Personal Narrative: A Career As A Football Team

Football wasn’t just a sport for me. It shaped my life in a lot of different ways it helped me become the person I am today. I started playing football when I was twelve years old when I started play it became the best sport ever. I started learning how to do a lot of different stuff on the football field. Football allowed me to take my anger out on the field.

Playing sports is a great way to develop leadership skills. I’ve played softball since I could walk. It has been my passion ever since I started. Being the captain of my team for 2 years has taught me how to be a great problem solver, to be confident in myself, and to be a very hard worker. Leaders should be the first person you think of to go to for advice on a problem you’re having. Being a leader I have to do the right thing all the time not only when it is convenient because everyone is watching me. No matter what the situation people turn to me to help guide the team as a whole, on and off the field. If I make an error everyone sees how I react and they use that as an example for how they should act and have good sportsmanship. I have

I started out as a student-athlete in which I depicted great leadership skills and positive role model qualities such as diligence, enthusiasm, and passion for the sport. Hence, after my first year of college, I was named the team captain. I worked closely with the coaches, helped to resolve team conflicts, established the tone for practice, and modeled responsibility, decision-making, and a strong work ethic. I also promoted a positive attitude and team interactions, and encouraged and supported all of my teammates. Throughout my experience as team captain, I showed mental toughness by remaining confident and focus, and respond to individual and team mistakes in an appropriate manner.

Finally, Leadership is work. A leader works harder than anyone else and they know they need to do so. A captain knows that he has to push himself to work above everyone else. He should run faster, hit harder, and block better than anyone else on the team. If a captain works harder than anyone else, then everything comes together. He earns respect; he takes responsibility, and leads by example.

This wasn’t just your typical football practice before your first game, this was trying to get everyone hyped after a rather laid back Monday practice. This was a more competitive practice than usual, trying to get everyone motivated for the first game against Clarksburg. Coach Song thought it would be a good a time to divide everyone up into teams, Team Zuckerman and Team Johnson. The teams were named after our running back and myself, who were voted team captains. In between drills we would have little competitions between both teams to try to bring a competitive edge for everyone to get excited for practice. Emotions were at an all-time high because Coach Song had yelled at us after the first practice to get us excited to on

Once when I was in 4th grade, I decided I wanted to play football. By that time the season was already over, so I joined the team the next year. It was my first year and my coach said that I had a lot of potential. He said I had more than he’s seen in a long time of coaching.

As voted captain on Hampton-Dumont's athletic teams, I discovered the value of communication, unity, perseverance, and passion. Leaders are only successful if they have followers. I have come to know that every individual has a gift to contribute. Every role is vital. My teammates trust me because I value the individual and withhold judgement. I genuinely care about each and every girl, regardless of who she is or where she's come from. I seek and expect the best out of everyone, and when you do that, anything is possible. With this leadership style, each of our school athletic teams became cohesive and united. It became less about me and more about friends with true commitment to each other who focus on the big picture of teamwork.

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, not arrogant, have humor, but without folly.” Implementing leadership is not hard with a good leader, who conveys the qualities of mental strength, self-motivation, and confidence. As head cheerleader, I will be able to exhibit these qualities while implementing a structured leadership program with some of the three major factors in leading a successful team: communication, bonding, and organization.

I put into action different things I had thought of when reflecting on my leadership skills the previous seasons. I wanted to be the best I could be as a captain to be a role model for the incoming freshman and new runners. My work ethic improved drastically even from my sophomore year because I realized exactly how important leading by example is. If I didn’t put forth the effort to improve, why would the rest of the team when I told them to? That was the main question I always asked myself and reminding myself of that constantly made for a hardworking and dedicated team that I was proud to be a part of.

I believe that most of my professors would look at me and think that I am active, but I think that they would be surprised to know about my football career. Having the chance to play professionally for the Canadian Football League, while taking 19 credit hours, would be something that they would probably be surprised to know about. In terms of traits, I think that they would find it somewhat surprising that I am naturally a shy person. In class, I like to stay active in conversation and participation because we may potentially be graded upon this. Outside of the classroom, I am typically more reserved. I am usually more focused on things that I need to get done in order to succeed, as opposed to joining a group of people for coffee and chatting.

Football is a great sport. I also did football myself. When I was nine years old I joined the Tri County Hurricanes. When I first joined the team I was trash. I did not know how to hold the ball, throw the ball, nor catch the ball. When I was practicing at home and on the field I got better and better every day . So I got back on the field the next month and I out ran people, caught the ball, and I made the QB( Quarterback ) spot and wants we got done all you done all you can smell is the wet grass and all you can hear is the football players hitting each other back to back to back.

The team consisted of mostly freshman and sophomores, a few juniors, and two seniors. As a senior, I accepted a leadership role and I had to provide an example for the other players. With their eyes on me, I wanted to be the best to earn their respect. Expectations for my play were high, but I met those expectations and pushed them. By pushing those expectations, I pushed the expectations of my teammates and that made us an even better unit.

There are many ways to show leadership, some of those ways are shown in the movie "Remember The Titans". For example coach Yoast had to give up his position of head coach for his players sake because if he left the would not play for coach Boone. This example shows leadership because he sacrificed a position as head coach for his players. Even the team captian Gary had to change the way he treated the black players because of what julius told him. There was also a moment when Yoast and Gary had to cut ties with there longtime friends for the sake of the team improving.

During my junior I had the chance to experience being a leader. I have experienced this leadership by playing Lacrosse. I am co-captain of the girl’s team and we have had many disputes but we overcome them. My role as the co-captain was to assist when the captain was not there and to help out. One of my traits that I have is that I love to help out. I love when people ask for help and I am always happy to do so. My team and I have never won a game, yet I still tell my teammates to keep a positive attitude and that we still need to tried our best. When most people fail at something in their life, they tend to think that they are no good and give up. So when we kept on losing they all had bad attitudes and kept thinking we would not win. I have

With the opportunity of a fresh start in front of us, I believe now is the time to make the changes this program needed five plus seasons ago. My first year on the team was both very exciting and intimidating. It couldn’t have been more than two days into the season before I was taken under the wing of senior captain Laura. She began to teach me the ropes of the program I would dream of leading myself one day. As a new captain, Laura explained to me her goals as a leader and what she hoped to bring to the Prior Lake Girls’ Hockey Team. As I look back to the very beginning of my high school hockey career, I have yet to see this team achieve the goals Laura set that year. What I will write about is what I have learned what makes some leaders more successful than other, and why