Personal Essay: Why I Hate Football

September 20, 2011 was the day that everything changed. Practice that day was long and excruciatingly hot. My coach did not let me take a rest as I was the only full back we had at the time. Hit after hit, it started to add up and my world was spinning but coach told me to keep going, so I did. The very next snap my world got wrecked. My form became lazy because I was beyond exhausted and dehydrated, my head lead my attempt to break the tackle and the kid making the tackle lead with his head as well. Just like that my body went numb, everything was dark, my eyes were open but I could not see. I had no sense of where I was and where I was going. My name left me. At this point I did not know if I was dead or alive. This was the last time I was ever able to strap up and play the game of football. This is what happens to the millions of kids who play football on a daily basis. Somebody was there telling them to go back in even when they were showing early signs of a concussion. The athlete takes one more hit straight to the head out of poor form or exhaustion and then everything goes from bad to worse. These events take place at such a young age that the long term side effects can be fatal.

I believe that I am a product of the environment that I have been raised in. The world that I live in has allowed me to become much more than a unique DNA sequence. I have been fortunate enough to have been blessed with a privileged life. My parents are happily married, have steady and well paying jobs, and love my sister and me immensely. Growing up, I never had to worry about money, whether that be for new clothes or to go on a trip with my church, or if we were going to be able to have a decent meal. I am truly blessed for that and I hope one day I will be able to provide for my future kids in the same way, and I feel the best way to achieve that is through a higher education. The one thing that has been always expected of me is to get

Last spring the Poland varsity baseball team made it to the state quarterfinals, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. Before the season started we knew that our team was going to be special. Then was the season went on we showed it. Game after game we blew teams out, twenty to nothing, fifteen to nothing, we were a juggernaut. We had every tool at our advantage, we had hitting fielding and pitching. When our hitting wasn’t doing so well our defense picked them up, and when our fielding wasn’t doing well our hitting picked them up. We were a very hard team to beat. As the regular season came to an end our record was twenty-three to two. Then playoffs came around, and that’s when we really started to hit our stride. The first game of playoffs

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.

Failing to make to the JV soccer team has been one of most impactful moments of my life, and it has changed the way I approach athletics and life outside of sports.

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.

heart. I have been a loyal supporter of my local team since I was a

backs of players on the sidelines. Some of my favorite seats have been in Plaza between 33-40

backs of players on the sidelines. Some of my favorite seats have been in Plaza between 33-40

    It was September 29th, the day we all had longed for.  It was sunny, with intermittent clouds.  The leaves were just starting the turn from green to the beautiful autumn colors.

Football has been a big part of my life for as long as I could remember. Ever since I was in 2nd grade football has been my passion. Currently, I stand at 6”8, 260 pounds and I play right tackle for the Fayetteville Bulldogs. Football has shaped me up to the young man I am today and helped me get through the most tragic moment in my life.

As of twenty-sixteen. Only fourteen thousand girls played on a high school varsity football team according to business insider. The sport is to aggressive. If I was a parent, and I had a daughter. she would not play football. The reason why is because on a varsity team. They pick the biggest and best players on their team. Therefore, I believe girls should not play football. For the reason why, they do not have the same body structurer and we can easily hurt them.

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.

Playing football has had the most impact on the development of my character. I started playing football when I was 5 years old. Playing football has taught me many valuable lessons. While playing football, I have better understood the values of hard work. Football taught me that the only way to succeed in something is by working harder than anyone else. Football has also taught me that when working with a team, everybody has an important role and if one person slacks off it hurts the entire team. There is no “I” in team and teamwork is a valuable life lesson. Whenever teammates are focused on individual accomplishments, instead of the team’s success, the team as a whole does not perform as well. I have learned through this that when you

For as long as I can remember football has been a part of my life in some way, shape, or form. When I was first born my grandfather said that I was solid and built to play football. I used to throw the football with my mother when I was a toddler and she always told me that when I tried to tackle her I hit really hard. My first organized football experience was when I was five. I had just moved to Manassas, VA from Washington, D.C. in 1994. It was around fall and that was right at the beginning of football season in the area. I remember telling my mother that I wanted to play, so she looked for a local organization for children. She came across the Greater Manassas Football League (GMFL) and that is where I began to play the game I