Being a high school athlete you know that there will come a day where you won’t go to practice, lace up the cleats, or run onto the field. There will be a last whether you’re prepared to face it or not. That week has come for the Senior Athletes of Heritage Football (unless the War Eagles defeat Har-Ber). Aside from the very few that will go on to play college ball, we will not have another opportunity to play the sport we have grown to love. I began playing football seven years ago; I wasn’t very good, but I fell in love with the game. I wanted to become the best I could be. What football has done for so many other young men and me is that it gave us all an opportunity to learn valuable life lessons. Football is so much more than a game; it is a valuable tool used to craft dedicated adolescents into hardworking men; men that are able to fight through adversity, take criticism and are able to work with others.

Football gave me an opportunity to fit in when I moved to Rogers in the seventh grade, and as a member of Heritage Football for four years, I was able to receive excellent teaching from great men. Many are aware that our football team has not been very successful in the win-loss column; however, that comes with being a young school on the tougher side of the tracks. Those of us who have dedicated ourselves to the sport and team don’t care so much about what the record shows. We care that we were able to make great friends, work with an evolving coaching staff, and be a part of something bigger than ourselves. The 2016 season gave me an opportunity to see into the eyes of the coaching staff of a struggling team. Coach Tony Travis, despite the record, is an incredible coach with not only a great understanding of the game but an understanding of high school athletes. Coach Travis inherited a tough situation, and he made the most of it; I am sure that in the next four years Heritage will be turned into a winning football program under Coach Travis.

Unfortunately for us senior athletes, we won’t be able to help turn the program around on the field. Our season will end, and War Eagle football will continue to build a winning program. It is a strange feeling, knowing that your life will change when a horn goes off after the clock hits zero. There will not be any more practices, games, or workouts. You will go on with your life remembering the great times you had playing the sport you loved, sharing stories with your friends and family for years to come. For me, football has impacted my life so greatly that I plan to turn it into a career. While I’m not nearly athletic enough to go to the NFL, I will be able to work with teams and broadcasting organizations involved with football. There are many high school athletes that are like me; they once were just a little guy that fell in love with the game and are now young men, bearing the memories of the phenomenal sport that has changed their life.