Photo credit: Darnell Thomas
Friday Night Lights. My personal favorite thing ever. We all know what a Gameday Friday is like for the average high schooler, but have you ever wondered what it’s like for a football player? I had the opportunity to talk to junior kicker Owen Simpson about what his Fridays are like. Owen told me that he was “a little superstitious” and did things like wearing the same cleats and praying before every game. On Thursday mornings, his team has practice and weights, and then in the afternoons, they watch film to prepare for the game.
Game day is different. In the morning the team has breakfast and devotion together, and then, they do walkthroughs. Now, for those of you who don’t know what a walkthrough is (I didn’t until I asked Owen), it’s basically when the team walks through the plays on the field, but they don’t go all out as if it were a game. After that, they go to the weight room like a normal morning. Then, they all go to class and go through their day as usual.
After school, they are able to go home for a little while. What time they have to be back at the school depends on if it is a home game or an away game. For home games, they have to be back at 4:30, and if it is an away game, they have to be back by 4:30. Owen told me that when they get to the field, they do some more walkthroughs and then fully dress out at around 5:30. They stretch and warm up and then head to the locker room for a little while.
After that, the starters hit the field for more warm-ups at around 6:03, according to Owen. When kickoff rolls around Owen told me that it obviously gets pretty loud, but “[he] isn’t really nervous.” However, he does say a quick prayer, and he reminds himself of everything he works on in practice and the key words his coaches tell him. Once the game ends, friends and family come out onto the field to chat about the game. However, before that can happen, they have a quick post-game talk with Coach Evans. After friends and family come to talk, the team goes back to the locker room for either celebrations or condolences (whichever is appropriate). Hopefully, for this season, there will be more celebrating in the future.
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