Football is a big part of our family culture
Early in the pandemic, our oldest son who was in the 8th grade was struggling with the isolation and distance learning. Always a highly energetic athletic kid, he grew up playing baseball year round, so he was used to being super active. As he approached his freshman year, he came to my wife and I with a request to play football. We both automatically said “No!” (out of concerns for his physical and long term brain health). He didn't necessarily take no for an answer. Instead, he spent time writing a speech about how he felt football would enrich his life, and delivered it to us at the dinner table in front of the whole family. At the time, we were still very much in pandemic era restrictions, so we thought, well, they won't really play any games, so why not let him run with it. Turns out he's a darn good football player and run he did! He now is at Foothill Community College as RB1 and is aspiring to transition to a D1 program in the Spring of 2027.