Football provides life lessons classroom cannot

It’s football season in south Louisiana once again, and I, for one, am ready for the magic of those Friday night lights.

There’s just something special about them, isn’t there?

And can anyone really put their finger on just what it is?

Well, I’ll try my best, but nothing but fond memories of glory days gone by seem to come to mind.

It’s the smell of freshly cut, late summer grass that any time I stand ground level with pads popping, comes rushing back to my senses. Is it subliminal, or is it actually there? I honestly couldn’t tell you.

It’s the sound of “Thunderstruck” playing ear-bustlingly loud as memories of walking one-by-one into South Lafourche’s Memorial Stadium come rushing back to my mind.

It’s the butterflies of nervousness that come over you when you hear the PA announcer call your name in the starting lineup before the game, followed by the unexpected calm feeling of battle when you look around the huddle and see the support of your 10 teammates and 10 best friends.

But above all, high school football provides an opportunity for personal growth in ways schools could never provide.

Now don’t get me wrong. At the end of the day, education is the key to the future, and I am by no means stating athletics are more important than academics in any way, shape or form.

I’m talking about growing as a human being, and in some ways, the roadblocks you face in school are nowhere near what high school athletes face on the gridiron.

Sure, if you fail a test, your parents will be upset. But if you drop the game-winning touchdown for any of our schools in the Tri-parish area, try looking in the eyes of your teammates, coaches and fans after the game. And good luck at school Monday.

High school football gives young adults a glimpse into the pressures of real life, and it teaches them a hands-on lesson about how to overcome adversity.

As a student, you receive a syllabus on the first day of class, and you know exactly what will be required of you for the rest of the semester.

But say you’re the backup quarterback, and halfway through an important game the starter goes down with an injury. Unexpected, huh; having the hopes and dreams of an entire community thrust upon you, just a minute after holding the clipboard without a worry in the world.

Some young athletes will thrive under this kind of pressure, while others have crumbled. But either way, a life lesson will be learned that will stick with that individual for the rest of their life.

And what about the quarterback who got injured? How will he respond mentally?

The worst thing that could happen during a test is a broken pencil, which could easily be replaced. But this young man will have to look deep inside himself to find the courage to face his injury and beat it.

Some people believe high school football exposes minors to too much pressure too early in their lives, but I’ve always been a believer that whatever doesn’t kill you does indeed make you stronger.

It’s better for these young men to experience their first sense of strong adversity while they still live in a controlled environment overseen by their parents and coaches than to have to face it in the real world with no one to turn to.

If I told you my high school football experiences were peaches and cream all the time, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

It was a rough life, waking up at 6 a.m., school until 2:30 p.m., practice until 6 p.m., homework until 9 p.m. and nothing but sleep on weekends due to sheer exhaustion.

In fact, I even quit the team my senior year because I couldn’t handle the physical and psychological pressures of it any longer.

But lessons come from adversity, and I grew as a person in ways I never could have without the game of football to guide me.

And when it’s all said and done, and I think back to my days donning the blue and silver, I don’t remember how I achieved my personal growth through quitting, making mistakes on the field, or mindlessly scuffling with teammates at practice. But instead, I remember the smell of the grass, the sound of “Thunderstruck,” the feeling of butterflies and the camaraderie of teammates and best friends still to this day.