I never had an older brother or sister whom I could look up to. It was just my mom and I living alone, and I had to have a babysitter all the time. Usually, I would go to my grandma’s or papa’s, but I would get bored after being there for so long. I eventually started to tell my mom that I wanted to go to my aunt’s where I could play games or jump on the trampoline with my cousin, Travis.

Travis, who is five years older than I, always treated me like I was his little brother. He would constantly give me toys, or if I wanted to he would go outside and throw the football with me. Travis was always busy, so I never really had the chance to see him. When I did get to see him, he would constantly tell me about football and how he wanted to play at Defiance. Whenever he told me about football, I would imagine myself playing in the future. Travis eventually went to Defiance High School, and he became the running back. He was one of the all-time leading rushers in the history of Defiance High School and also received a scholarship to Taylor University. I went to as many of his high school games as I could, and every game I watched inspired me to play more and more.

I still remember going to watch him play Napoleon his senior year. It was so amazing being under the lights getting to watch him play. Napoleon was ahead of Defiance by a touchdown with only two minutes left to score. Defiance was down on their own thirty-five. First play was a hand-off to Travis; he ran the ball for five yards before he was stopped. The second play was a play action play, but the pass was incomplete. The third play was an iso, which is a run play where the running back gets the ball and runs up the whole provided by the line. Travis ran up the hole and ran over a linebacker and safety. Travis was in the open area of the field. He ran all the way down the field to score the touchdown. Down only a point, Defiance knew they had to go for two. This play was again the iso run; handing off to Travis, he squeezed through the line, ran over a linebacker and earned the two-point conversion. Watching Travis play opened up my eyes to how much I really wanted to play football.

In middle school I would always carry around a football because it happened to be my favorite sport. One day I went to Travis’s house, and we started to throw the football around. Eventually, we started playing a football game. Travis was obviously bigger than I, so he scored all the time. On the very last play, I tackled him.

Now that I’m in high school, I have a love for the game, and I’m always thinking about how I can improve to be better than Travis. From practicing hard like he did to giving it my all in the games, I am determined to be better than he. Travis has taught me to go above and beyond the limits I think I can go. He’s taught me to be dedicated and determined to achieve my goals, and has inspired me, not only in sports but also in my everyday life.

Throughout this past year, I asked him to help me get bigger so that I was stronger than most people on the field. He’s not only helped me get bigger, but he has also helped me become tougher, more physical, and has shown me how to use my strength on the gridiron. Travis has helped me improve my skills on defense such as jamming, covering, and tackling. Each and every time he would give me advice on how I could improve my skills all around, I would always take it to heart and use it to improve myself.

Travis has had a huge impact on my life. He’s basically my older brother, and I am constantly looking up to him and comparing myself to him. I always tell him about my games and how great I’m doing on and off the field. This year Travis came to our game against Edgerton game. I ran out onto the field through the tunnel of fans and under the lights, and I looked up into the stands to see my cousin, Travis, standing in the crowd looking out onto the field right at me.