Even though I never played football in high school, I'll never forget the year-end high school football party in my Grade 12 year.
Unfortunately for my six-man high school football team, they lost in the championship game largely because their starting quarterback broke his hand in the first quarter. To put that into greater perspective, the quarterback is the be-all and end-all of the offense in six-man football because he's also the running back.
But the loss itself doesn't stand out to me; it's how the game affected my good friend. Out of nowhere, he started crying at the party and frankly made no effort to hide it. You have to understand he wasn't an immature loser who wanted attention; he was a 6-foot-2, 200-pound linebacker who laughed when he broke his hand in a hockey fight because as he put it, "I'd rather have a broken hand than a broken face."
My friend didn't really say why he was crying, but everyone knew it was because he just played his last high school football game. Moreover, to add insult to injury, his dream of walking away from high school ball with a championship was dashed.
A couple minutes later a young lady came up to him and said, "It's just a game." My buddy didn't say anything. She later walked away with a puzzled look on her face.
From her perspective, it was just a game. She was calling it how she saw it. But she wasn't there when he woke up at 6 a.m. Monday to Friday for practice to prepare for his weekly game. Nor was she there when he moved to B.C. for three weeks in the summer to train for "just a game."
That game wasn't 60 minutes of exercise to keep him busy. It was a way for him to make his father proud, relinquish anger when his girlfriend broke up with him, gain popularity in the school, and most importantly, open up doors for university scholarships to better his life.
That loss wasn't just coming up short on the scoreboard. It was failing to walk away from his high school football career satisfied despite going above and beyond what the program asked from him.
It turned out that was his last meaningful football game because he never got passed the practice roster in university ball and an injury stopped him from playing in the Canadian Junior Football League. He still talks about his last football game. He dwells on whether a step to the left or a step to the right would have changed the outcome of the close contest.
My friend doesn't define the majority of high school athletes, though. For some, it is just a game. They spend their summers playing videogames and lying on the beach at the lake with their upcoming season not even in the back of their minds. Sports are more or less just an activity to keep them busy.
But for the athletes who travel to great lengths, skip parties for gym sessions, and have scholarship opportunities - it's not just a game. It is a self-esteem builder, an outlet to let out frustration, a way to open college doors, and for some, the best thing they have going for them.
With that said, it is pure ignorance to downplay how significant some games are for athletes who spend countless hours preparing for them. It's not just a game through their eyes; it is their life.
KF
