I would have to say that I personally feel like I give a good effort on everything that I do. I’ve made it to every possible sports practice, I try hard in class, and I even stay on top of cleaning my dorm. Through all of my day to day activities I go at things with the intention of not looking like a slacker and, generally I do fairly well. I feel that I owe this in large part to high school football and my coach. After all this is where I learned to stay persistent and hardworking. It showed me that achieving your goal is well worth the work that was put into it. This is why I feel without a doubt that I was at my best in football.
When I say “at my best” I don’t mean that I was the most talented. I was starting varsity for the last three years of high school but I went to a school that, in the four years that I attended went winless until my senior year. What I mean by at my best is that I left everything on the field. If I was getting pummeled in a matchup I wasn’t taught to give in but instead be persistent and keep trying until I get success. This was especially true on the homecoming game of my senior year.
With our coach in his second year we were starting to turn the program around that year but it was only just the beginning. We started the season off with two non-conference wins that boosted our confidence but since those first two games we had been unsuccessful and were starting to get discouraged. By the time homecoming week came any possibilities of winning the playoffs were gone so we had nothing to play for but our pride. As we warmed up I started to get the right mindset and focus. We were playing our rivals, Keokuk; a team that won the state championship in division AAA just two years previous. I knew it was going to be a tough game but if we all kept it together and gave it our all we could come out with a W.
When the game started I was up against a ridiculously fast and somewhat agile defensive end (who I later found out went on to be a part of the Hawkeyes.) It was one of the biggest challenges I faced that year in football. In the beginning I got burned with quite a few pass rushes in the beginning of the first quarter, a couple of which resulted in a sac. I was getting discouraged but I was determined to correct my mistakes. After a touchdown by the opposition I was back in on offense and I was ready. We ran the ball more than usual on the second drive which lead to success on my part and on the team’s part as well. It resulted in a touchdown that caught Keokuk off guard. Ultimately, however, they didn’t get too rattled as they were up two touchdowns and a field goal at half. This seemed like the story of every football game that season. We didn’t give up however and responded with a touchdown as soon as we got the ball. We continued to go back and forth, with our team slowly catching up, until the fourth quarter. With a little under three minutes left we had time for one more good drive. At this point I was dead but I kept at it. I could tell that the person I was matched up with was exhausted too so this is where my discipline came into play. I fought the fatigue and we got a touchdown pass within a minute left. It was a truly amazing display of hard work and the drive to do great things.
It sounds foolish to hear someone talk about a high school football game as if it were the deciding factor of one’s life but it really is more than just a game. Playing football taught me hard work, how to learn from mistakes, how to work as a team, and how to refuse to give up. If you ask me those are the keys to success. Football is just the class to which we learn how to be successful and the games are just the tests.
