I took one big gulp of water before it was time to announce the roster.

“It’s time to announce the starting roster!” Coach yelled.

It was a sunny afternoon and it was good conditions for football. That day was the day before our first game. We had been practicing for about two weeks. Coach Remaily was announcing the first string players for tomorrow’s game. We had forty two players on our football team, and only about fifteen players were going to make the starting roster. Normally it would have been twenty two players, eleven on offense and eleven on defense, but almost all of the 8th graders played both sides of the ball. That meant there weren’t as many positions. I was as nervous as a mouse trapped in a snake’s grasp.

In my head I was thinking, “Will I be called”?

I knew I had a pretty good chance because coach said I was doing well. I was also in my first year of football so that was a disadvantage because all the first year players were really not that good, because they were not as experienced and didn’t really know what they were doing.

I remember coach saying to me, “You can be an excellent player if you do these little things.”

That meant that coach knew I was a pretty good player and that he had some confidence in me. On that day, coach was announcing the roster. All the eighth graders except one player made the starting roster. Also, almost all of them were the running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. That meant there were only a few 7th graders to make first string. I could feel the sweat on my face.

I could see the nervous looks on my teammates.

“Right Tackle: Jacob, Right Guard: Dylan, Center: Jordan, Left Tackle: Steve.” Coach said.

I saw the dying expressions that were on the faces of people who didn’t make the team. All I could hear were the groans of the player who didn’t make the team. That made me even happier to make the 1st team.


In my mind, I said “Yeah, I made 1st string”!

At that moment, I knew that I was good at football. That is why I am going to play next year. One day later, I had my first game. I felt nervous and really excited at the same time. I performed well and coach made me a starter for the rest of the year.