Lessons That Football Teaches Essay

Football has a significant impact on all our lives, doesn’t matter if you play it or if you even watch it. Its has an impact on us financially and socially. Football is one of if not the greatest traditions of sport in America. It teaches teamwork. Football is the ultimate team sport. It adds great recognition, revenue, and spirit to college campuses and many different communities around the country. Many writers, scholars, and football coaches have stated that football is a metaphor for life and I truly believe that.

The first positive influence that football has on high schools is teaching students many valuable attitudes and social skills. Football players dedicate themselves to their sport and relentlessly train and practice so they can compete with others. While doing this they

Football remains the most popular sport in America and the ninth most popular sport in the world for a reason. Since its creation in 1869, football has played a fundamental part of American society. Every Sunday, my family along with millions of other Americans turn the television to CBS, NBC or FOX to watch their favorite football team go to battle. My family and I bleed burgundy and gold and root for the home team the Washington Redskins. Americans including myself display great intensity and passion for the game of football and the result of the game often changes my attitude for the better or worse. Watching the game on television may come as exhilarating and entertaining, but playing the game creates the best times. Overall football has made a severe impact on many people’s lives. Football teaches unique lessons in a hands on manner which helps athletes like myself sustain a much more adventurous life. Football has made an immeasurably positive influence upon my life, but the sport has its dangers. Football changes lives.

Football is an American sport that consists of two teams composed of 11 men. On the 100-yard field, they go head to head, trying to keep the other team from advancing the ball down the field toward the end zone, resulting in a touchdown or field goal. Football pits the two teams against each other. The offense, which possesses the ball, is placed against the defense, which tries to prevent the offense from advancing the ball. Several different resources can contribute to a team’s success. Some of those resources are funds, talent level of players, and favorable position on the field, which makes it easier to score points. The four sociological perspectives, structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and social exchange theory, all credit different reasons for one team being able to achieve this goal more often than another team. Nevertheless, any of the sociological perspectives you view the sport from, football is a very complex entity. Football is more than just a group of men pounding one another. There is a complex equation that eventually equals success; the differences between these perspectives are the components of the equation that are most heavily weighed on for success. Although it may be a combination of all three perspectives that leads to success in football, it is fair to look at the game from each perspective individually because each holds important insight into what truly leads to a successful football team.

Football isn’t just about going on the field and playing 4 quarters against another team every week. It’s not just those Friday nights going to watch your high school team play. Football is a brotherhood, it’s your second family. It’s making memories that you will have with you for the rest of your life. It’s the hours of preparation, sweat, tears, blood, bumps and bruises and going back out everyday just to give it your all. Football isn’t just a game that i’ve played it’s something that has shaped me into the person I am today.

The game of football is being attacked. We see it every day in the headlines and on the news. The medical concerns are obvious. The game has taken more than its share of criticism. Even President Barack Obama said that if he had boys he wouldn’t let them play football. LeBron James publicly said no football in his house. So the question is asked all the time, Why would anyone want to play football? And why would anyone let their kids play? Here’s my answer. I believe there’s practically no other place where a boy is held to a higher standard then football. Football is hard, it’s tough, it demands discipline, it teaches obedience, it builds character. Football is a metaphor for life.

I feel the game is more of a mental sport. A players must be extremely smart at all times on the field. We play the game like a bunch of wolves but at the same time we are extremely educated on the field. I had many things that I valued while playing football with my team. A few things I really valued were the friendship with all my brothers, valued the team, the atmosphere during the game, and the game itself. This was important to everyone because we all felt the same way. Since we all had a lot of the same values it brought us closer as teammates. Because of this it made our team strong and there wasn’t anyone who could break us down. We were a family and a brotherhood and we all knew that. Even though sometimes during practice there would be scuffles and fights we always had each other’s backs no matter what the situation was. We all had great pride in the team we were the eagles and we would always be an eagle.

