Project 1: Memoir- “The Emergence of 54”

There were stars that shined bright, but they were not as bright as the lights of a Friday

night game, but the chances are I was most likely concussed seeing stars after getting blindsided

by a lineman coming at me full speed weighing in at let us say very heavy. There I was lying flat

on my back on the 44-yard line during my first football game at home, shortly after I slowly got

up with the help of some of my teammates who are more like my brothers. You are probably

wondering about the choices I had made that led me to this very moment as I was formally

introduced to varsity football like many players before me and well it was a vastly extensive and

strenuous journey but first let me tell you vaguely about my favorite sport in the world.

Football can be described as dangerous and extremely reckless as we hurriedly rushed to

the reeking locker room that had eventually made us all nose blind and put on some old and worn

out pads and a helmet with paint falling off from all the hits and some torn up and awfully

smelling practice jerseys and go full force at each other every day after school but it’s so much

more than 22 men creating collisions on a football field it is actually an exceptionally beautiful

game where we not only learn how to become a great football player by tackling someone or

catching a ball made of cowhide leather and besides it being a fun and competitive sport there is

no denying the value of the life lessons that football teaches you.

Even though without a doubt if I keep playing this sport, I would get some severe brain

damage but it would take me no hesitation if I were offered a chance to run out with my

teammates onto that field one last time. It all started when I was 11 years old in 2015 when I

went to watch my first ever high school football game at Anaya Field with my mom and sister.

We saw them warming up and they looked extremely menacing and had inspired me with their
Taos Tiger uniforms and once the game started, we were on defense and from that first play

when the linebacker met that running back in the hole and tackled him with full force in the

backfield. From that very point, I had fallen in love with the game, and little did I know at the

time this game would have such a tremendous impact on who I am today as a person and the

person who would have the biggest impact on me during my high school career was coaching

that game.

After that night of the game everything had changed, I was set on one goal, and nothing

was going to stop me from reaching it, that goal was nothing more than to one day wear that

uniform and my dream to play under those Friday night lights to inspire kids like myself

watching those games and maybe one day have the opportunity to play at the next level. At that

time, I was in 6th grade at my hometown middle school and the next school day after the game

this little short, and chubby young boy had walked his way to the middle school coach after

school before practice and asked or more accurately had begged to join the team, but I had come

to learn of some rather dreadful news which was that only 7th graders and above were able to join

the team. I was frustrated because I now had to wait a whole year to be allowed to join and had

ruined my dream. Instead of just waiting during that year I would go home after school and turn

on YouTube, jump in my cozy bed with some snacks and spend all my time watching as many

football games as possible trying my best to learn and understand everything I could about the

game. Around that time, I had come across a special player who very quickly became my

favorite player to this day and his name was Luke Kuechly #59 the middle linebacker for the

Carolina Panthers who I had looked up to the most because of the time and effort he would put in

for the preparation of the game and the way he played with so much passion during the game.
 Once the time came around and I was finally a big boy 7th grader I was overly excited to

be able to finally join the team and start my football journey but now one slight complication had

suddenly risen as I was going to join the team that I had completely forgot about, that being my

mother. The entire summer I tried to convince her to let me play but she said it was too

dangerous and didn’t want me to get hurt. Towards the end of the summer I had thought I finally

got to her and convinced her to let me play. Oh how wrong I was because when it came down to

it, she had forbidden to let me play. Unfortunately, I was forced to obey my mom’s ruling as she

was indeed the one who birthed me and there was nothing I could do, and it wasn’t until the end

of my 8th grade year going into that summer before my freshman year that she had a change of

heart only because she knew how much I loved the game and how happy it made me. When that

summer rolled around, I had a rude awakening when I found out we had practice every day from

6am-10am and it was one of the toughest practices I’ve ever had as it was my first time getting

introduced to a weight room and on top of all that running, we had to do as well. Every morning

when that alarm sounded, I wanted to sleep in, but I got up and grinded all summer because I had

a goal to accomplish.

The long summer had finally come to an end, and it was a big day because we were going

into fall camp also known as hell week but the good part about it was, we were getting our

equipment that week. That week there was most likely gonna be blood, sweat, and tears

especially for me. Our feet were burning from scorching sun, we had been running for what felt

like an eternity, the sweat dripping down our eyes, mouth felt like it hadn’t had water in days,

kids on the side throwing up, all of us wondering if we should quit. You might find it hard to

believe but I had survived that grueling week only just about and the time of our first game had

come around and we received are jerseys and I had ended up with 44 couldn’t have cared what
number I got I was just excited of finally getting my jersey which ended up being my coaches'

old number in high school and college. For the first game we played the St. Michael Horsemen

away and we were one of the top teams in the state that year and one of the best this town had

ever seen because we had a team full of talented seniors and of course I was on the sideline that

year cheering my team on. It was an exciting year as I had achieved the first part of my goal as I

was wearing a Taos Tiger uniform and an extremely fun year because we were steam rolling

through every team only losing one game that year and making it all the way to the state

championship and ended up winning the whole thing making school history by being the first

team to go to the championship and winning it. We received rings and it had only made me even

hungrier as I wanted to experience what those seniors were able to and play in that special game.

The season had come to an end, it was the start of my sophomore year and I had taken no

break instead I got straight back to work because there was no way I wanted to be on the

sidelines again this year, so I worked the hardest I’ve ever worked before. My coach had taken

notice of my hard work during practice as he was trying to rebuild our new team as all those

seniors who were on that championship team graduating and no longer on the team. Nothing

comes easy though as I was competing against the new upcoming seniors who also wanted that

spot but none of them were as eager and driven as me, so I had outworked them and improved in

the weight room and as a football player tremendously. Another lengthy summer had come to an

end, and it was time for another hell week but this one there was way more pressure as it would

determine who got the starting spots. and eventually after the challenging week, I couldn’t feel

my body it was so sore I could barely get out of bed, but everything was worth it when

eventually I had beat out a senior for that spot and was going to be the starter for our season

opener at home against no other than the St. Michael Horsemen. When the time to face off
against them was approaching I was very anxious as my goal and my dream were about to be

accomplished and I was going to make that 11-year-old very proud as we had come so far but the

road here was not easy as it took lots sweat, tears, and blood but nothing was going to stop me.

The time had finally arrived, and once again it was time to choose our jersey numbers

and I had wanted to choose the same number I had the previous year or even better choose the

number of my favorite player but instead I came to realize that I needed my own number because

I was not my coach or my favorite player Luke and they had created their own story with their

number, and instead I wanted to make my own unique story and so that’s when I had chosen

“54” my number for the rest of my high school career which ended up having a huge impact. The

emotions were running high as I had trouble sleeping the night before because I was so nervous

to play the next day, but I was able to finally calm down and get some rest before the big day.

The time comes and I’m suiting up with my teammates, but I feel super uneasy and was about

ready to throw up until one of the seniors came up to me and gave me his headphones and played

some Taylor Swift which for some reason worked. We started walking out from the locker room

and lined up outside in pairs and we’d hold hands walking simultaneously and could hear the

bottom of the cleats with every step we took. Once we were there and ready to run out you could

hear the crowd of fans roaring. My stomach was in my chest, and I could barely breathe. We

huddle up and do our chant. The lights are so bright that you can only see the field the announcer

introduces us, and we sprint towards the middle of the field, and you cannot replace that feeling

for anything in the world. We walked back from the middle of the field to our sideline, and I

looked into the crowd realizing that I had finally done it, I had achieved my goal and made my

dream come true. I was finally playing my first varsity football game, but it was only the start of

my journey and many more lessons to be learned from this beautiful game.