Rejection In High School Football

Most people think of rejection as a negative experience. We are quick to become discouraged when we are defeated. However, there are many lessons to be learned in the face of rejection. High school football was one such experience for me; where, I faced such rejection. I started out on third string in my junior year and football didn’t come easy for me; you see that was the first year I played football and many of the other students started as children in Peewee football. So, they had a lot more experience. I could have given up, I could have quit the team but instead I chose to work hard and learn the plays as quickly as I could while keeping my grades up.

At the conclusion of my sophomore year in high school, I decided to try out for the varsity football team. That summer was grueling but I seem to pick up the athletic part of it pretty well. I could keep up with most of them and it didn’t take me long to get down the athletic stance and starting position. But, I had a hard time learning the play book and offensive and defensive positioning and concepts that everyone else seemed very familiar with. I was third string and at one point my defensive line coach threatened to send me to junior varsity. I wasn’t picking things up quick enough and I was frustrated and was thinking about quitting. …show more content…
I was embarrassed by the fact that everyone else seemed so much better than me. They even started calling me Ruddy at one point after the guy in the movie who never actually got to play except in one or two games. I played it off but hated the comparisons and some of the guys even suggested that I