Football is a game of passion, a time when nothing else matters and the only thing that matters is going out there having fun and fighting for the guy next to you. Football has always been something that I loved and had a wild passion for. I’ve made friendships and memories to last a life time and I can always be grateful that football did that for me. Now of course I’ve had some bad memories during football as well, I remember walking out of the film room on the last day of spring ball and having Coach Antle grab me and say “Gage, I think I want to try you at a new position, I want to put you at defensive end. We need you more there and we think you can really excel there.” I remember being so furious, I had played linebacker ever since I could remember and now the last day of spring ball my senior year everything was about to change.

But the learning of these skills takes commitment. The commitment of your time and your willingness to do your best. “Another disadvantage to playing football is that the sport requires a significant commitment of time. Often, during the season a player's schedule revolves entirely around the team -- practices, gym workouts, games, film breakdown -- and it makes life considerably more hectic”(Goldsmith). The hectic schedule can cause the players to lack behind in their classes and can also stress the student out because they have to be able to perform their best both in the sport and their

To start off, conditioning and practicing is a necessary part of football. Conditioning is when you physically make your body stronger and more equipped for a sport. In the article “ How Dangerous is High School Football?”, it stated that “ ...because we observed high levels of ankle and knee injuries, we recommend increased conditioning of ankles and knees and rule changes aimed on protecting these vulnerable body sites.” This sentence from the article is a prime example on how football is safe because they are helping the vulnerable and weaker parts of your body stay protected, which in doing so helps prevent injuries. This shows how they are not only tackling big issues, but small issues as well. Not only is conditioning a big role in football, practice is also required for the game. Practicing helps players learn the game of football in a safe way. According to the article “Hard Knocks”, “... one recent study found out

Developing fundamentals is important during sports anytime of the year including football. First in football learning proper mechanics dramatically reduces the chance of a serious injury like a concussion. Football is very important to learn skills to not getting hurt. It also can teach you with life lessons on the way. Safer sports experience is good to players on and off the field. Injuries are being over look during. Using proper coaching techiques to create muscle memory for the players. Sooner the body learns something less chance the body will get hurt. Players who learn proper fundamentals at an early age with take their skills with them when they get older. Such as skill development on how to block and tackle properly at a

As far as athletes on the field a great many lessons are often learned there and one of the biggest lessons is sportsmanship. For any sports played teamwork is often times essential for winning. It also allows for a person to become more confident in their own abilities allowing them to become more proud and not ashamed of what they can or cannot do. It allows players to build bonds among their teammates and while this maybe be one of the main creators of the “jocks hang out with jocks” stereotype it is only because athletes feel a connection to someone that is going through the same time of training and emotions that sports tend to create. Sportsmanship teaches a person the value of working together in groups and allows the player to learn how to adjust to situations that he or she may not agree with. The work ethic sportsmanship creates is also carried off the field as well into the school and more importantly the working environment, because we all know that in our lifetimes we are going to have to work with someone that we do not like or agree with. And having the ability to be able to work through a problem which sportsmanship can do allows for an easier job experience.

First of all, students who practice football start to gain physical attributes such as body muscles which leads them to have high confidence on themselves. They build up muscles and lose weight because of the many hours of exercise and training that the sport requires. Football is based on discipline, it requires on tackling and pushing other players during the game. Because of the rules of the game and

Yet another thing sports can do is teach a player many life lessons. According to Scope Magazine's Tim O'Shei, sports teaches perseverance, team spirit, and fun. Many sports coaches will not allow players to participate in a game if the player's homework is not done on time. Some studies even show that some grades may drop after the season is over because of the lack of motive in a student. A student could also learn how to be a good sport by congratulating his or her team even if they lose. They should learn to be a good sport because whether the team wins or loses, the good spirit of the team would remain. A good team spirit could also make it fun and motivational for everyone else. The perseverance, team spirit, and fun in a team player could make both a good role model and a fun person to be around.

There are many benefits of playing football some of them is that it helps with one’s mental health in many ways. Another reason is that it helps with one’s work ethic, and the final reason is that it helps one stay in shape and physically fit.