There are many lessons that sports, and more specifically football, can teach you. If you are an offensive player, it can teach you how to work with your teammates as a cohesive unit. Defensive players might learn how to adapt to situations on the fly to accomplish a goal. Fans can learn the joys of winning, the heartbreak of losing, and how to cheer for and encourage people in the hard times. All lessons learned from football can be invaluable in your daily life.

For me, football has played a very large role in developing who I am. The greatest lesson I learned from football is to be committed.

Commitment: Throughout my football “career”, I learned the importance of loyalty and dedication. As a young football player there were many times I wanted to “hang up the cleats” so to speak. For example, my very first year playing, our head coach had us do 30-second leg lifts during practice warmup. My 8 year old mind thought that it was too much, and playing football just wasn’t worth it. Fast forward 5 or 6 years, I felt a similar desire to end my football career because I enjoyed basketball more and wanted to put my focus on the court. In the end, I stuck with football until I graduated and have noticed that now, half a decade after I played my last game, I always do my best to see something through. I see friends and family members who seem to have no issue leaving a job unfinished, not giving something their full attention, or just flat out quitting. Thanks to football, I have noticed that I will nearly always see something to the end and never want to let my “teammates” down.

I could go on and on about the different, invaluable lessons football taught me—the lessons that are now woven into who I am as a person. I feel confident that nearly anybody who has played football before would agree that this sport has taught them a lesson they couldn’t forget. I highly encourage our youth to play football (or any other team sport). So many coaches are giving their all to help make the sport as safe as possible and to make it a vehicle for personal growth.