How Football Changed My Life

Ever since I arrived at the high school, there has been one man that was my teacher, coach and friend when I needed one. This is coming from a person you really wouldn’t expect to be be this person in your life. Coach Minnich, Mr. Minnich, Ryan Minnich, (only off school grounds). The high school life has been a struggle, but he has made it a little easier.

Anthony Keith Gwynn, if I were to say his full name like that most people wouldn’t know who I was talking about, but if I were to say Tony Gwynn then it is a whole different story. Yes, I am talking about the Tony Gwynn who played for the San Diego Padres, and later become one of the most decorated baseball players of all time. Yet, just because he was such a successful baseball doesn’t man he never failed. His failures are what made the man so successful, and just like me I failed quite often. The game of baseball is full of failures, one being a persons batting percentage. A good batting average in the MLB is around .333, that would mean that every three times that someone is up to bat

Growing up school was never my forte, but I was always taught to be a student-athlete, not just an athlete. And it never made since to me until I got into my junior year in high school when I had to miss football games due to my grades. I always tell myself to live and abide by these quotes, which are: “Those to the left and right of you are who you will most likely to become, so surround yourself around those of the same goals and interest as yourself”. “Success is what you make it”. “You are not finished when you lose, you are only finished when you quit”. “The task ahead of you is never as great as the strength within you”. I live by these quotes each day which shapes up of who I am. If I start something I must always finish and give it my all, whether it’s on the field and off the field. To give one-hundred percent in a game and in the classroom, that winners never quit, and quitters never win. Whether I win or lose, as long as I gave it my all, then that’s all that matters. So who am I? I am a believer, that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything in life, as long as you put God first, and give it your

When I was younger, my father gave me a lecture on having a desire. He told me that to be successful, you must have the desire to work for whatever you seek. Now that I am old enough and have been through some trials and tribulations to understand the concept of his philosophy, I believe in having a desire and having the will to work.

It all stared at Iowa, where one kid did it all. To name some like career to college to high school to middle school and many more, but there is no way to name them all. Read the hard grooming story of Drew Roth through the hard twist of the story. Read more to find out what happened in the new bio of Drew’s Big Life Story.

One of the most incredible and rewarding ways in which I have been able to make an impact on the lives of others is by volunteering my time through the avenue of my favorite sport; soccer. From a very young age, my parents have put a lot of time and money into me being able to play soccer and it is because of this that I have found success in my sport. I feel as though everyone should be given the same opportunity to possibly fall in love with the game and develop as a player. Additionally, I have always loved little kids and been interested in positively affecting the lives of those with mental and/or physical disabilities, as my mother is a Preschool Special Education Teacher and I have learned about disabilities from a young age. This interest

A hot summer day in August, no clouds, and no breeze. Two teams are competing on the blazing turf, and I’m on one of them. My quarterback is yelling. “Sixty” I breathe, “Sixty” I look at the enemy in front of me, “Set!” I hear a clap, step back, and throw my hands at the oncoming defender. I feel a sharp pain in my right hand, I look down after the play and notice that my middle finger is crooked, I run to the sideline and talk to my trainer, who tells me that my finger is broken. I was devastated.

Ever since I was a toddler, I loved sports. Baseball, basketball, it did not matter; I just liked to run. When I was around 4 or 5, I was in the living room watching the Steelers play the Cardinals and saw Santonio Holmes grab a game winning touchdown to win the Superbowl. I was so excited that I jumped up in the air and I told my dad, “Daddy when I grow up I want to play football and I want to score a lot of touchdowns just like 10 does.”

I was not ready. That was always my excuse. But I never knew how much fun it was to lose. Wrestling was a sport I have wanted to do since at least my sixth grade year, if not earlier. Physical contact sports always intrigued me, and I wanted nothing more than to play them. Hockey, football, soccer, wrestling, they all appealed to me in more ways than one, but my mother only ever let me play soccer. She had that old fashioned thinking, and believed that girls should be cheerleaders and volleyball players. Which of course, I am in those sports as well, but they are not enough. Sure, I love to cheer and play an extremely intense version of “do not let the balloon hit the floor”, but the sports never really reached and sucked me in. I was never entertained watching professional cheerleaders or volleyball players, or even watching the varsity team play. If I was not playing or cheering, then I was not interested. I have absolutely no desire to be part of a college team, and I am not going to pressure my children into doing them either.

This year in football I got a new position, last year I played offensive tackle and defensive tackle. This year I play center defensive end, last year I was awful, I was second string, i’d cry a lot, and I was so scared scared to hit someone. I was a HUGE wimp! I tried my hardest to get better I was still scared to hit someone. This year I was so excited to play new position in football, I would workout and practice everyday to get better I knew it would pay off.

When I joined Early college Academy, I hated the fact that I was not allowed to play any sports. Soccer was not offered and neither was playing for other schools as an option. After finding this out, I wanted to leave the school immediately. My dream is to become a professional soccer player, but without soccer in my high school, I had no chance at being accepted into a college soccer team. I then realized, I might not have soccer, but I had a great academic opportunity in becoming a Chemical Engineer .

Throughout life people are constantly challenging themselves and accepting difficult tasks. Taking on such tasks may produce beneficial outcomes because they can learn valuable lessons that shape their character. Through the process, they learn that hard work must be put in but they may still fall short. Along the way, they must be willing to change their plans or goals. They also need to look beyond the present and out at their future. By being flexible and looking ahead at the future knowing they might not make it to the end, still results as beneficial and is still an important journey to take when enduring a difficult task.

I stepped onto the field in awe. It was just like every other year I had played, except this year things started to get competitive. I was ecstatic. The night before I had called my dad to tell him all about soccer and and all of my game dates so he could attend them. He said that he probably wouldn 't be able to make it and for me not to count on it. This was pretty disheartening to say the least. I could imagine his orange ball cap patriotism nagging him to get off the phone so he could finish the 8 o 'clock game.

When life knocks you down to your knees the choice is up to you to pick yourself up or surrender. More often than not people tend to give up when they don’t get their way. In my case, I could not be more grateful for not getting my way. I was diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinitis in my right shoulder. The doctors told me I would have to do physical therapy if I wanted to get back to pitching for softball. I didn’t know it at the time, but this one injury would change almost every aspect of my life. I went through months of physical therapy- working with exercise bands, shock wave therapy, and multiple treatments of dry needling to the shoulder. I had made a full recovery and was cleared to start pitching lessons again to get back out on the field. It took me six months to get back to where I was as a pitcher before the injury. It was frustrating and discouraging starting over, but I remained focused on the goal I had set for myself to get back out on the field. I had finally worked my way back to where I wanted to be, and was ready to pitch in a game. I remember the rush of joy I felt being back on the field doing what I love, however, that time was cut short. I had pitched all

I’ve been playing soccer for over ten years, and I am very passionate about it. However the passion and dedication hasn’t always been there with me. It took a long time to realize that I needed to actually work hard to be at the level or above the level of my teammates. I have always worked hard to get good grades, but for some reason it took me a long time to learn to work hard in sports. Even today I have a hard time with this.