Braces, pimples and waiting for rides from mom after football practice, this is how many student athletes describe their junior high school years. My junior high school experience did not greatly differ from this standard. However, towards the end of my junior high career, I began transition from childhood to adulthood. Specifically, when I made the decision in eighth grade to switch schools and made a personal commitment to play high school football.
Since Kindergarten, I attended Sacred Heart School, a small, strict and protective Catholic school located in a small New Hampshire town. At Sacred Heart, I had few friends and was shy, in contrast to my current social personality. By eighth grade, my ninth year in the same school, with the same twenty students, all in one classroom, I was bored and frustrated. My early grade school enthusiasm turned to junior high dread with academics and the same routine.
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The program introduced me to new students, coaches, new friends and athletes that had the same passion that I shared for football. As the only Sacred Heart school student on the football team, I was exposed to the sarcasm and cruel jokes from other junior high students. For the first time, I witnessed behaviors that I hadn't yet experienced at my small protective Catholic school where strict rules were followed and serious consequences were administered to those that did not conform. Strict rules and serious consequences are part of football too and I thrived on the hard work, discipline and intensity that football required. Also, I was interested in the diversity of the students and athletes that made me realize that how much I enjoyed meeting new friends, different from my Catholic school