Personal Narrative-American Football

I walked off the floor with sweat dripping from my hair. So many thoughts flew through my head that I couldn’t focus on anything. My junior year of basketball felt like it ended as quickly as a blink. It was as if in seconds we went from the stars of the state tournament to the embarrassments of it. I tried to forget the disappointment of it but it still will not leave. My desire and love to win games comes from the more apparent hatred of losing them. Junior year we had a chance to win a state championship, but we lost that chance. That was when I realized that I had one chance left to win. Senior year our basketball success would only be as rewarding as we would make it. The pressure placed on ourselves was substantial, and we faced trials on the road to success. In the end, we stood alone, crowned as the champions, not letting our chance slip away.

I was nine-years old in 1952, and it was on a brisk August Sunday afternoon when my Dad took me to my very first 49ers game at Kezar Stadium for an exhibition contest against the Cardinals, from Chicago. As I remember the weather was overcast and the temperature a cool 60 degrees.

It was a nice day so I wanted to see if my friends could play, I rode my bike to Alex and Tony’s house. I got to the door and rang the bell.

I walked into school to be greeted by a janitor vacuuming the floors. It was time to start thinking about the game and getting my focus level up. My pregame ritual wasn’t always the same beside for one thing, be the first to the locker room to have time to think to myself. Walking into the light blue and worn-down locker room it was almost like I could feel the emotion from all the players who had been there before myself. I was greeted by a wave of smell, the smell of victory, defeat, and pure hard work. It was quite musty but I was used to it and had grown accustomed to it. I sat myself down and began to think about how I would perform tonight and what I had to do in order to be victorious. I pictured myself going out onto the court and seeing all the fans packed into our old wooden bleachers. All I wanted to do was make them proud of the team they came to watch. I looked out the window to see the vehicles of my fellow teammates driving into our dirt parking lot. Soon, the locker room would no longer be quite and it would be filled with the shrieks, laughs, and giggles of my

Well for me, football is my top favorite sport. When I was in school, I had a problem with authority, and teachers would often make me mad. I tried hard to control my aggression, frustration, and anger. I jumped into drugs and cigarettes to fights and gangs. Because nothing I tried worked, I went to football tryouts. I felt happy and excited for the first time in a long time; I eventually got on the field and ran and ran.

October of 2015 arrives, Monte Vista Elementary school informed us that there are basketball tryouts and basketball season will come soon. I have been practicing non-stop after last year’s tournament. I had one goal that year, and it was to get to the championships. I tryout and impress the other players around me. A paper of the names who made

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.

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.

It was a very warm and tense place in the gymnasium of the Alpena High School. A group of freshman and sophomore baseball players were waiting for the words you wanted to hear which was “Congratulations” or the not so good news of “Sorry” from the coach deciding if you made the team. Personally, at the start of baseball tryouts I thought to myself it’s going to be a toss up to see if I would make the team having a 50/50 chance. I was nervous for the most part because there were an abundace of upperclassman also trying out for the team that were on it last year. There were twenty-seven people trying out for fifteen spots to play JV baseball.

On the ice I realized the real extent of what was going on, there was 52 kids in total, 5 coaches, and one hour to decide what the team would be this year, they need 6 defence, 9 forwards, and 2 goaltenders. Making it so only 17 out of 52 kids could make it, I almost lost hope. This team was a big deal to

Although I wasn’t the best on the team, whatever I put my mind to I was able to accomplish. On the day of the last game of the winter season, I made a bet with my dad that if I would score eight points in the game then I could get a puppy. My dad agreed without hesitation because I have never gotten close to scoring eight points. I was someone who would score once, maybe twice a game, but I still made it a goal for myself to score four times which seemed nearly impossible. She won’t win, my dad thought. It’s impossible, he thought. I believed in myself when no one else did. As the game started I knew what was on the line and I would do anything to be able to accomplish my goal. I knew that my strength was free throws, so getting fouled four times would grant me the eight chances I would need to score eight points. I followed through and got fouled exactly four times and made all eight of the free throws. I won the bet. I knew I was not the best player and I knew that it was going to be a challenge to get to where I wanted to be, but I did not let those factors become an obstacle that would prevent me from reaching my goal. I used my strength of free-throw shooting to get my puppy. After the game I was congratulated by everyone who knew about the bet. This included my teammates, my brothers, my mom, and my dad. My dad walked out of that gym with a new perspective of his daughter: someone who can

Football is back as the first preseason game was played last Thursday. With football coming back, so does fantasy football. Like a lot of people (myself included), you’re scouring the internet for rankings. There’s plenty of rankings out there, but none of them tell you where to take a defense. I am going to present my strategy.

His little legs churned as fast as they could driving him straight at his opponent. I sensed Matthew wasn’t too sure of himself since he had never expressed any confidence playing our football games or in practices; but this time, the young defender responsible for guarding him was smaller, and Matt had the advantage. He staccato stepped and faked running to the right just as we had planned. His opponent accepting the feigned shift, ran in the misdirection. Suddenly, Matt was all alone in the end-zone; and the football, a perfectly thrown pass designed for Matt, was spiraling toward his small opened hands. The ball hit his palms and bounced skyward, but Matt quickly reached up and grabbed the football securing his touchdown. The families in the stands cheered, and Matt returned to the sideline with a smile and a little more confidence. I coach Matt’s third grade 7 on 7 football team, and this is my third year of competitive football league coaching. Coaching is a luxury I afford myself with my limited free time, and it brings me a lot of satisfaction.

I drove home from breakfast pumped for the game and more ready for this game than any I had ever played before. I just had this feeling in my heart, that if we all came together as a team and laid everything out on the line, we could come through with our first Monadnock victory. Hours passed, and there was still a nervous pit in my stomach. Bus time came, and we boarded united as a team. Nearly an hour later, we would arrive at our rival’s school. Together, we walked onto the field with an air of confidence and swag. We worked through the usual warm up. Our nerves were still buzzing when we heard the sharp squeal of

My apprehension only seemed to grow as the time dragged on. Suddenly, I heard our school name. Adrenaline rushed through me as we ran out onto the mats with gaudy smiles on out faces. The music thundered behind us as we jumped, stunted, and danced. It felt like it was over in a heartbeat. The experience as a whole left me utterly exhausted; so much in fact that when it came time for awards, I was quite frankly too worn out to care. We had done our best and there was nothing we could do to alter our fate at that point. Still, I couldn't help but attempt to play back our performance in my head. "We were nowhere near as natural or well put together as the other teams." I muttered. As it turned out, I was correct. We placed last in our