Sports, school and personal life is very hard to balance especially playing one of the most popular sports in America. I love playing the game of football, yet balancing all other things in my life is very difficult. This is my first year playing and my position is  receiver defensive back.

Football training lasts the entire year with weight training, watching film, practices, and games.  Most players experience the same schedule throughout the year.  The life of a football player for Los Banos High starts off getting a good night of sleep, which is hard enough since I have school work that takes at least two hours every day. On average I go to bed usually by 11:00 p.m., so I can wake up at 6:00 am to eat and get ready to go to the school at 7:15 a.m. for 0 period to either watch film or go to the weight room. After 0 period, we have about 15 minutes before the actual school day starts. 

Depending on what position students play, like an offensive lineman, students most likely have to take one of their lunch periods of the week to go watch film. After school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have practice at 4:30 p.m., but before that after the last period bell rings, defensive players have film for about 20-25 minutes. 

Wednesdays are a lot different than Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays are the only day players do not have a 0 period and we do not have practice right after school. We have practice at 6:00 p.m. Although practice starts at 6:00 p.m., defensive players have to show up 45 minutes before practice to watch film. Practices are about two and a half hours long. Usually we are feed after practices on Wednesdays, which is a great thing. 

On Fridays which are game days,  we still have 0 periods to watch film on the team we are playing that day, then we have a regular school day unless we play away. In away games we usually have to leave after fifth period to eat pre game and get on the bus and get to the game on time. On home games, we have a regular school day and after sixth period we go and eat pregame and get our minds in the right state of mind for the game. When it is time, we walk from our school campus to the stadium and enjoy the game we love to play. 

On the weekends, this is the only time we do not have to go anywhere for football, but our coaches usually post the film from the game the past Friday so we can criticize our game in order to play better as a team. Our coaches also post the film of the team we are going to play the next week to get ready for them. 

Overall, being a Los Banos football player and being part of the team is something that is fun and time consuming, but there is a reason why there are a lot of high school students still playing.  This is because we love and have passion for the sport.