Middle School Football: My Springboard To Success Essay

Growing up in Chicago, I attended a neighborhood school from preschool through first grade. Although it was an exceptional school for elementary kids, the education for middle school and high school students was not as adequate. Seeking a better place to raise their children, my parents were faced with a tough choice. When I was in 2nd grade, our family made the decision to move to the suburbs. On July 3rd, we all packed into our Honda minivan and drove 45 minutes to a new home in the town of Winnetka. Within my first year at Crow Island, my new school, I learned so many new things. I started playing the violin and speaking Spanish, neither of which were offered at my old school. I met my best friends that I'm still close with now. Over the

After a long ride, we saw our new home for the first time. It wasn’t luxurious, but to a couple of young children like us it was cool to live on the beach. The changes that lied ahead of us were great. There are many ways in which this new start changed my life. First, no longer did we live in fear. This enabled me to move on. I enrolled in eight grade that year. I felt like had a fresh start. No one knew my business. I could make myself whatever I wanted. My whole personality changed. That year I started at quarterback for junior high and from there everything started to look up. If I was to go into details of all the success I had it would be bragging, so I am just going to say I went from a casualty of a broken home to a respected and important part of High Island High School. In the five years I was there, I had more fun and a more productive life than all the other years put together.

In December of my freshman year, we moved into town and I transferred from Alisal High School to Everett Alvarez High School. I was confronted with a significant challenge that tested my ability to adapt to a new environment. The move had social and academic implications that I have confronted and gradually overcome. I know today that I am a better person for having gone through this challenge and that I am a resilient young woman. I am very proud to have overcome this challenge and now I am surrounded by great friends and have improved academically.

It was September 16th, 2014, and I was in the most stressful situation in my life. If I could lead my team down the field and score a touchdown, I would earn the starting job as a quarterback! I was sweating and shivering, with my muscles twitching. I dreadingly glanced at the scoreboard. Down 24-19, 2 timeouts remaining, 53 seconds left after the defense miraculously got a safety. I looked up. The sun shone bright, but the falling leaves danced in the air, almost daring me to let the ball fly.

At the beginning of my 8th grade school year, I wasn't ready for change. I had lived in Crystal Lake, Illinois my whole life until l that point. I was forced to drop everything that I had held dear in that town and I moved to Highland Park, Illinois. I was frightened by the transition and this is most demonstrated in my first day at my new school. As we rolled up to the sidewalk and my

You are riding on the bus and you got your earbuds in and you’re trying to get focused but your nerves are to high. You get to the game you get your pads on and you leave to warm up and then your heart really gets going. After you warm up you come back to the locker and coach gives you the game plan and you pray then leave. The ball is set and it's time for kickoff and you all line up in a row and the ref blows the whistle and you hear the thud of the ball and your sprinting down field to hit someone and make the tackle.

We met daily at 6 A.M. for weights and speed training. Then it was quickly time to start two a days. All of our coaches knew it was going to be a great year and that we had a chance to win state. “We could take state this year guys!” said Head coach O’dwyer and the others. When he said that it sent tingles down my spine. Game time had arrived. We were scrimmaging against the Wray Eagles. We

The crisp Autumn day the breeze was blowing the colorful leaves were falling from the trees the smell of fire's burning in the air, and it was football season once again. Even though I was in the second grade, my best friend and I would just sit and talk watching the bigger kids play they would not let the

Growing up was very difficult for me as a child. I had to experience living in a lot of different towns in southeast Iowa. When I was in the fifth grade my family decided to move once again, this time it was to Mount Pleasant, IA. When I found out that we were once again moving it really upset me. Our family’s relationship had always been complicated. I couldn’t tell you how many schools I have been to before Mount Pleasant. One of the most difficult parts about moving is trying to fit in and make new friends.

Marching out onto the football field at halftime to perform the only thing I’ve worked on for the past week can only be described by the word, adrenaline. My heels sink into the sweaty-soaked turf from the football players, the student section is screaming out of support for their fellow students, I can’t see anything except the color white from the stadium lights, my mouth is dryer than it ever has been, and my heart is pounding faster than ever before.

As an awkward, clumsy, and minuscule 6th grader, middle school seemed like it would never end. Fast forward three years, and my time at Parkside Junior High, a somewhat large building sitting in front of a somewhat expansive prairie, was nearing the end. The weather was beginning to heat up and was gradually becoming more and more humid, leaving all traces of spring behind. Track season was underway, and I was thoroughly enjoying being able to spend the afternoon running and talking to my friends about whatever came to our minds. Sports, teachers, games; the topics we could discuss were limitless. We were all looking forward to being done with junior high and moving onto high school: the big leagues. After three long

I sent out a survey at recess was the main question. I wanted to do this because it is an interesting topic to me. I like to play football at recess, but other people don’t. I wonder why because it is really fun, but then I realized people could get hurt. I wanted to see who else felt like me. I Believe most people will agree with me because a lot of people like football .

After a long day of school, I was finally ready, well at least I thought I was. All of the pressure that was building up inside me to finally play under the friday nights lights was an uncomfortable feeling at first. My heart was beating so rapidly it felt like it was coming out of my chest. Here I was sitting in my locker with my headphones on trying get myself ready for my first last game ever. The music was so loud I was cancelling out every little sound that was happening in the locker room to keep myself concentrated. Nothing would get in my way to mess up my confidence. My teammates and I seemed to sit in suspense forever while watching each second on the clock pass by.

Crunch. It’s the first sound I hear as my girls and I walk onto the field. The mist is coming off the ground almost sprinting down the field as we will be in just 2 hours. The white lines picture perfect down to both bright white goal posts. Careful not to step on the field yet, I make my way to the bench. This National semi final championship game was the most important game of my life. I take out my Nike Mercurial pink and black high top cleats I've had since I was fifteen. It felt like any other ordinary game. Well, that is until the other team shows up and the butterflies start to kick in. Some girls stand at 6’ 1”. I feel smaller than the point of a fine needle. This is just a bigger stage to any other game, I think to myself. Here it is, the National Championship semi final, the moment my team and I dreamed of since before I can remember. This was the game we have prepared for months for. The blood, bruises, sweat and tears were for this one single game. The next 2 hours fly. We took the field to warm up. Running, stretching, passing and shooting,our usual warm-up drills. I'm starting, so I make sure my touch is on point. Seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred touches later. People start to trickle into the stands one by one until it’s almost full. College coaches pour in the stadium lining the entire sideline. My dad comes over to the side line to give me a gatorade, water and a good luck kiss. The television staff shows up to set up their cameras. My family

One humid summer morning I was woken up to hear my dad saying, “Get up, today is tryouts.” The day was cloudy and humid and partly dark, There was never a day I wanted more to just lay in my bed and rest. Definitely not a day you would want to go play football. It wasn’t early but for some reason, I was really tired, and hungry. I ate very little so I wouldn’t feel even worse. Time seemed to go by as slow as snails scrape the bottoms of the sea for the algae which only left me dreading what might be in front of me. I was either sick, or extremely nervous.