High School Football Teammates


By FirstDown PlayBook on Aug 20, 2021

The high school football season kicks off in our neighborhood tonight. The first game of the season always brings a certain level of excitement and nervousness with it. Coaches slept a little less last night. High school football teammates will walk the hallways with their jerseys on. This will not be just another day at school. It is the Friday before the Friday night lights come on.

Talent will be on full display tonight, as will the lack of it. That is all part of it. However, make no mistake, it is only a part of it. Over the past year the successful teams have formed a bond. By now they are a family. A family that surely has more growing to to do over the next several months, but it is undeniably a family by this point.

I used to work for a head coach who always said “There is something special about a team”. I understand that saying now more and more as I grow older. It’s the opposite of “look at me”. It’s being a part of something much bigger than me.

There is so much talk these days about the value of football and what’s wrong with football and how we should change football. If you ask us, football is already one of the most valuable things in the young players’ lives who will kick off their season tonight. This is before even one snap is played.

Football Does What No Other Sport Does Just With Sheer Numbers

Football does what no other sport does. It takes a large group of players and coaches and brings them together. Maybe it’s thirty, maybe fifty and maybe as many as over a hundred in number but football pulls them together into one. No one on a good football team is paying any attention to their teammates’ race, religion or economic status. Trust us on that one.

When it comes to football teams and the family bond that it creates it gets to be very simple. Tonight all across the country, young high school football teammates will look one another in the eye and commit to being there unselfishly for one another from the first to the last snap. It is a life lesson that is never forgotten.

Teammates Is A Powerful Word

Good teammates are something that grown adults yearn for long after they are finished playing. Just listen to the annual NFL Hall of Fame speeches and it is a recurring theme. Teammates…Teammates…Teammates.

Watch what builds and sustains companies, organizations and even countries…Teammates. Watch what destroys them…Division.

You would have a hard time convincing us that this is not a lesson every young person, every adult and quite possibly our entire country could stand to learn right now. When it comes to football teams and the family bond that it creates it gets to be that simple. Playing for someone and something other than and bigger than yourself is a special life lesson.

Why We Need To Protect Our High School Officials

So tonight, all across the country, young high school football teammates will play for something bigger than self. They will commit to unselfishly being there for one another from the first to the last snap. We wish them the best. FirstDown layBook is truly envious. We wish all of the players and coaches a safe and successful season. Treasure the moments this season gives you. You will remember them for a lifetime.