Cioletti 1

Vincent Cioletti

Professor Lewis

ENG 101

5 September 2018

My Game

Ever since I was a young child I loved the game of football. I played it with my brothers

in the backyard almost daily, and my father would always have it on the TV every Sunday. It

was just a part of everyday life growing up. My older brother mostly used it as an excuse to beat

up on me, but I didn’t mind it because it was in a setting that I was also having fun in.

Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of the sport beating up on me, and because of that I

had to find ways to enjoy it without playing. Despite injuries, I was able to learn the game of

football from my family, coaches and friends, who showed me the way to have passion for

something that was seemingly not meant for me.

Until recently, most of my football knowledge and love came through actually playing

the sport. My first formal year of football was when I was about a decade old and in the 3 rd

grade. At this point, I wasn’t as interested in actually learning about football like I am now. I was

more concerned with having fun and enjoying my time with my teammates and coaches, and at

that age that’s what’s important. The reason I love football so much today is because I was able

to build a foundation for the sport at those early stages through just having fun. But at certain

points, it felt like the sport was being forced on me. As a young kid I hated the running and the

work that came with football. I would often sit in my room before practice and cry with the

hopes that my parents wouldn’t make me go because of how sad I was. Unknown to me at the
 Cioletti 2

time, by making me go my parents were teaching me to never back out on a commitment and to

always keep my word, which would eventually lead me to working through adversity when it

mattered the most in football.

As I began to get older, football became much more of a learning and study process. I

was doing something involving the game every single day. I would sit in study rooms watching

film, scouting and game planning. Eventually my coaches had to tell me that there was more to

life than football. Obviously, that didn’t stop me, but the point was that the game consumed me. I

loved to learn about it so that’s what I did with my time. I was excited in these years because it

was my first taste of playing on the “big stage,” which was varsity football. People would stop

me all over town and wish me luck in the games and such. The feeling of being known through

sports in a small town is one of the best I've ever known.

Unfortunately, I never got much time on the “big stage.” My first year playing for the

varsity team I suffered a concussion and was sidelined for half of the season, including the

homecoming game and the cancer fundraising game which draw the biggest crowds of the

season. I struggled to deal with it, but I knew I always had the next year to get back into it. I had

to find other ways to help out even though I couldn’t play, which is what lead me to learning the

game from a more schematic standpoint. From there, I learned to bond with my coaches on a

more personal level outside of football. They became huge supporters and great teachers for me,

which is something I will never forget.

My senior year was by far the best and worst season I ever experienced. It was the worst

because I didn’t even make it to the halfway point this time due to snapping my ankle and leg in

half. It couldn’t have been more unexpected. Like every other game, I was set to get the ball on

the second play of the game. The quarterback called the play and I went to the line expecting to
 Cioletti 3

make a nice run out of it. I took it on a sweep left and quickly realized this play was over before

it started. I stuck my arm out in hopes of pushing the closest defender off of me but all it did was

allow him to drag me down in a horrid way. My right foot stuck in the ground, but the force of

his pull made my upper body crumple directly over the lower half of my leg to a point where my

ear was parallel to my ankle. I didn’t feel it, I just heard an awful popping sound. I rolled over

and could feel the bones moving in my skin. I didn’t want to look but I felt like I had to. I took

the peak. The sight was one of the worst things I had ever seen. My bone was clearly poking out

of the skin just above my ankle. My coach evaluated me and called the EMT over. The medical

crew took a little over an hour to properly get me on the stretcher and into the ambulance. That

was it. My playing career ended in that moment.

To me, that experience is what put my love for football over the top. When it happened I

found out that all of my supporters were the best people on the planet. I had to sit in the same

spot on my couch for 3 weeks straight, on prescription drugs with a constant needle in my leg

feeding numbing medicine to my ankle. There wasn’t a single day in those 3 weeks that someone

didn’t come to my house and talk to me. People knew I was struggling. The whole town knew

how much passion I had for football and that I was crushed my playing days were taken from

me. I personally believe there is nothing greater than being able to say that I have these kinds of

people in my life. I was able to find these people and their caring ways solely through football.

It’s not mainly about the fact that the people cared for me, but rather about how football and

events that took place in the game allowed for these people to come into my life and it helped me

develop a love for it.

I would not let my injury keep me away from football and my team, however. In fact, the

only time I moved off the couch was to go to the football games. I had a team of parents and
 Cioletti 4

friends haul me to the game, lift me and put me in the wheelchair and roll me to the booth.

During this time I became a player coach. The coaching staff gave me the opportunity to go in

the press box with a headset and talk to everyone on the sideline about specific assignments and

play-calls. From all of the time I spent studying football in the offseason, I knew where everyone

was supposed to be and what they were supposed to do on every single play. It got to a point

where I became so good at predicting what the other team was going to do that my head coach

would take my input over his actual paid assistants. I continued to learn and help, and my

football family took notice.

It was also this time that my coaches started giving me advice on life and decisions. I

remember my head coach telling me that he believed my injury was meant to happen and that it

might have been so I could get a head start on a coaching career. I know those words came as an

attempt to make me see a brighter side of my injury, but they held weight with me. It was a great

way of saying when one door closes another one opens. He also told me that whenever

something big in my life is happening to just take a step back and watch it from afar. Take it all

in and cherish it, because those are moments I will never get back. Sure enough, when that final

game of my senior year ended, I witnessed great moments that I will always remember. And

when it was happening, my head coach’s words popped into my head. I crutched away from

everyone and just watched. I watched my buddies crying and embracing each other with football

pads on for the last time. The older kids were giving advice to the younger ones and letting them

know that it really does go by in a blink of an eye. Parents were hugging their sons,

congratulating them and telling them how proud of them they are. Little kids were throwing a

football in the background, and even approached some of us guys and told us they looked up to

us. They told us they couldn’t wait to play football like us. It was truly an incredible moment.
 Cioletti 5

I watched the lights shut off for one last time and I sat on the bench in darkness for about

an hour. I sat there and thought about how lucky I was to be there. I was dealt a bad hand with

my injury and I was lucky enough to find a light in it. I couldn’t do it on my own, though.

Through help from my friends, family and coaches I was able to hold a passion for a game that

never treated me well. I sat and wished that I could've been able to play with my 2 nd family on

their last day, but I also was very thankful that I was able to be a part of it at all.

I played football for a decade of my life, and there is nothing I am more passionate about

today. I learned everything there is to learn about it and It’s all due to the people I hold closest. I

currently room with one of my teammates from my playing days and I keep in close contact with

all of my coaches. They continue to give me life lessons and advice every single day, and it's

something I am more than thankful for. In terms of happiness and well-being my whole life has

been more than I've ever wanted. I owe it all to the game of football.