Life on the Gridiron
My earliest memories of football date back to when I was as young as 8 years old. On Sundays my dad would turn on the game and we would watch football all day long. My brothers and I were obsessed with football and thought it was the coolest sport ever. At the time my favorite team was the giants, but I was an even bigger Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Big Ben, Jerome Bettis, Troy Polumalu, and Hines Ward were part of a historic Steelers team that dominated their opponents and made the game very appealing and fun to watch. As much as I liked watching it, I enjoyed playing it a lot more, and my brothers and I did whenever we got the chance. We would throw the pig skin around for several hours in front of our apartment building until it got dark and my mom forced us back in. I played during recess, after school, and even in the house. My siblings and I broke plenty of lights and other things around because we just couldn’t get enough. We were pretty good too. My brother was known for his speed and quickness. I was known for being elusive and catching everything thrown my way. We would even simulate having shoulder pads by stuffing our shirts with clothing near the shoulders. It was precious in retrospect.
One day I was walking home from middle school and I had this red football with me. A couple blocks from my place, this guy asked me to throw the ball over to him. I stood there and threw a tight spiral to him which he then reciprocated. This led to him calling me over and asking me if I wanted to play football-- for real. He said he had a son that played for the New York Warriors; a youth football team located in Brooklyn. He gave me the coaches information and I ran home very excited to tell me parents and siblings. We went to our first practice ever that Saturday and I was in awe. It was the first time I’d seen football equipment in real life. Everyone had cool gear, there was a clearly established team culture, and the grass had a very distinct smell that I'll forever associate with football. It is a moment I will never forget.
I went on to play 2 years for the Warriors and it changed my life. I was on a rather talented team with guys that had been playing since as young as 5 so I didn’t play as much as I'd liked. However, whenever I did play, I did well and towards the end I was one of the more respected players. From there I went on to play another 2 years in High School for the Tilden Blue Devils before calling it quits my senior year. I wanted to play in the NFL but ultimately I realized that wasn’t a possibility. However, I can't emphasize enough the impact football had on my life. The reality is, things were bad growing up in Bed-Stuy before the gentrification. There was a lot of gang activity and violence in the neighborhood and football shielded me from the majority of it. Not only that, but I credit football for ultimately keeping me in school. I never responded well to the public school infrastructure and how things were run, and because of this my grades overall weren’t great. I’d get an A in a class I cared for but completely bow out of classes or teaches that I disliked or found too difficult. I sometimes wonder how I was able to graduate with such little involvement in my academics but in order to play you had to meet a certain grade requirement so I always stayed on top of it. Not only that but it taught me how to be resilient, disciplined, and how to collaborate and build camaraderie with a team.
The game of football taught me how to recognize strengths and weaknesses in myself and my opponents and how to leverage that. The game made me tough, confident, and not afraid to mess up. When you step on the gridiron, it’s just you and your brothers and all you can do is lay it all out on the field. My experience with football gave me the tools and qualities necessary to excel academically on a collegiate level. It is an experience that has shaped me indefinitely-- and I will cherish it forever.
