Of all the things that happened and were exciting throughout my years of high school, the one thing year in and year out that I miss is high school football. There is something about padding up day in and day out and going out on the field to get ready for game day. Every fall as the football seasons begin and I talk to students about the starts of their seasons, I can't help but think about the memories I have of playing high school football.
And what's greatest about all these memories is that playing football was not ever just about winning games, although that was an important part of it. Because so much of football is centered on a lot of work in preparation for a relatively small number of games, it takes very little effort to replay plays and games and scenarios in my mind. I remember the teams we played against and prepared for, I remember getting yelled at that I need to be louder when I'm calling out my cadence, and I remember walking onto a pre-season passing league during my freshmen year having no idea what I'm doing and telling the coach I wanted to be a quarterback.
Football taught so many lessons. I was challenged to learn how to perservere when coaches didn't do what I thought was best, I learned more about what it takes to be a leader, I was challenged to put my team first, and I was pushed to keep going even when my body didn't want to. And to this day, every time I hear "The Doxology" I think about being on a knee with my team in the end zone worshipping after our games, win or lose.
Photo Credit: TheSussman