Growing up, I was a stereotypical Asian-American student. I focused on my studies, did not play sports, and spent most of my time indoors. However, when I entered high school as a freshman, I found myself wanting to join the football team. My parents and friends at that time all thought that was a bad idea, insisting I stay focused on my studies. However, I followed my passion and ended up joining the football team. I have been on the team for four years, playing on the varsity team for two years. Even though I have no aspirations to play football beyond college, it is still a defining part of me.
Football taught me important lessons, like as the value of teamwork. In my junior season of football, I was promoted to the varsity team, where I was introduced to a whole new set of people. I knew the star players and some of the starters, but I never knew who the bench players were. I found myself wondering what they did on the team when they weren’t playing. During my first varsity practice, I quickly learned how integral they were to the success of the team. I used to only focus on the offense and defense. Now that I joined the team, I was learning about other aspects of the game, including special teams and practice teams part of the high school football program. I saw how seriously everyone who was part of the kickoff team took their jobs and how they valued making a great hit on the returner and getting the ball on an onside kick. I saw how the practice team made the starters on offense and defense work their hardest and how important this was in preparing the starters for the opponent that week. One week, the team we were playing had an extremely good linebacker who would stop our running game if given the chance. That week of practice, the practice team linebackers worked extra hard to simulate going against that linebacker. The starters on offense had to work much harder than usual during practice because of this extra effort from the practice team, and it ended up preparing them extremely well for the game (we won by 50 points)!
Another thing that football has given me is a second family. The bond between players on the football team is amazing. Every player cares and supports each other, and we are always there for others. Even if two people don’t talk a lot off the field, they act like brothers on the field and in the locker room. During the summer, one of my teammates lost his three childhood best friends due to an accident. He was devastated and missed practice for two weeks to deal with his loss. The rest of us supported and helped him when he returned to practice, even if we were not close to him before. I try to extend the camaraderie we have on the football team to as many others as possible.
Finally, football has taught me to be a better person and friend. This group has taught me to be more accepting and understanding. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, but we are all friends and care for each other despite our differences. When I first joined the team, I believed that all football players were dumb jocks due to the popular stereotype. However, contrary to the stereotype, everyone took their studies seriously, and no one on the team had less than a 3.0 GPA. This opened my eyes and taught me not to judge others by first impressions and to be open-minded. In addition to helping me stay in shape and become more athletic, football has taught me the values of teamwork, family, and acceptance.