A Father's Influence

My father always influenced me to be the best athlete I possibly could be with all sports, but especially football.

It has been with me ever since I was born. A major reason is because my dad, who is currently the head coach at our highschool. knowing a couple of things about football, he always pushes me to be the best on and off the field. Now I can say that most of the time I am. This all starts the start of a long journey about my childhood that i’m sharing with you. At a young age I, like all kids, thought they were a star in the making.

Going pro and being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers or the Pittsburgh Steelers is all I wanted . “Practice makes perfect” is constantly used around my house. Those three words motivated me to go outside everyday and practice. Truly I believe that if you work hard, and you try your bestwill be rewarded. Running routes, learning audibles, and figuring out check downs was my daily schedule.

Every day we were out in the front yard memorizing what number corresponded to what route, for example 1= five yard out. My brother and I would go head to head, and my dad would throw us the ball. Being older than me he usually won, but once in awhile I would push myself just hard enough and take the win. Next we would learn hot routes but that came after route memorization. A hot route is like say the cornerback is playing press coverage then I could hot route to a fade and I would give a hard jab inside and take off to the outside and run and the quarterback would put the ball over the top. But they were harder for me to understand.

Our check downs were for if we couldn’t get open he would throw the ball on the ground and we flip a coin heads= completed catch first down tails=incomplete. My father was super serious about food and protein and still is. He would make us take protein shakes everyday and we would eat 4,000plus calories a day to keep our body weight up. Pasta is something we eat often to get our carbs back after a day. My hopes for the future are to play division one football and eventually get drafted and play a long football career. There is one place to start with that dream and that’s here and now.

My father will help me the whole way and if I fall short I know he will still be proud of me because I gave it my all and left it all out on the field. But I believe I can train hard enough to take it to the next level and I am determined to do so. Because of my dad I am a successful athlete and I thank him so much.