should i play senior year of football?

[iceman16]

thats a tough call. i skipped my senior year of football myself. but i didnt skip because of a job, i skipped out so i could get ready for my senior year of hockey. i played every game in hockey and i think my junior year of football i played one game or varsity. sometimes i look back and wish i would have played. i know what ya mean about running out on the grass under the friday night lights and gettin yelled at. its the same as skating onto the ice on saturday nights. like alot of ohters have said you only have one senior year and its the most memorable year of high school. make the most of it. you have all the time in the world to hunt and fish once you get out of school.and i used to play against you guys went to park center. you guys kicked out a$$ every time.

iceman

[Jim Uran]

You better play or else you will regret it, and plus you won't have any Al Bundy stories to tell your kids when they grow up!!!!!

[ocf1]

I will only be a sophomore this year but my drive this whole summer is to be out there on friday nights. Honestly how many times in life will you be able to say there were 500 people watching you while you do give your best and hopefully do something great? I say Play!

[Burnham]

looks like its gunna be work and football. because of dad getting laid off, moms hours cut and tenants at our shop moving out(due to slow construction), my parents cannot afford to pay for scheduled car maintenace, i may have to help with insurance, and already pay for golf, gas, hunting and fishing. last year it was kinda miserable with school, football and work, but im gunna have to try to give it a shot again and hope i can do it. its just life though

[ozzie]

do you play golf for your school.......that would be the first thing to give up....very expensive hobby and unlike your fishing and hunting it probably doesn't put food on the table if need be!! I gave up golf 3 years ago and I had been playing since I was 5.....am 30 now....kinda tough but tough times call for tough decisions....Good Luck

[KTapper]

Good to hear you are giving it a shot. I quit football going into highschool and regretted it, and even thought about going in my senior year and trying out, but didnt later that year I joined track as a short distance sprinter I ran a 40 yard just under 4.6, and everyone asked where the HECK! have you been? we could have used you as a DB. I still wish I would have played.

[CJH]

I quite playing going into HS and regret it also. Totally should have kept playing and was too good and enjoyed it too much to quit. I still played basketball and golf, and worked a full shift on Sundays. Maybe you can do that and work on the weekends?

[broken_line]

so far im not regretting skipping mini camp to go fsihin with my buds!

[riverrat56]

Coming from a guy who had to surgeries to repair football injuries in highschool, there is absolutly no reason not to play ball, if you quit you'll regret it forever.

You've played for a few years now, don't miss out on the last one, even if your team won't be that great you'll make memories that will last forever.

[broken_line]

got this bad boy while all my class mates were at mini camp =)

[quackersmacker]

I would play for every reason already mentioned. You only have one chance to make high school sports memories, you have the rest of your life to grow up. I enjoyed every moment of my high school sports, football, hockey and track. I still have some great friends from playing, and that was 17 years ago. I actually went back to my high school and coached football for 6 years, hoping to have a positive impact on some good kids! Play man, you will not regret it!!!

[Burnham]

well i figured i'd post that i have decided to play. unfortunately i have to work during the season though. my work requires minimum of 15 hrs a week but im going to see if i can work around that because they are cutting hours anyways.

also may be in for a # switch, a guy that has said he probably wont play(to concentrate on baseball), happens to have the same number as my cousin did 2 years ago as a captain. i asked coach and if the kid decides not to play if i can take the number and he approved. i will be #7 BABY!! instead of 36. i like 36 but we have over 100 guys and 36 is a double number every year.

[broken_line]

its good to see you made a choice.. im still debating beteween farming, hunting and fishing..

[Sandmannd]

Good luck to you and have fun out there. I feel you made the right choice.

[Coach1310]

Best of luck with the season.... as a former High School and College athlete and a former HS coach I've seen both sides of the issue. I debated once upon a time about giving up Football, but I decided to stick it out. One of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. As a coach, kids would come to me to tell me they were quiting or thinking about quiting... they always got a grace period to think it over and determine if they miss it. Most came back, some did not... I think almost all of them regret quitting, even if only for a short period of time.

The bottom line is you only have so many chances in your life to be "a part of something". There will come a day in your life when stuff isn't going right and stress might get at you where you'll say "I wish I could go back to being a kid again etc. etc." Take the advice of the many folks on here who have seen time go way too fast and make sure to take time and enjoy the moment. Enjoy the opportunity you have in front of you and make the best of it. Even if you only get a few opportunities..... someday you will understand how truly special they were.

Best of luck.... make sure to keep us updated on how your season is going.

[Burnham]

thanks for the advice...i will admit not lookin forward to 2 a days which are a mere week away... first game kickoff in 26 days 3hrs and 40 minutes tho! i will keep an update

once again thanks everyone

[ocf1]

Burnham I feel you on the 2 a days...

This is my first year of 2 a days and am nervous

[skee0025]

summer lifting and conditioning has started and i am kinda getting into the mindset, but i do work 20-30 hrs a week.

Play, you'll get the pleasure for working for the rest of your life. This is more than likely the last year of football for you, enjoy it while you can!!

[Burnham]

yea...what grade ya gunna be in? if your guy's 2 a days are like ours you will be miserable! but really it aint thattt bad...

[ocf1]

I'll be in 10th, I am in the best shape that I have ever been in so hopefully that will help out. Do you play for anoka?

[Burnham]

yea man. where you play? it sucks, we condition harder than anyone else in the conference, ive talked to kids from other schools and they just laugh at me when they hear what we have to do. it really didnt pay off too much last year either lol

[ocf1]

I'm at apple valley, Im not sure about in season/pre season, but this summer we really worked hard...

Good Luck this season!

[Burnham]

yea man...good luck to ya guys too!

[Loon]

I have another angle from which to look at this:

I didn't play football in high school because I didn't want to go into the basketball season worn down and nicked up. We had a really good basketball program and a chance to go to state (back when that meant something) and none of us wanted to risk blowing out a knee or breaking a leg so only 3 of 12 went out for football.

Now Anoka doesn't have this problem, but our school was on the small side (200 per class) so we needed all the athletes we could get. The 9 guys that didn't go out for football were 9 of the 20 best athletes in the school. At least 7 starters on the football field.

Our team went 4-4 without us and got bounced in the first round. Would we have won the prep bowl if the basketball team had gone out? Probably not, but maybe we would have taken our small town on a nice ride for a month.

We owed it to our town, our school, our fathers and our friends on the team, but we were too selfish. There was no guarantee that we were going to get hurt - none of the 3 that went out got hurt - but we were trying to minimize risk at 16 years old. That's too early to be making choices like that.

There were a lot of plays that would've been made had we gone out and that 4-4 could've been 7-1 and a few home playoff games if the coaching staff could've had it's best athletes available. The wideouts and safeties would've gone from 5'9" to 6'4". The tight ends would've gone from 6'2" to 6'8".

We did go to State in basketball that year and the program has been to the state tournament 9 out of the last 15 years so we started something pretty special, but the football program has been in shambles for 20 years.

We could've fixed that.

Can you tell I think about this a lot?

That was 15 years ago and I don't see the regret going away anytime soon.

Who knows how good we could've been.

Play ball and when you get your chance play hard.

[charliepete]

I quit football my senior season after playing since 7th grade. I took a little heat from team mates as I'd been playing varsity as a Junior and they expected me to return, but I wouldn't change a thing. I decided to quite because I wanted to spend more time scouting in that last month before school started and I wanted to be able to leave on Friday after school to get up North.

Some say you can hunt and fish your whole life, but with a job and kids I look back on that freedom to really hunt like I'd like to with a bunch of fondness. Don't do it for a job though. What's a few hundred dollars?