Season on the side

Gazebo Photo by Cooper Baskette

Senior Cole Devenney has missed the entire season with a shoulder injury

But football has been the sport that has impacted my life the most. 

I first started playing football when I was in third grade, when I was a student at Sonny Carter Elementary School.

My family loves to watch football and almost every single one of my family members has played football sometime in their life. However, my junior and senior years were cut short because of injury and I’ve never missed it more. Football has taught me many life lessons either inside the classroom or in the community.

We are a football family. My father and older brother both played. I have a brother who plays. My family loves to watch the Dawgs play on Saturdays, even though my Dad is a Tech fan. 

When my father signed me up to play flag football at Stratford, I immediately fell in love with the game and I’m so glad he let me play. Those couple of years taught me a few things, how to cooperate with people I’ve never met before and how to have fun. Little did I know, these couple of years of playing football were my gateway for my profound love for the sport.

When I came into Stratford in the sixth grade, I was able to watch my brother play his senior year of football. This inspired me to continue playing because I watched him have fun and I loved to hear what he had to say after a Friday night game. My brother always critiqued me and helped me no matter the subject and was the sole reason why I wanted to play football. It motivated me to hear everyone talk about him having a good game on Friday’s and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I always told him that I was going to try and be a better player than him and have better stats than him by my senior year. Little did I know, my last couple of years were going to be cut short.

In my junior year, I was looking forward to a promising year after preparing all summer long and hoping I could help the team in any way possible. During the summer I dislocated my shoulder right before the season was about to start and it ruined my mojo when the subject of getting surgery was possible. This impacted my motivation in a bad way but I wanted to try my best and help the team no matter what.

 During the homecoming game, I tore my ACL and my junior year was over. This gave me even more motivation leading into my senior year, I was working out more than even and I was getting my mind right to finish my senior year strong. This was the moment I looked forward to the most in my life because I watched my brother have so much fun his last year and the past ten years of playing football were coming to an end. In the middle of this summer, I dislocated my shoulder again and my doctor said that if it happens again I would need surgery right away. 

During a workout at the end of summer, I dislocated it again and it brought me to an all-time low. All I could think about was that I couldn’t play my last year of football with my brothers and all the extensive work I did in the summer was for nothing. I ended up having to get surgery which led to me not playing a single game all season.

Even though I’m not able to play this year I still wanted to be a part of the team and contribute in any way possible. Coach Mark Farriba gave me the task of filming the games in the end zone on Friday nights. Even though I’d rather be on the sideline cheering on my teammates, I will do anything that’s going to benefit our team.

Getting an outside view of the team instead of being on the field is hard to process. I’m just proud of what my teammates have accomplished this year and glad I’m still a part of the team.