My topic for this capstone project is football. I have been surrounded by football my entire life, watching it with my family and going to games since I was 4. I started playing football when I was 6 years old. I played on a Pop Warner team in Santa Cruz, then played flag for a couple of years, and then came to high school. This was a new opportunity for me to play my favorite sport with not just random kids, but with kids I've grown up with my entire life. After 4 long years in high school of playing football for SLV, it did truly shape me into the person I am today. this sport is very physically demanding, and it forces you to work with your team and to suffer with your team. This was not at all a solo experience for me, it never was and never will be for anyone. The experiences I went through on that team are like nothing else I've ever done with anyone. all of these have taught me lessons I won't learn anywhere else, brotherhood, and loyalty to what you are truly a part of. There were times when I wanted to quit so badly and wanted to give up and just lay down after school instead of going to practice in the hot sun. I did have some times when I wouldn't go, but when I did that I felt wrong. So completely wrong that my brothers are out there working without me and I'm not a part of it. Every year was something different when it came to my progression. In Freshman year we only got 2 games because of Covid 19. In my Sophomore year, I played a whole season of JV where I learned and prepared myself for the varsity level the next year. Junior year was already here and it was time, I was forced into certain situations because of injuries on our team and I started the whole Junior year as a varsity player. It was one of our worst years as a football team, we won a combined 2 games and had at least 6 season-ending injuries for our players. Every game was a blowout and it was so demoralizing for me and the rest of my team as well.