Embrace the Suck
I was five years old when I learned how to throw a football. My Dad spent hours in that muddy backyard trying to teach me how to throw “just like Peyton Manning did,” my favorite NFL player. The first step was to place your fingers on the end of the laces and grip the side of the ball with all five of your fingertips. Next, with one swift motion I was told to launch the ball forward as hard as I could. However, in order to make the ball spin in a spiral, at the end of my throwing motion I was taught to flick my wrist and fingers downwards as if I was flicking a booger off of them. As a five-year-old, combining all of these steps into one was very challenging. But every day we practiced and I learned how to throw a perfect spiral faster than Peyton Manning could shout “Omaha”.
I spent the next ten years in love with football. Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders and many other Indianapolis Colts player posters flooded my room. For my seventh birthday, I was given a plastic football helmet that I wore just about everywhere, sometimes even to bed. I even had a stuffed football that I refused to go to sleep without. I was always looking for a time to play football and would take any chance I had. Almost every day throughout Elementary School my friends and I spent recess tossing the …show more content…
What was once a fun sport to play with friends and family started to feel more like a job. The excitement and anticipation I had once had for practices turned to a bitter regret. The football practices in high school were polar opposites of my fun, exciting, little league practices. And on top of that, my school hadn’t had a winning season in the past five years. My love for football was still there and I still dreamed of playing College or NFL football but I saw myself starting to dread practices. However, my senior year of high school is when I had serious doubts on whether or not those dreams were for
I was five years old when I learned how to throw a football. My Dad spent hours in that muddy backyard trying to teach me how to throw “just like Peyton Manning did,” my favorite NFL player. The first step was to place your fingers on the end of the laces and grip the side of the ball with all five of your fingertips. Next, with one swift motion I was told to launch the ball forward as hard as I could. However, in order to make the ball spin in a spiral, at the end of my throwing motion I was taught to flick my wrist and fingers downwards as if I was flicking a booger off of them. As a five-year-old, combining all of these steps into one was very challenging. But every day we practiced and I learned how to throw a perfect spiral faster than Peyton Manning could shout “Omaha”.
I spent the next ten years in love with football. Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders and many other Indianapolis Colts player posters flooded my room. For my seventh birthday, I was given a plastic football helmet that I wore just about everywhere, sometimes even to bed. I even had a stuffed football that I refused to go to sleep without. I was always looking for a time to play football and would take any chance I had. Almost every day throughout Elementary School my friends and I spent recess tossing the …show more content…
What was once a fun sport to play with friends and family started to feel more like a job. The excitement and anticipation I had once had for practices turned to a bitter regret. The football practices in high school were polar opposites of my fun, exciting, little league practices. And on top of that, my school hadn’t had a winning season in the past five years. My love for football was still there and I still dreamed of playing College or NFL football but I saw myself starting to dread practices. However, my senior year of high school is when I had serious doubts on whether or not those dreams were for