The Life Of An Underdog

Levi is a freshman in high school. I didn’t know much of anything about Levi until we started to bond this summer over preseason basketball and football. While hanging out alone together for the first time, we found that we shared a common interest in dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park saga. This is ultimately what sparked the best that was yet to come. Over the course of the summer, he became the person that I would consider my best friend. We would go out to eat with other friends, swim, get ice cream, and watch movies all summer. Levi and I spend countless hours together and there isn’t much that we don’t share with each other. But one aspect of Levi’s life that I don’t often get to see firsthand is his time in the school as a freshman. I once was also a freshman in high school, not many years ago. I was roaming the around the halls, slightly hesitant as I was just a little fish in what seemed like a big sea. But I get the feeling that this freshman class’s early high school experience isn’t quite the same as mine was. 

Although we’re only about a month into the current school year, I was able to talk to Levi about how his high school experience has been so far. We talked about how freshman year has been for him in the classroom, and on the football field. “I hang out with my friends a lot and have become really close with my football family. And I am getting good grades,” Levi told me when I asked him about how it’s been so far. He told me that one of his favorite classes this year is Intro To Technology with Mr. McCarthy. Some underclassmen may find it intimidating to transition into a new school where they are the youngest of four classes. Some may be intimidated just walking through the halls, but it’s especially common in athletics. When talking to Levi, he told me that walking into the high school wasn’t intimidating for him at all. Likely because there were many familiar faces in his friends, but also because we just don’t have the largest populated school in general. He did, however, tell me that the football field was a different story. As s young freshman on the line, there are going to be upperclassmen that are bigger than you. That is inevitable. Levi told me that this didn’t intimidate him but it did make him a little nervous because it’s a new environment. The freshmen, like Levi, didn’t take long to transition into high school athletics this season because the class gap has kind of diminished. Many of the upperclassmen have befriended the underclassmen and made strong relationships with them, which helps take some of the pressure off. Because of this, Levi talked about how this made him look up to some of the older leaders, instead of feeling inferior to them like classes in the past may have felt. 

As one of those leaders that Levi says he looks up to, it’s really awesome to be able to see him in action every day on the field. I have been able to see the growth he makes from practice to practice, week to week, in the short 5 weeks we’ve had. Every day when the 2 o’clock bell rings, Levi reports to the locker room to prepare for practice. He may spend a few minutes before practice messing with me or other teammates in the locker room, but he is always ready to go. He never forgets any of his personal equipment and he is efficient while getting his gear on, so he can be ready to get out onto the practice field early. In the meantime, while he waits for our coach to come out and blow his whistle, he gets his hands warm. He catches passes from one of our quarterbacks since he has recently been promoted to tight end. Today was our live practice day, where we run through full defensive and offensive drives. When Levi gets an opportunity to work with the varsity line, he doesn’t take it lightly. For instance, on defense today our coach made a call that confused Levi as he is new to the knowledge of varsity football. But a senior captain and leader takes initiative to explain to Levi his job in this defensive call, and he was focused and eager to understand. When the whistle blows to signal that a play is going to start, Levi is working at full speed. He works hard to shed blocks and reach his target, which is ultimately the ball carrier. On the offensive side of things, he focuses and listens to the play called in the huddle. If he has a question he is not shy to ask a teammate or a coach, but he generally knows his role and he goes out and executes. 

If you were to ask Levi, he would tell you that being a freshman is just another one of life’s challenges that he is going to beat. He would tell you that competition is what drives him, so being a freshman in the school and on the football field is fueling him to make it to the top. He takes pride in the fact that he pushes himself in school to get good grades. He has already set a goal to be on the honor roll for the first semester. He also works hard on the football field and in the weight room because he knows that’s what it takes to compete at higher levels in high school sports. He commits himself to his athletic teams and is working to help the team succeed in any way he can. He would like to make a great impact in the spring, as he has a goal to play on the varsity lacrosse team. Levi is a driven Freshman athlete and student, which reminds me of the way I approached high school when I entered three years ago.

“Football field” by nightthree is licensed under CC BY 2.0.