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Zachary Wilson
ENC 1101H
Becoming a Football Fanatic
My life today consists of boring school work, constantly running around
trying to get everything I need done, and trying to balance work and play. I
live for the weekends during the football season, where I am able to sit down
and watch the sport that I love and also the one day of the week when I play
semi-competitive flag football with my friends. I would consider myself an
expert when it comes to football and because of my background. I am not
able to watch or play in a causal game like your average fan. When I am
watching a game I envision as if I were a player and analyze every play as if I
was on the field myself. When I play in a casual touch football game I play as
if I am in a championship game. I watch and play the game like this because
I have been playing for so long and it is second nature to me now. Watching
and playing casually is all I have left from the sport I love now, however,
there was once a point where I was a dominate high school player.
My football obsession begins with my father. He is very passionate
about the sport and played in college. He played for a very small college that
was not very good, but he played simply because he loved the game. When I
was born he naturally tried to install his love for the game in me. My dad
took me to numerous Miami Dolphins games where I got to meet many
players. These players became my role models and I wanted to grow up to

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be just like them. The most influential player that I met would be hall of fame
QB Dan Marino. I dressed up like him for Halloween, wore his jerseys around
the house, and declared I wanted to be an NFL QB just like him one day.
These actions made my dad happy because he knew that he successfully
installed is football passion in me.
When I was finally old enough to join a flag football league I was
ecstatic. I always made it a priority to show up to practice early and stayed
late. I was about the age of 7 at this point so the football being played wasnt
very competitive. I was placed at quarterback and this would be the position
that I would play for the rest of my life. Flag football did not consist of much
throwing; it was mostly just me running around or scrambling with the ball.
The plays were very simple and limited but as a 7 year old I didnt know any
different. I felt as if I were Tom Brady out there playing against an NFL
defense.
Tackle football sign ups came around and I had to beg my mom on a
daily basis to allow me to play. She was scared of injures like every mother is,
but after constant annoyance she finally gave in. During my first season of
tackle football I was introduced to a coach that would teach me the
fundamentals to the quarterback position. His name was Coach Buttleman
and I guess we could call him my first quarterback coach even though he
was just a teammates father. He worked with me on how to throw a football
more accurately and how to lead an offense. I met coach Buttleman in fourth

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grade and the things that he was teaching me were advanced for someone
my age. This gave me an advantage later on because I already knew so
much more about the position than potential competitors. I played tackle
football through 7th grade and every year I got a little better. After my 4th
grade year I had to grow as a player on my own because i did not come
across a coach as knowledgeable as coach Buttleman. I grew by playing
against good competition and by watching and trying to mimic the players
that I looked up too such as Dan Marino. Pop warner football taught me the
basics skills that I would need for high school ball such as discipline,
leadership, and a good work ethic. These traits go hand in hand with the
quarterback position so learning them at an early age gave helped me
master to position later on.
I took a year off from organized football and focused on weight lifting
to get ready for high school football. I was in the weight room lifting weights
every day with my dad and older friends who knew what they were doing. I
lifted at the high school that I would attend because they had open gym
hours. When I finally entered high school I was bigger, faster, and smarter
than all of the competition. I was ready to devote all my free time to the
sport and become the best player that I could be.
When freshman football began there was one coach that helped me
grow as a player and a person. Too this day I am still in contact with him and
am able to go to him involving matters other than football if needed. The

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coach who took me under his wing is named Paul Parr. His son was the
varsity quarterback at the time and became one of my good friends. Coach
Parr treated me like I was one of his kids I learned everything that his son
was taught on varsity through him. I learned so much from coach Parr that I
was moved up to JV and varsity I didnt have to learn much from the coaches
on the position. Freshman football was where I began to perfect my craft and
started to learn about different reads and different coverages. Reads and
basically the choices that you make on where to throw the ball and
coverages are what the defense is doing to try and make the quarterback
mess up and throw an interception. The plays were more complex than
anything I had come across and the position became more mental than
physical. The school that I attended was known as a powerhouse football
school and I as a freshman I was taught that winning should be regular, and
losing is unacceptable. This was taught to all levels of football at the school
but I took it to heart during freshman year and it increased my performance
as a player.
My sophomore year I played junior varsity and this is where I met my
most influential coach. His name is Danny Embick and he was only 28 years
old. He was old enough for me to look up to him but at the same time young
enough for him to relate to me. He taught me how to play smooth and
confident. He taught me how to watch and analyze film on opposing
defenses. This made me play smarter and limited my mistakes because I
knew exactly what to expect from opposing defenses. What made coach

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Embick so influential was that he played the position in college so he knew

exactly what I was thinking and what would work best for me. During my JV
season I also started to see third party coaches to help work on my
fundamentals. Third party coaches are coaches that do not work for the
school, the two coaches that I attended were one time pro football players.
Their teachings led me to become more accurate with my passing and I
became quicker due to all the footwork drills that I was put through.
Directly after my JV season, I was moved up to the best varsity team in
the state. I was a sophomore at the time and the majority of the team was
seniors. I immediately had to get better because on varsity everyone was
better and the game happened much faster. I was no longer the best and
biggest player on the field. In all actuality I was basically a runt. Daniel Parr,
Coach Parrs son, became my role model and helped me with my transition
between JV and varsity. With all the training that I had and my experience
playing the position on JV allowed me to transition quickly. That year the
team won states and ended up ranked 11th in the nation.
Over the summer of my junior I put on a great deal of muscle, got
faster, stronger, and much more accurate. This can be proven by the game
footage that I have from every game from my varsity career and you can see
the difference in size and speed between the years. I also began to get
recruited by colleges and this shows that I had improved as a player
throughout the years. Over the summer of my junior year I went to college

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camps and obtained my first college offers. At these camps I won numerous
awards such as most valuable player. I ended up with four college offers from
Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, and Johns
Hopkins University. At this point I felt like I was playing the best football that I
ever was. I was in the best shape of my life and when I threw a football it
would do exactly what I wanted it to do.
When senior year came around it did not go how I expected it too. I still
played a great deal but I ended up splitting time with a kid who transferred
into my school who was committed to a big time college program. This
basically means that we shared the playing time during the game. By my
senior year I had already mastered all of the plays and I was still playing
really well. Our team dominated through the regular season but it did not
end how I wanted it too. We lost to a very good team in the playoffs which
meant that my high school career was over. The team that we lost too
proceded to win the state title and they had over 15 players go on to play
college football after their season ended. My team and I were heartbroken
after the lost and we didnt know what would come next, we just knew that
we would never play high school football again. When the season ended I
had to make a choice to give up on playing football in college. If I were to
play in college I would have to take out loans because all the institutions I
obtained offers from did not give out athletic scholarships. My parents gave
me the option to play but I knew that it would be a struggle because I would

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be a long ways from home and I did not feel that continuing to play the sport
that I love in college was worth the money.
I no longer play tackle football but my love for the game is still there. I
currently play flag football for a fraternity which I find funny because playing
flag football is how I first got into the sport. I dominate against the kids that I
am playing against and the games are very simple to me. The competition
that I am facing is a joke compared to what I am used too. I am infinitely
better than when I first started playing which shows the difference that all
my coaches, mentors, and time spent perfecting my craft have made. I
doubt that I will ever play in organized tackle football games again but
because of my experiences with the game. Due to my experiences I have
become a football fanatic and I will never be able to play or watch the game
like your average fan.