Personal Narrative: Football

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.

When David Charles Johnson was a child, he wanted to become a professional football player. He always wanted to become a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. As his parents raised him in Madison, Wisconsin, they encouraged him to try new things and would push him to do his best. David had a lean build with dark-brown hair and blue eyes. He participated in multiple sports, but he enjoyed baseball and football the most. In both sports, he enjoyed the throwing aspects of each game. He enjoyed pitching in baseball and being a quarterback in football. When high school arrived and David was a sophomore, he decided that he only wanted to play baseball and football. He and his parents decided it would be better for him to focus on his academics

One warm summer morning my sister, dad, and I were sitting and watching T.V. and my best friend’s dad called and invited us over for the weekend. He said

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.

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 could hear it, the bell, signaling a touchdown. Except this time it wasn’t one of my teammates, it was me. Oh how I had dreamt about hearing that bell it was the ultimate sensory experience. I knew at that moment that there was a reason you never stopped believing you could do something.

The chills creep up my spine, uncomfortably I notice every single person there was watching my every move. We were going head-to-head with the Vikings, they did very well at intimidating our team to death, but inside I knew we could try. They had some tall buffy people that didn't seem afraid that our dignity was high and on the line. We couldn't waste it here, right now. Next, a loud Screech the referee blew her whistle, and at that moment we knew it was time. We played as if it was the Olympics, even though it was just for fun.Then, the ball went all over the court back and forth meanwhile the crowd screaming, cheering, and excitedly saying, “Go Huskies!”

Stepping onto the field, all eyes on me, the crowd chanting, “block that kick! block that kick!”. That’s the only thing I remember from our 25-22 loss over Sun Valley my sophomore year. As a kicker on the football team you have a hard job. It is 10% physical and 90%mental. Having the teams trust is a real confidence boost, but after that night, I wasn’t sure if I had that anymore. Crying, a quiet locker room, not being able to sleep, all of the sad faces. That’s not what the end of a football game is supposed to look like. “Maybe I’ll get over it”, I asked myself. Little did I know this would help shape the future of not only my football career but also life in

sports or how to play it and how they think wer are sensitive, overemotional, and useless plastic barbies that sit still, and look pretty all day. We all decided to play some sport. What sport? American football, not soccer.

When I departed school that beautiful Spring day, I had no idea what was in store for me. After another lengthy, stale day, I graciously wandered out of the school building and was seeking for my father’s car, which was parked on the edge of the street. He rolled down the window and said, “I have a surprise for you. Hop in the backseat.” I was extremely eager to find out what the surprise was, so I kept making wild guesses while he repeatedly answered, “You’ll just need to wait and see.”

I thought it was going to be a good day, an average weekend to me. It was my birthday, but I didn’t expect anything. My dad slammed my wooden oak door open and stood there with an unreadable expression.

What sports do you play? The sport I play is football. Playing football involves a lot of things. It involves dedication to your team which means showing up to all the practices and film sections. It also involves hard work which means to go 110% to make other people on the team better. It involves brotherhood which would involve being there for your teammate when he has fallen down. It also involves when your teammate makes a mistake to not be mad at him just help him to be better. Football has changed me by making me work harder for what I want.

It was July 24, 2015. I’m getting ready to leave to go to the fair to feed my rabbits. I ran out to the garage to get all the things we need, then ran back inside to grab some other things. My dad was sitting in the front living room, getting my little sister’s shoes on. My dad’s phone started

It was a very sunny Tuesday morning on summer vacation. I woke up took a shower, got dressed, brushed my teeth and ate breakfast with my dad. We then went on our way to the Colorado Rapids stadium in Denver. This was a very important day for me and my team because it was our very first showing up to Soccer state finals. I was so nervous that I couldn’t hold my water bottle, my dad noticed that I was shaking a lot so he tried getting me out of the thought about the first game of state finals by talking to me about trucks. Trucks are what I love besides soccer, so he asked me, “What kind of truck are you going to want?”, I was lost and didn’t know how to answer that question because I thought he would never asked that question in my life. I then answered, “A 1 cabin Chevy Silverado’’, but that still couldn’t get the thought out about my first state final game. “I’ll make you a deal, if you win the first game I will get you the truck by the end of your summer vacation.” I was so happy to hear that but still nervous. I told him “Deal”, with a smile on my face. Finally, we arrive in Denver and stopped at a gas station on our way to the Rapids stadium to get some water for my game. As we’re driving down the freeway, I see the Rapids stadium and my heartbeat starts rising even more and more the closer we get.