My football coach once told me and my teammates after a long, hot practice that football was the best tool to everyday life. We were all taking a knee, sweat dripping down our faces and wondered why we were still there. Then that was when he told us how football benefited us in more ways than we thought. Toughness, mentality, teamwork, friendship, discipline, quick thinking, and problem solving skills are all abridged from participating in this sport. The more you play the more you learn, and the more you adapt these concepts to help you in everyday life. Hardships come with playing football like the long summer and fall practice days, the constant beatings you receive, the being away from home all the time, and the constant pressure that is forced upon you to represent your school, community, family, coaches, teammates, and yourself. However, these hardships separate the strong willed from the weak and afraid. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. There are only a select few that do come and try out and stick with the team through all the pain. Granted, football is not the hardest training in the world, for example, the training the SEAL teams and the Delta Team have to undergo are far beyond any training I have ever experienced. However, for a teenager like us all on the field, we get our butts kicked but we face the problems and solve them with determination and discipline. Football is by far the best sport I have ever played and it will stay that way forever because of the life lessons I have learned from being apart of Lakeview's football program.
Everyday at practice, or even during a game, I would face hardship and pain, learning new ways to achieve victory from this pain, to force myself to keep going. Football taught me to never give up, that my pain isn't as important as the man next to me. Many life lessons are taught all throughout the season and are quickly adapted. The brotherhood that is created is one of the strongest bonds I have ever encountered. The friendships that come with this bond are extraordinary and I trust my teammates very much and treat them like family. Teamwork is possibly the most important aspect of football because there are always 11 guys on the field at once for your team. Without your teammates, nothing would be accomplished. You wouldn't be able to run or pass the ball without the lineman blocking for the skill players and you wouldn't be able to score without the skill players running the players. Even the kickers add points to the scoreboard, benefiting your team and helping everyone achieve the ultimate goal: to win. Nonetheless, winning isn't everything because it's about the man next to you, but it sure is nice to achieve that W, especially over your rivals. Quick thinking and problem solving go hand in hand during a football season. After one year at the quarterback position, I know from experience that quick thinking is a huge factor during the four quarters of play, which can lead to helping you in the future. You need to decide whether or not to pass the ball and where, to hand it off to the running back, or to keep it yourself, in a matter of seconds, while humongous sweaty dudes are trying to kill you. Finding solutions to your problems while on the field is a huge factor because these problems can determine whether or not you win or lose. Decisions like who to play and where to play them are made very quickly and can determine the outcome of the game. Toughness, mentality, and discipline are all principles of football that I learned from day one. You can't go to practice thinking it will be easy and that you won't shed one drop of blood, sweat, or tears. I will admit that I have cried numerous times from football, and I bled every single game this season. I think it's fairly obvious that I sweated every game and practice. You become disciplined and adapt an improved mentality when you keep going when your body is telling you to stop. I have seen many kids on the team wanting to quit everyday, but never have because of the mentality and discipline that they have adopted from playing the sport.
All these factors and principles that you learn from football can absolutely help you in everyday life. I have practiced the problem solving, quick thinking, discipline, toughness, mentality, teamwork, and friendship in school and at work. I constantly tell myself to keep trying, to keep fighting the sleep to finish the schoolwork due the next day. I constantly find myself helping others and establishing more friendships everyday because of the special bonds I have experienced with my teammates. I find myself brushing off all the pain my body endures just so I can keep going to reach whatever goal I am striving for because of the toughness I adapted from playing football. So many obstacles of my everyday life have been defeated because of the skills I have adopted from playing football. I consider football to be the greatest sport today because of all the skills and principles you adapt and practice in everyday life. Life is noticeably easier because of the toughness, mentality, teamwork, friendship, discipline, quick thinking, and problem solving skills that I use everyday, from which I learned though playing football.
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