was determined that I wanted to win, no matter what the pain was. After all, no pain, no gain! I went back on the field and went off. I caught every single ball that was even thrown even in my direction, and later I found out that if I could get two fingers on the ball, it was as good as caught. The coach kept me in the rest of the game, and I realized that I was in the zone. I didn’t hear any of the trash-talking the other players did, I didn’t hear the fans, I didn’t even twist and turn and juke out the defenders, my body did for me automatically. I didn’t feel any of the pain, I did not realize that I scored so many touchdowns, I was pure adrenaline. Before I knew it, the score was 49-56 Montgomery, the fourth quarter, there were only 50 seconds left on the clock, we were at our own 20-yard line, and we had no timeouts remaining at all. This was the real test, to see if we deserved to be the champions. One touchdown, 6 points would reduce the loss by one, and the extra point would tie the game. But, if we went for the two-point conversion, then the game would be over, one way or
My dad was eager to teach my brother and I football, and eventually we accepted our fate of learning the complex game. Eventually I was able to identify the running backs, linebackers, and lineman in a “dogpile.” My dad taught us how to analyze the game as if we were the coaches on the sideline calling the plays and pointing out penalties before the referees could throw out their yellow flags that represent an infraction by a player. More importantly, to my dad,
I remember when I was little thinking how awesome it would be to play football and I looked up to the people older than me like in middle school or high school when I was in elementary thinking that someday I would be in that same situation.
I have been playing tackle football since I was in 5th grade. I love the sport football, let me be honest you have to be tough to play football. Football is a contact sport if you take the contact out no one will play football. That is why “Concussion Legacy Foundation to support a new parent education initiative, flag football under 14.” I would have to disagree because football is a serious sport you don’t need an injury right when you go into highschool. You should know how to play the sport before highschool people are touch in high school.
Stephen is a senior transferred to WCSU from Miami University in Ohio, it is better known for the home of the famous NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That one fact made it a little easier to bond and converse with Stephen as I am a huge football fan and he happens to coach football. It wasn’t Stephen’s idea to transfer but his parents, they decided it was too expensive for him to go to school so far from home. He therefore transfer here and now lives in his parents basement in Ridgefield CT, and he commutes to school. Stephen is majoring in media studies and he hopes to do something in the field of being a promoter or a publicist. Stephen coaches high school football mainly to freshman's and he also is part of a baseball league. Stephen also loves to sing even though he claims he isn’t so good at it.
I remember it like it was yesterday; looking out at the defense and trying to decide on which play to call. I was in the single biggest game of my high school football career so far. It was my first time playing the Evangel Eagles, our biggest rival and the back to back state champions. It was my freshman year, and I was the starting quarterback. So there I was, my fourth high school football game as a starter and playing against some of the biggest guys I had ever laid eyes on, who, coincidently, all wanted to tear me limb from limb. I gazed out at eleven hostile pairs of eyes across from me and racked my brain for what play could possibly work to get us into the endzone. There was just under two minutes left in the game and we were up by
It all started when I was about three years old when my good friend Anthony Williams and I became friends when he ran his bike into my sand box. Football has been an event in my life since I was three years old and it still is today. “The key to life is not what life gives to you but what you take from life. It’s not how life treats you but how you treat life. You have a choice in life. You can either thrive or survive.”_ Coach London. Football has made me into the person I am today, hard working, and determined.
I can remember two plays vividly. The first was when I played fullback. It was third and long which is more times than not a passing situation, but this time the coach put his faith in me to make the first down. I remember getting the hand off and was running to the left. I got through the hole and saw a defender. I lowered my shoulder and ran over him, but I wasn’t to the first down yet. All of a sudden there were four people on me and I had my mind made up that I wasn’t going to let my team down, so I kept my legs driving carrying people and finally made it to the first down. Right there I knew that I could be a great player. The second play was a defensive play. The opposing team was up by three points and time was running out. The coach yelled from the sideline “We need a play,” so I took it upon myself to be the playmaker. The ball was snapped, it was a toss to my left. I saw the running back sprinting out and I took my pursuit angle. I met him head up and he started to go down and in the back of my mind I heard my coach’s voice and that made me do something I had never done. I stripped the ball out of his hand and ran for a touchdown. My team won. The next phase of my football career was about to begin now, middle school.
Dating back to my early childhood; football at the time was my only love. I breathed, slept and ate football. It started off as just a friendly hobby around my neighborhood up until my tenth-birthday when I joined a little league football team. Over the years I continued to play, it got even more exciting for me when my friends from the neighborhood start joining the team as well. Things suddenly changed for me moving forward into my high school career. Although this was once a fun stress reliever it was becoming the only thing that stressed me out.