“Are you ready?” Asked my mom,

“Yeah, I think so.” I replied nervously as I jumped out of the car, as it felt like I had been waiting for this day for my whole life. I was arriving to  high school, on a wet, cold, and gloomy mid november late afternoon. This was my second year of peewee football, and I was 8 years old playing in my first superbowl. As I was walking up to the field with all my pads and uniform on, and my helmet dangling from my hand, the nerves kicked in as I hear the clicks from the plastic spikes of my cleats on the wet concrete, and watch as the opposing players from Pontiac began to arrive in their intimidating black and red uniforms. Pontiac Panthers vs. The Clarkston Chiefs, a rematch of last years super bowl.

As game time had approached, it was time for the National Anthem, as we all gathered on the side line with our helmets tucked under our right arms. Now looking back on it I can now realize, that was the moment that I remember, and cherish the most. Because seeing everyone in the stands and on the field look at the American flag as the National Anthem was belted out into the cold wet air, it made me realize how far we had came. At that moment, I flashed back to all of my previous games, and all of the national anthems that were sang before them, and realized that this was the first time that I actually felt emotional as I stared at the American flag with tears welling in my eyes.

The national anthem had ended, and everybody was clapping and cheering in the stands, it was time to play football.

It felt as if the football field was calling my name as we walked out on offense. I played right tackle and had to block a kid that was at least twice my size.

Later on a couple of days of the game, it was revealed that Pontiac had cheated, and the kid I had to block was actually too old for our league. I remember telling myself after our first few drives, “I can´t keep blocking this kid, show I tell coach to take me out?” but I decided to stay in.

After hearing that I had been blocking a kid that was too old for or league, I became even more proud of myself for sticking through, and block that kid the whole game. Throughout the game, both teams were struggling to move the ball, and by the end of the first half, it was 0-0.

As the second half kicked off, we ended up scoring on our next drive, but Pontiac did the same with their next drive as well, but in the next drive, we were marching down the field. We ran a sweep to the left to our starting running back.

“DOWN!! SET!! HIKE!!” the quarterback had taken the ball and tossed it back to the running back. He then proceeded to bolt down the sideline, and after a gain of about five yards, a Pontiac defender had caught him from his shoelaces, and he was tackled, the defender had fallen on the runner's leg, and rolled over on the runner's ankle, and it didn't sound good as he started to scream in pain.

I was going through my head and was just thinking, “Please don't be serious please dont be serious” because he has been our main source of offense, and without him, we would have to change our game plan. But now looking back on this, I think that his injury actually helped to fueled us to do better, because somehow we ended up scoring another touchdown a few plays later to put us in the lead, 12-6.

It was the fourth quarter with 3 minutes left in the game, our defence was exhausted, and the Pontiac offence took full advantage of that as they scored on the very next drive to make it 12-12. Now there was only less than a minute left on the clock, and we didn’t have enough time to score. That meant it was time for over time , and our head coach had gotten use in a huddle as he preached.

“I Just want all of you to know, that no matter what happens, I and the rest of the parents here are very proud of you for getting this far, win or loss. But we will not go without a fight. Ready, Chiefs on three, ONE!! TWO!! THREE!! CHIEFS!!” I don't know if it was something that he said, but all of a sudden I got a big boost of energy and felt like I could take down a brick wall.

Now breaking from the huddle I realized that we can actually stop their offense, after being told that we probably wouldn't. It made me decide that I will stop doubting myself, and not give up on myself and in this game. Because we were proving people wrong, and that gave me extra motivation to work harder, and to not give up or give in, and to keep going. Win or loss, I would still be just as proud of myself, but I didn't want to pull a bad news bears and just lose in the final game after working so hard this whole season.

We had won the coin toss, we let Pontiac go first, because if they did score, we could still score to go into double overtime, but if they didn't score, we could score and win the whole thing, and they ended up not being able to score. Now it was our chance.

In a few plays we managed to get inside the ten yard line, and on both first and second down we got no gain, but on third down we managed to get five yards. Now it was fourth and goal on the 5 yard line, this was our last chance to score, if we didn't it would go into a second overtime and we would have to stop Pontiac again.
The play we called was an inside run with our second string running back, I was confused on the call, but I guess coach believed in us. As we called break, and walked to the line of scrimmage, the nerves came back, I went down to the line against the kid that seemed to be a giant.

“DOWN!! SET!! HIKE!!” The ball was snapped and the running back ran down into the hole. There was a clear way to the end zone, but there were defenders closing in fast, at the two yard line, a defender wrapped up his feet.
It felt like it all happened in slow motion as I watched him dive towards the end zone, as everyone was staring at him on the field. I was flashing back to all of our previous games, and all the countless hours in practice and conditioning. Every day after school, for three hours, all the drills, scrimmages, and teaching discipline. All the hard work leading up to this moment, as I saw him soar through the air and down to the ground.

But excitement rose through me as I saw the ball right on the goal line and the refs with there hands up in the air signaling a touchdown as the coaches and players on our sideline rushed onto the field and the coaches began to lift our players in the air. I tell myself, “We did it we won the super bowl!!” as I bounced up and down with my hands in the air.

That season had felt like it lasted years, and there were plenty of times where I felt like quitting, but just like a line for a scary ride, you can always leave at any moment if you want to, but if you stay, you can experience something pretty amazing.

Looking back on this moment, I realized that in life, and in anything that you do. It's very important that you never give up on anything, even when people tell you it’s impossible.

Also that hard work pays off in anything you do. Because not trying your hardest won’t get you anywhere in life. If you work your hardest, there will always be a positive to doing so, while not trying your hardest will always lead to a negative.