Images were racing wild through my mind as I thought about my teammates going to battle without me. I had played with some of these guys since we were in eighth grade, and when they needed me the most, all I could do is sit and cheer. I hated the feeling of helplessness, but at the same time I knew I had to do what little I could do, well. It was two days until the first game of my junior year in high school football season. My team and I were going to play St. Rita, a battle we had persistently prepared for since the last game of our sophmore year.
Young and unsure, my mom took me to sign up for football. When I saw the coach, I was intimidated and began to second guess my decision to play. I then saw a friend from school also signing up, then a second and third. As my friends filed in, we grouped together, and my excitement grew. I began to feel more comfortable knowing, I wasn’t the only one that was nervous.
I was unable to play football for the first 3 weeks because of my grades. When I learned of this I immediately started going to labs and everything I could so I still had my starting position and was able to play. After that I never let my grades get under a 2.0 so it couldn’t happen again. The other thing that really pushed me was me looking at my future career. With bad grades like I had, no collages would want me.
While working with Coach Bazemore and seeing what he does on daily basis, I decided that Athletic Training was the area I wanted to focus my studies on. Once I decided this, Coach Bazemore got me enrolled in his Introduction to Athletic Training class. I loved the class so much that I asked if I could join the Athletic Training club. I was then the student Athletic Trainer for the Varsity Boys Basketball team and took the Advanced Athletic Training class. These activities further encouraged my interest of being involved in the healthcare field.
Stories were often told to me about his playing days and shortly after someone would pop the big question; “Do you play ball”, or “Are you going to play ball”? Those questions made not want to play because I felt I needed to be my own person. Finally when I reached to high school I decided to play football. Little did I know this decision would change my life for ever. When I first arrived on the football team there were no expectations.
In Friday Night Lights, Shows how football was everything, even to teachers, and everyone who was affiliated with the school. In the book, you notice how some dreams had been crushed, the player that shows it the most it Booby Miles, a running back who was set to have an outstanding year until he was forced out with a leg injury. You get to see how Booby deals with his whole life including his fights with racism. I have seen the book, and also the movie. I honestly liked the movie a little better.
I was playing football for a highly accredited high school program with no worries of injuries or anything that would stop me from playing football at the next level until I hurt my knee. I soon learned I injured my knee so bad that the way my body reacted to the surgery, there was a possibility that I might never walk without a limp for the rest of my life. That is when my school’s trainer worked with me five days a week for thirteen months until I was released from not only my physician, but also to actually play competitive
Coach Parks saw that I was gonna b real tall and he played me at the center position on the court. From there I learned a couple things about the position and a lot about the game. At the end of the year when I was 14 and still thinking about whether I should try out for the freshman school team he came and talked to me and convinced me to do so. Over that summer he worked with me on my conditioning and speed and most importantly my understanding of the game and my part in it. Over that summer I saw myself improve as a player.
Life lessons involving responsibility, trust and accountability are shown and taught by people who truly care about their team as a whole, not just themselves. In order to achieve greatness in life as an individual, one must be taken out of their comfort zone and take hold of the responsibility in order to accomplish a goal. The football team at Woodinville High School was not very successful during the years of 2009 and 2010. They failed to make playoffs both years and the athletes in the 2011 class knew a call to action had to be done to make positive changes within the program. Growing up as a kid playing sports with most of the guys in my graduating class since I was in elementary school, it was noticed over the years that the senior leadership who most of the athletes are conditioned to look up to, were not exactly leaders.
Michael Barbuto College Writing October 2, 2013 Professor Eaton Descriptive Essay Last year playing high school football was probably one of the most entertaining and exciting things I have ever done in my entire life. The reasoning behind this is that we had an outstanding team which sent eighteen kids off to play college football. Therefore, eighteen out of twenty one people were sent off to play college football, which is pretty good in my eyes. When experiencing high school football, it is all about brotherhood and family throughout the whole entire team. This year playing football for Springfield is not the same as last year in high school because I’m not as close with the people on my college team.