My Passion In Football

Becoming a cheerleader at such a young age, being on the cheer mat became a happy place for me. I spent thirteen out of my eighteen years of my life cheerleading and it is definitely something that means a lot to me. Being on the cheer mat whether at practice or at competition has taught me many life lessons that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Having such caring and dedicated coaches made my experience so special and unique. My passion for cheerleading shows tremendously as soon as I step on the mat, and learning many life lessons from cheer has shaped me into the person I am today.

Everyone has that certain thing that makes them who they are. That certain thing for me is soccer. It’s my hobby, my biggest interest, and my passion. Soccer isn’t just a sport for me, it’s my life. It has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have played the intriguing game of soccer since I was four years old, and I have loved it ever since.

I worked out everyday and practiced every chance I got. When the first day of tryouts came around again, I woke up that morning like every other day, but I knew today was different. I knew that today was the day I was going to redeem myself. When I got to the field most of the guys looked familiar, a few of them even joked around with me and asked "you're back for more?" Unlike the previuos year, I was ready for this tryout. I proved to everyone that doubted me and said I couldn't and I earned my spot on that team. The moment I saw my name on the team's roster was one of my proudest

It was that time of the year again, football season. Football is a sport in which I am very passionate about, I never knew I could or would be so passionate towards something, until one very specific game. It was a Saturday afternoon, the breeze was just right, the temperature was just right; not to cold and not too hot. Being the first game of the season I didn’t know if I was going to play or not. However, I was proven wrong Coach Smith hollered “Shawn!” I stood up startled at first and right then and there I knew that was my moment to shine and shine is what I did.

It all started when I walked into Island Coasts High School’s open house. I didn’t know what to expect, and was filled with trepidation about whether or not I would even know enough about football to sign up. I made my way to the cafeteria in order to sign up. I met the coaches,

Boring. That is the first word that pops into someone's head when I ask them to describe this beautiful sport. They either say the sport is too boring, too complicated, or just lengthy to both watch and play. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no doubt. But the sport of baseball is one that has always mesmerized my brain when I play/look at it. It is perhaps the best metaphor to describe life, and also the best metaphor to describe me.

We grinded for the next 6 months until school was out. Some of us lifting twice a day trying to gain an edge on the other teams so we wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as the past year. When summer came around we headed back down to Colorado for our annual football camp. This year Cullen, Luke Max, Emmitt, Clay, and me rode down in coach G’s Suburban instead of going down on the bus. This was so much better than riding the bus. We were able to make more stops and the seats were really comfortable. The whole way down we were cracking jokes, talking about different stuff, and making fun of Cullen and his foolish comments on how Trump was going to “Make America Great Again” This was by far the best trip to CSU I had been on. After returning from CSU we got back into the weight room. When we started two a days this year the energy was different from years past. This year everyone was hyped for them. We all knew we were the best and we were going to prove it this

I played football in high school for all 4 years. My freshmen and sophomore year I wasn't very good. I was a backup and never played. Then came along my junior year, I was still undersized and didn't start but I improved my skill greatly and I started to increase my work ethic. The off-season before my junior year I went hard in the weight room and became strong. I also lost some weight and gained some height. That's hard work in the offseason is what lead to me having a great senior year. My senior year was full of emotion, I felt tired, determined, and at the end of the season I felt sadness with no regret and the love for my brothers. The first thing we had to do to become a great team was build a brotherhood with kids who wanted to try.

This was the last time my friends and I would ever play together. Our season wasn’t going as planned because we only won two games out of eight. We knew we would be haunted for the rest of our lives if we lost our last game of our season. We quickly stopped the opponent’s offense by a 10 yard sack by me and other great defensive plays. In addition our offense swiftly put up 14 points. Time seemed to be going by at a fast rate because before we knew it, it was half time. Our coach give us the usual “We need to do better” speech. He also said there was a special guest that wanted to see us. My coach brought in a fellow classmate I was friends with that had gotten into a really bad car accident and had brain damage. I realized that the football game we were all emotional about was nothing in the big scheme of things. This kid had damage and wasn’t complaining at all, while we were all complaining about only having one game left to play. This fellow classmate motivated me to do better for him. We ended up winning the game 41-0, but my outlook on life changed in that single

Once again a preseason of hard work led to a season where I could not start a single game in the season. However, because I had learned to work even harder than I had before, I saw much more playing time, playing in seven of our twelve games, including one playoff game, and I had found a spot playing on special teams. I also was able to make a few tackles, and our team improved, as we went from a team that won less than half of our games, to a team that had one regular season loss, and lost in the championship. In my junior season, I started to get much better, in many ways due to the fact that the offensive line coach on Varsity was better than that of JV. However, the playing time that I received only slightly improved, because I was hampered by being stuck behind one of the best offensive linemen in school history. He won all-state, all-league, all-section 1, and lineman of the year in our league. So again, I failed to get into the starting lineup, but I knew that I was very close to making

Last year, I had been one of three sophomores to make the varsity soccer team. I was proud to be part of the elite group and motivated by the opportunity to play with the upperclassman. The season kicked off with a promising start. Coach gave me encouraging feedback and significant playing time as he tried to determine my position on the field. Game after game, I kept earning more opportunities

The next games went by so fast it was October now a month or so left in my high school football career. Just very infuriated at this moment feeling pathetic, since the back therapy I was going threw was almost over. I had a feeling that nothing was going same again this season our record was now 8-0, still not satisfied. Because we only had two games left in regular season and they were against central catholic on Oct,24th 2014 varsity football team lost Friday's home conference game against Central Catholic (Toledo, OH) by a score of 56-33. Now one more game we were 8-1, I was finally done with my physical rehab it was about time missing 8 games total.

Although life is overbooked and filled with stressors, I can relax and enjoy playing soccer. Wearing the colors and badge of the team I’m on is something I hold with pride, and I work to play well while representing my team. At the same time, I train and work hard to excel and reach higher levels of competitive soccer. Even with the constant ups and downs and quiet car-rides when we lose, my passion for the game still tends to bring me back to the game and take my mind off of all my cares. Many a time I would sit and want to quit, but all the adversity and strong work ethic shapes who I am today. Through all my experiences, soccer is one of my favorite things to do and a passion I fully enjoy. Playing in the high-intensity travel and school games, plus coaching of my little brother’s team all are activities I love.

I was all smiles heading into week four of the 2016 high school football season. After being told I broke the starting lineup, offensively and defensively, I was more than prepared for the game. After working my tail off sophomore year, I felt this opportunity was well deserved. After the conclusion of the Thursday morning practice, my friends and I jokingly said how bad it would be to have

As the second week began with a bang at that monday evening practice we had our first scrimmage against the eighth grade team,they had been unbeaten the year before but the fact of the matter is the had guys that were like 6”1 or taller and our tallest guy was 5”9.He was on the B team!So you could imagine what happened even though the coaches weren’t keeping track our bench warmers were and it was bad.The score was 42-7 by the end of practice.Next few practices were like intese conditioning but I