Personal Narrative: The Joys Of Playing Football

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.

My parents made a wise decision to secure my future as opposed to letting me waste it on a middle school football game. So far it has been 3 weeks and we have only gotten thru 2 games and we have had two players that have needed a cast because of a broken arm, another player with a strained back, a player who pulled his shoulder, and another player who had a dislocated shoulder. That goes to show how dangerous the 8th grade season has started off. Even NFL players have started to retire because Football is getting increasingly dangerous. Many NFL players are getting severely injured and several of these injuries are critical concussions from helmet to helmet contact which lead to body weakening symptoms after the retirement like memory loss, depression, and

“Do I really want to keep risking everything for this game”, “How could I possibly deal with a death on my team if I started coaching”. This introspection soon leads to other thoughts such as “Why do I play?”. And I start to piece it all together, in elementary school Football was the cool thing to do, especially in Texas, and my love for it began then, and from that point forward the dream was always to make it to the NFL. That’s when it would all pay off in my head, which is often the truth, but since only 1.6% of college football players make it to the NFL it rarely pays off.

It all started when I got grounded.I was in my room all bored just thinking. I was thinking about some of my past actions. One of the major ones that was still clear in my mind was all the times I've hurt myself over my dumb ways or decisions. The freshest memory was when I first started to play football. I was interested in being a quarterback. But back then when I was 8 I had this dumb way off throwing one. It was like throwing a bowling ball into the air. But the feeling of the balls grip made me forget about how I used to throw it. But I did have this occasional feeling when I threw it. As if my arm muscle was being pulled. But I didn't mind for as long as I could throw far and high I didn't really care. But boi I should have listened to

Football has always been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. As the youngest of four boys, I watched all three of my older brothers’ play from the side of the field. I never wanted to miss a single game. I would run right along with them, watching every move and play that they made. I will hold these memories for as long as I live. I always knew that I would be out there someday playing, but until then, I would settle for cheering them on. When the day finally came that it was my turn to get out there on that huge, open field and run my plays, I had a feeling that I had never experienced before. I felt a rush from my head to my toes, and all of a sudden, I was focused on nothing but playing the game. I was there for one thing and one thing only, to play my hardest for my team and make my brothers proud. To this day, when my feet hit the field, I still have that same awesome feeling. I finally understood why they would get excited, yelling and jumping around and now I could join in on those fun times with them. They have taught me so much about the game. If it weren’t for them, I definitely wouldn’t be the player that I am today. I could never tell them how much I

I said “ok don’t take too long” then we finally started the game. it was 7-0 already he said, “wow you're good at football". I said “thank you too,”

Nine years ago I watched my very first football game, and I was fascinated by the quote from Vince Lombardi, “Football is like life, it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”So the succeeding year, I requested if I could do football and my grandpa said to me “Son if you want to play football, play on the line, and play on defense it is going to take dedication and determination, and you have to practice every day, do calisthenics every day, and most of all learn about how to play on the line of scrimmage.”

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

My mother has a substantial impact on my life which shaped me into the college-ready young man I am today. When I was just a sophomore in high school she got arrested and removed out of my life in a flash. My two sisters and I did not know what to do. We had no father figure in our life, so, our grandparents came in and took us under their wing. Not knowing what to do, I was panicking asking myself questions like what am I going to do now and where am I going to attend school. These were really tough decisions knowing that I do not have a say in what happens. Having to leave all my close childhood friends, along with all the memories I had made in my hometown, it was a very dramatic sequence of events.

In my life I have always been a procrastinator and never really pushed myself to do the best I can. In school, soccer and my job as a bagger I never really took value in what I did. All I did was get the job done whether that meant i put 100% in it. Throughout my whole life i have played soccer but never put in the effort outside of the league to get better. Once I got to highschool I really started to love the game and began to go home everyday and practice. During my junior year I started to see a big improvement in my touch and shooting. Coming to my senior year all my friends that had played with me my whole life had quit because they didn’t want to play on varsity. I personally was on the edge too and they were trying to talk me out of it. I really wanted to play but at the same time i'm lazy and varsity is a lot more effort and commitment. Not only would it be work on the field but it would take time away from my homework and job.

One of the things that makes me the happiest in life is football. I have been fascinated by the game ever since I was a kid. I remember playing catch with my dad every day during the summer. Me, my dad, and my brothers would play catch all day long. Literally from when we woke up until we had to go inside and eat dinner. It was the greatest time of my life.

It was the last practice of the year and we had the biggest game of the year the next day. “ Wrap him up! Drive your feet! Catch the ball!” yelled the coaches every minute.We were having a great year so far with our record at 6-1-1. This practice I was working extra hard because I was starting on both sides of the ball. I hadn’t played most of the year because the first week of practice, I got injured and was out for a week and a half. I had been trying my hardest in games and at practice, but I still had little playing time. Then a few practices before we played Carroll County the coach said he wants me to start at fullback instead of being the backup running back. I was really surprised, but he said that he had been watching my blocking and I already knew the plays so I would be fine. I got my other big opportunity when our quarterback got injured and I got to start on defense as well.

I would say at some point in every child’s life they are going to get hurt while playing a sport. You cannot escape the inevitable, and it doesn’t make a difference if those injuries come from recreational or competitive sports its all the same. I am 18 years old and I have been playing soccer since I was 4 and my dad has been my coach ever since. It is obvious we share a love for the sport and throughout this rollercoaster of a journey I have had bruises, bumps, sprains, scrapes, and everything you can imagine to receive from a contact sport. It just the way of the game, and I never once regretted taking one for the team. I was more than ecstatic to begin playing at the high school level because that year I would also be playing competitively

    It was hot. However hot does not sound descriptive enough for the situation. More like I could feel the moisture leaving my body and slowly feeling more and more exhausted. It was day 4 of my football camp at Eastern Washington University and the dorm I was staying in had no AC... or windows that opened. Yet, during this football I learned many new things both about football and myself.

Every single person who has ever played a sport has dreamt of it, scoring that winning touchdown, hitting the walkoff home run, scoring the winning goal in the championship. It is the pinnacle of all sports enthusiasts dreams, including mine. For some, it never comes. However, for me it was a reality. It was a chilly, but cloudless night. The lights were shining on the field, the people were in the stands, and the teams were in the locker rooms getting ready to take the field. My heart was beating a million miles an hour and I was scared out of my mind. That’s because I would be the starting running back and linebacker today. I would constantly be on the field and, if you know anything about 13-year-old football leagues, there isn’t much passing going on. The ball would be in my hands the entire game, scoring was all on me. This is how I felt before the game, but now we are close to the end.