objects that define your life

From fourth grade to sixth grade, I played tackle football for the Bloomington-Normal Fighting Irish, a team apart of the local pee-wee football league. In fourth grade, I was the star running-back. While I only recorded two touchdowns in our nine games, I had countless fifty-to-sixty-yard runs that put my team in a position to score and our team went undefeated. The next year we steamrolled every team that we played against and continued our legacy as “the undefeated”, but something was different. After every game, practice, or scrimmage I noticed my body aching. I sometimes had to limp off the field. I had to stretch more often to fight my soreness. My 4’7”, twig-like frame was not enough to keep up with the other kids whose bodies were more developed. I watched professional and college football, and I knew how easy it was for those massive, hulk-like men to get a career-ending injury, but I never thought that it could happen to me. Quickly, the joy I got from football was withering away due to the pain that it brought along.

By the time sixth grade came around, I moved up an age division, I had grown a little bit, and I felt more muscular, but something changed with our team. New players came on the roster and threw off the chemistry. New coaches came and switched around our positions. Our team seemed setup to fail from the beginning. We finished the season with six wins and two losses. This was still the best record in the league, but it didn’t live up to our standards.


Not only did our team fail to keep our no-loss record, I also couldn’t keep up with the physicality and strength of the other players. I, along with my parents, knew that I would end up with a serious injury that could not only impact my athletic “career”, but also impact my body later in life. With that, I made the decision to quit football. I learned a significant amount from football. It taught me resilience, discipline, and selflessness in a team environment. It taught me how to be humble in any environment and the importance of sportsmanship.


During the same time period of me playing football, I’d also played basketball for an AAU team, as mentioned before. The team comprised mostly of members of the Irish football team. We were travelling out as far as Michigan for tournaments. Initially, I didn’t like playing basketball as much as football but, of course, it grew on me. I started taking basketball a lot more seriously in sixth and seventh grade, and even into high school. I played basketball at the gym constantly, trying to get more in-game experience. I trained at a local park working on my ball-handling skills. I watched NBA and college basketball more often to learn more about the game. I put in more effort in practice to be the best player that I could be.

The 2 objects that define my life are a football and a basketball. Basketball plays an integral role in my life today. One could even say that my life is built around the sport. However, my first love was football, and even though I don’t play anymore, my love for the football and the lessons that it taught me are still present.