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High School Football Athletes Essay

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The mindset that society thrusts upon most high school athletes can take away from academics and other opportunities they may have for their future. For many high school football athletes, they are primarily focused on one thing throughout their high school years: sports. Evidence 1: In towns such as Odessa in Friday Night Lights, players are swallowed up by the glamour of football and neglect most things not related to football, rather than balance sports with academics. “It was a phenomenon that Trapper had seen dozens of times before, a kid so caught up in it all that there was no room for anything else, another kid for whom nothing in life would ever be so glorious, so fulfilling as playing high school football. Trapper didn’t see the …show more content…

When they focus too much on football or whatever sport they are playing, than their grades falter, and they lose their chance to get a solid degree. One student that broke the trap that high school athletes fall into is Brian Chavez, a student at Permian High School in Friday Night Lights. “As the number-one student in his class, his aspirations extended far beyond the glimmer of expectation that a Texas school, any Texas school, might be willing to give him a football scholarship. He had set his sights differently, zeroing in on a target that seemed incomprehensible to his family, his friends, just about everyone. He wanted to go to Harvard” (Bissinger 13). Chavez is essentially the antithesis of all his peers and classmates; instead of making football the high point of his entire life, he values his future and education over the present glory of football. Despite being pressured into setting aside his future dreams in order to better the team, he does not fall into the trap his society had set for him. Chavez ended up enjoying Permien football as well as going to Harvard, so he is the prime example of how high school athletes should carry themselves. But unfortunately, it is extremely tough for most athletes in towns such as Odessa or Winthrop to do so. High school football encapsulates their entire lives, and the pressure put

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