Baby Steps

               The game of football can seem very confusing if you don't know the rules, but actually, the basics of football are very simple. Pick up the basics of football, from the object of the game and the various ways to score, to the layout of the football field. There are 3 basic parts of a game of football that I will like to explain to you, which are: The teams, the fields, and object of the game.

                Learning the exact dimensions of the field is not necessarily that important, but it is good to have a basic knowledge of the field itself.

• The playing field is 100 yards long.

• It has stripes running across the field at every five-yard  mark.

• There are shorter lines, called hash marks, marking each one-yard interval.

• On each end of the playing field is an end zone which extends ten yards.

• The total field is 120 yards long and 160 feet wide.

• Located on the very back line of each end zone is a goal post.

• The spot where the end zone meets the playing field is called the goal line.

                   Knowing the teams and how they are set up is very important though, dealing with football.

• Each game features two teams playing against each other.

• Each team is allowed 11 men on the field at a time.

• Unlimited substitution is permitted, but players may only enter the field when the ball is dead.

• Each team is has an offense, defense, and special teams.

• If team A has possession of the ball, they use their offensive team to attempt to advance the ball toward the opponents endzone.

• If team B has the ball, team A will use their defensive team to attempt to stop team B from advancing the ball.

• If a kicking play is expected, both teams will use their special teams.

The object of the game is very simple but not over looked. Everyone wants to win and celebrate.

• The object of the game is to outscore your opponent by advancing the football into their endzone for as many touchdowns as possible while holding them to as few as possible. There are other ways of scoring, but a touchdown is usually the prime objective.

The Real World

                 Have you ever seen someone trying out for a team or squad? And just was not good enough to make it, and not cut out for the position? In football most people want to be the star or the one who gets a lot of attention, thus showing that they truly only care about themselves. Not everyone is cut out for the physical and intelligent game of football, but most parents push there little boys to play anyways. Some can do it and be successful but a lot can’t make it out there.

                 Playing football changes your mindset about life. The mental aspect of the game must come natural and fast throughout playing. Either you got it or you don’t and no one can give it to you. Everyone can try to be a football player but not everyone can play. Countless times and times again you will see those few who are only joining the team to say they are on the team but won’t practice like they want to be there.

                 The fact of the matter is that not anybody can put on a helmet and shoulder pads and perform. Some may can perform well when the contact is not involved, but doesn’t mean anything if you can’t with the full gear. Football is a full contact mental sport that could possibly injure or kill you. Not everybody is cut out for that kind of treatment.

My mother took this picture

True Transformation: The Recycle

                     When I look back at my life and where I came from to become who I am today. I think about how I have changed physically and mentally. By the grace of GOD I overcame multiple injuries and endured stressful criticism, which I believed made me stronger. My dream as a young kid was to play in the NFL and still is a goal for my future.
                     During my little league days, I was a chubby little fat kid that seemed to not have any athleticism in me. Other kids always called me names and joked about my size. Also let I inform you that I was short with that weight. People did not believe that I could make in it any sport and thought I would just quit. But there was always one person I could count on and that was my mother. She pushed me through school work and practices, never settling for less. My mom always said " Use the negative energy to create positive energy", and that's exactly what I did. Working hard and pushing myself in the different off seasons helped slim my body and turned that fat into muscle. By 7th grade in middle school I was athletic enough to play running back and able to prove the people who doubted me most wrong.
                    Also through that period of time I was criticized, I received multiple injuries that sidelined me from playing. The doctor told me I was injury prone because of my lack of calcium, with me being lactose intolerant and all. Ultimately eating ice cream saved me physically because of the calcium in it. The doctors, still to this day, do not understand how I can be lactose intolerant and able to eat ice cream which contains milk. With this weakening my main crutch, it helped me mentally take on physical challenges in the sport of football.

Picture taken by my mom

                    Now to this day I am a JSU freshman football player and 1 step closer to my ultimate goal which is to play in the NFL. It has stuck with me all my life and I never looked back from it since day one. When I look back at when I played little league, middle school, and high school ball I can see the different transformations in myself. I have became stronger, wiser, more athletic, and most of all blessed. I can not think GOD enough for what he has did for my life and others. My critics helped motivate me to become a better man and player. If you learned anything from this post I hope you learned to fight what you believe in and to never let someone tell you you can't
                  

Something to Be Said For Silence

                How do you define stress? Is it too much for any one person to handle? Well the definition of stress is the pressure or tension exerted on a material object. Everyone goes through stress, but some people just can’t take it. Football players, in general, go through the pressures of stress every day.  Such as balancing school work and football, getting mentally prepared on game day, and also football practice.

                 First off, football players have to balance school work such as homework and studying while also being a football player. Doing so is very stressful on their life and affects them in a negative way. For instance, preparing for a game and having homework the same night can either damage his mental focus for playing football or damage is opportunity to finish his homework. Most football players choose between the both and fail one or the other, putting them in a stressful situation. To fix this problem, they should talk to their teacher to help simplify the situation.

                 The next thing that can be consistently stressful is getting mentally prepared on game day. There are many things going on on a game day that can keep a football player distracted and unfocused. One of those things are pep rally’s and many athletes do not know that the pep rally’s are really for the fans, to hype them up and to gain attendance. Also all the attention gained throughout the day and the pressure put on by outer peers could genuinely stress a player out, because all they would be able to think about is not letting anyone down.

