Dear friends,

 Yuh! Is all you can hear in the locker room from lil uzi vert blasting through our blown out speakers. Varsity football is everything. All I'm allowed to think about for the last few months like it or not. All the hard work pays off on those friday nights under the lights. We put our bodies on the line for a few minutes of fun. We meet in our 2nd home down in the locker room before everyday we go to ‘work’. We work harder than any team in our league. We thrive in the 2nd half when other teams fall apart.  Football consumes my whole life, however all the work is only for 9 nights of the year. No matter what it comes down to it all starts with my family on the team, in our home.

 Before a game is almost the best part. Like i mentioned we blare our favorite music as loud as we can. While suiting up with your friends who have become brothers. Starting with putting your girdle on. Then your game pants over those. Stopping occasionally to joke around or take pictures with friends. Then squeezing your enormous shoulder pads into your annoyingly tight jersey. Only to have to squeeze yourself into that as well. Sitting around waiting for the coveted pre-game walk. Which i've watched the team do ever since I was eight years old. Coach comes down the ram to deliver his speech. We then put the legendary scarlet red helmets and head for battle.

As i walk out onto the field and see number 90 on the other sideline I remember all I have learned about him the past week. I remember when i first saw him listed down in the locker room on the roster hanging up on the wall. A large hill would be the best way to describe him. Short like a hill but wide like a mountain. He stands a modest 5’9” weighing in at a whopping 275 pounds. Almost 75 more than myself. I prepare myself for a battle of David versus Goliath. I know with the knowledge I have and with the help of my teammates, I can bring down the beast.

None of this could be possible without my second home. Let me tell you about the locker room. As you walk down the ramp and pass the W board, showing all of our achievements in our past games. You can smell the stench of yesterday's practice. With all of your brothers discussing their day as they prep for another day of work. The faded scarlet lockers lined the room, mostly all dented in some sort of way. Holding the player's possessions. The cold gray floor cluttered with mis matching cleats and pads. The schedule for the day which is rarely what it says it is. Money Longer by Lil Uzi playing in the background, the team's pre game song. A second home for the Kicking Mules.
     

This shows all of my hard work doesn't come from just anywhere. It comes from my brothers and our combined goal of going to the state finals. All of the hard work and game planning that goes on behind the scenes for every friday night. However, this hard work doesn't start from just anywhere. It lurks down in an old room in the high school. Hard work lives in the locker room.