Advanced Essay- Justin Siegel

Football has always been very important to me, I still have a lot of memories from when I used to play. Part of me wishes that I had never stopped, the other part of me understands, and decided that it was better for me not to get hurt. Not playing football allowed me focus more on my school work. It was one of the harder decisions I ever made, and I still consider football to be a very important passion for me. I will never forget certain things such as going to put my football helmet on everyday.

A fake helmet. Not everyone would call it art, but I would. It has meaning to me, and to me it glistens in the light on the shelf where it sits. It is all black with a red cardinal decal on both sides. It has a white brim on the back that even says Ridell. It looked so real, and the memories it brought back to me were endless. Anyone else would say its just a toy. It’s not it has my life bottled up inside of it. It had a facemask on it, and even had real padding inside of it. The helmet has a piece of masking tape on it that says ‘Justin Siegel’. I put the tape their, it looked exactly like the tape on my helmet when I played football. My coach put it their, on the first day of practice.

My coach also happened to be a mentor to me, he gave me the helmet. This little helmet had meant something to me for multiple reasons. It was shiny, without a single scratch on it. It looked exactly the way it looked the day that I got it. I couldn’t say that about the actual helmet I wore when playing football. My other helmet had better days, It had dents and dinks all over the place. I had thrown it had the pavement a few times after the two games my team lost in my 8th grade season. So at least my replica helmet still looked perfect. I plan on keeping this helmet, because it will help me remember when I lived in northfield forever.

Whenever I see this helmet sitting on the shelf in my room, it makes me think about football. I would think about how I loved to play, and how I may have regretted my decision. At the same time the helmet itself makes me think about all of the times I had banged my head, or banged into the opposing player. Tough decisions are always hard, and especially when they have such great magnitude. Next, I will mention a moment that I will never forget, because it makes me think about how our team had such a geniune camaraderie.

“You can do this boys” my coach yelled during the time out. There were two minutes left in the game, and we were down by a touchdown. We needed the ball back, and we needed it at that very moment. It was third down and they needed 4 yards for the first down. A fire had been lit inside of me, I wanted to win more then anything. I looked to my left, and right. My teammates were just as angry as me. We worked hard for this moment. Next, I looked at the sideline. I saw my dad, my grandparents, and my coaches. I was too focused to let my nerves distract me. I was exhausted though. I didn’t care, I cared about Brandon. The opposing quarterback. I could remember everything he said about us, and how we didn’t stand a chance.

“Ready. Set. Go. Hut. Hut.” he screeched. The ball flew back to him from the center. I rushed passed the offensive line, and brandon was in my cross hairs. I chase him for a couple seconds. Then, I reached my hand out, and dived for his legs. I had wrapped his legs up, and pulled him down. It was shocking, We’d get the ball back, they needed to punt. Finally I turned, and looked at my coach. He looked back, and we both smiled.

The game I was just talking about was one of the biggest moments I remember from playing football. It feels like it was just yesterday, playing under the lights on that november saturday night.  Although football had such a great impact on me, I think that SLA has had a greater impact on me. This decison was the right one looking back. The experiences, friendships, and learning experiences I have had at SLA are untouchable compared to football. Football was a great part of my childhood, and i will remember those awesome moments forever. In the end I don’t regret my decision though.