                  Last but not least football practice is a very stressful activity placed on football players. Practice is a time where you learn plays and put everything together, to be ready for the upcoming game. Well the stress part comes in during the practice, because players tend to get aggravated at one another if one messes up. It can either push the player to work harder or make him quit. Practice is always late nights, so the football players have homework and have to study afterwards while they’re mentally and physically drained. This action causes them to not focus on their work, thus affecting their grades in school.

                   In conclusion, do you think stress is too much to handle? Do you deal with it every day? Because football players consistently deal with the pressures of stress and can affect their lives in a very negative way.

Dedication To The Prices

[picture taken by my mom; Me making a tackle.]

Do you think it is right for a human being to set his body on the line for a football game? Should he stop or keep playing? I’ll let you decide that one for yourself, but I believe if you love something enough that you would do anything for it. Most people, mostly women, do not want their children playing football because of the simple fact of getting hurt. To be honest you can get hurt doing anything, such as: running to a certain place, cooking, other sports, walking on unleveled ground. So why judge a player and say he should not be playing football, when the world in general is dangerous.

I will admit, there are some negatives going in to playing football and can potentially produce serious life ending injuries. Players get hurt all the time; it is very common in football. Between 2001 and 2005, U.S. males of all ages made an estimated 1,060,823 emergency room visits with football-related injuries, according to an analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program performed by the Injury Prevention Center at Rhode Island Hospital. Also you could die from serious blows to the head or chest, which is very possible. That’s why they made shoulder pads and helmets to protect those critical spots.

Even though those negatives are severe there are also many up sides to playing football, and even coaching it. I play football and I know it is a very tough sport, but also I know that it teaches life lessons and ways to become a better man. Playing football teaches you sportsmanship towards one another, and teaches players toughness and perseverance when things get rough. Coaching the sport gains you respect and love from your players and staff. Adds friendships for your future and sets future goals for yourself by controlling what you do on and off the field. For most high school players, football is all they have and taking it away from them could damage their lives in the long run and halt their future. So yes I’m saying that football kept and keeps football players off the streets and molding them into real men.

The Thought Of No Football

  There were times when I looked back and thought how life would’ve been if I didn’t play football. Football is my love and heart, which played a great portion of me being who I am today. The questions I ask myself always everyday are: Would I still have made it to college if I didn’t play football? What would have kept me motivated to work hard in high school? And how would not playing sports affect my everyday life?

They say you can never predict how life would’ve been in your past if you took a different route. Because not all things work out how you may expect. Would I still have made it to college if I didn’t play football? Yes, I believe because I was always smart as a little kid during and before football. My step dad is a retired veteran so college would’ve been free regardless and money not an issue. But also playing football taught me lessons that just being in the classrooms couldn’t teach such as: leadership, togetherness, grit, believability, and most importantly teamwork.

A photo off my instagram which was off a local magazine my mom took the picture

I always felt that football pushed me harder than anything and made me work harder in the classroom, because without good grades football was unattainable. What would have kept me motivated to work hard in high school? That is a very tough question because as I said earlier football pushed me to new heights. Still, I would have to say yes to that question because my mother was a true inspiration to my life and supported me through every hard time. She made it her business to know my business in the classroom and on the field. She always told me “Through everything I might not be there, but GOD will.”

Football takes a toll on your body and a lot of time out of your daily life. Coaches preach that you must eat, sleep, and bleed football every day. I have not had a break from football since my 6^th grade year because that’s when you must sit out and wait a year. How would not playing sports affect my everyday life? I sit back and marinate on this question the most, simply because what would I do every day with the free time I never had. Football players aren’t accustomed to that kind of free time daily. Safe to say that football kept me off the streets, taught me every lesson needed to be a man, and bonded me with new people. Not playing football would devastate me and cripple my way of life.

The Start

             Football has always been my love and passion. Its intensity and leadership building skills, lights my fire everyday. It all started when I was a little kid, about six or seven years old. Most of the men and some of the boys in my family played football. It was our tradition to play football. I was born into the sport and found the love for the game on the sidelines of my uncles highschool football games. He was my role model and took me everywhere he went, never leaving me behind.

 

This is me as a freshman in highschool. (My mom took this picture)

          
  I started off as a water boy for his team and a member of the YMCA. We had many different sports supported by our YMCA, so I joined the flag football team. My uncle had brought me up through him and taught me alot of things that has made me today. He, at that time, was a very gifted athete who could have went to the league. His will to want to get better carried on to me, because he fell out of love with the game.
            As a member of the YMCA flag football team and a waterboy for my uncles high school. I learned the game from two perspecitives. I learned from playing experiences and watching from the sidelines. My unlce always told me " Boy count your blessings, because not everyone is gifted like us." I took that to heart and I thank to GOD everyday for blessing me.

About Me

Hello my name is Apriccio O'Shawn Brown and I attend JSU. I am here under a football scholarship, and I am a redshirt freshman. I am 19 years old and athletic. I love to play football and hang out with friends. I stay to myself, so i do not go out as much. I plan to graduate and enter the NFL with the hopes of actually making it. Favorite food is shrimp and favorite desert is cookies n cream.