Football is a sport I had learned to play growing up. I didn’t have a clue how complicated it was until I got into high school. It took me years until it I realized I was superior at being a wide receiver. I learned this by working harder than others, my willingness to learn, and my physical toughness. High school football is a competition to see who will work the hardest to earn their stripes. Every day I would come to the locker room 30 minutes early so I could a good workout in before practice. I did this every day for 3 weeks and increased my maximum squat weight by 30 pounds. I cared about my legs the most because I wanted to be able to outrun anybody on the field. During practice coach always made us do bleacher laps. You must have an amazing amount of stamina to be able to sprint up and down flights of stairs. While all the skinny boys that played at wide receiver were cheating themselves trying to catch a breather, I kept pushing myself to keep going without stopping. After weeks of cardio and heavy weightlifting I had gained 10 pounds of muscle by pushing myself and my urgency to not give up. Most people might think being a wide receiver is the easiest part on the team. It’s probably one of the hardest. There’s over 15 different routes that I ran that I had to know by heart. If you didn’t know what route to run when coach called the play you would make a fool out of yourself in front of the whole team. That’s what drove me a lot to learn the plays in general.
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.
When I watched football there were these two football players that I look up too. The two players I look up too and wanted to play like we're Chad Johnson and Deion Sanders. I use to stay up late nights watching videos of them playing football because I truly wanted to play like them. By watching chad Johnson, he taught that you shouldn’t talk if you can't back it up. When I played football I always like to talk, I always thought I was better than the person that was I playing against. On the I always made sure I was the flyest and had the best accessories on the field. I learned that by watching Deion Sanders, he always uses to say “you look good you feel good, you feel good you play good.” I always believe those words and always bought the
“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
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
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,
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.
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
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
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 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.
The day the team got together and fought threw a tough battle facing pinnacle high school. It was our second home game and our record was 1-2. After all of the hard work we had put in over summer, we realized we could not lose, especially in front of our home crowd. At the beginning of the game we did our usual warm-ups, I have never felt so much adrenaline pushing threw my veins in my life. After the warm-ups the whole team got in a big huddle, we chanted a chant that will never be forgotten and one day make history for the pride. After the chant we got ready for kick-off, lined up and ready to go. The crowd started cheering at the first 2 seconds of the game “go pride go, go pride go”. This made the whole team nervous, not just because there was so many
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.
Going into my freshman year I thought I knew what football was all about, boy was I wrong. I thought hard work was lifting a little, running a little, and doing some plays. In high-school we started speed training at six in the morning for two hours and then lifted for two hours after speed training, the older kids would go back in the evening to lift some more. I did not understand why they did extra work until they won state that year.
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.