Jeremy Peck

One of my greatest passions in life is the game of American football. As a very young child, all I ever wanted to do was watch sportscenter and play catch with my dad. My parents noticed my obvious obsession with the game so they thought that I should join a flag football team as soon as possible. Throughout my years as an athlete, I could never appreciate the beauty of any sport as much as football. There was just something about the thudding pads and the breakaway sprints that I could not get enough of. After I grew out of flag football, I joined a peewee tackle football league in the area at age 9 and I played four long seasons in this youth football league. By the time I finished with this league, I had been on two championship teams and I had mastered every position on the field. I took two years off to play on a travel baseball team but when I began high-school football immediately became my number one focus again. Every night I fell asleep to thoughts of the Friday night lights and the screaming students. After a year of playing for the JV team, the head coach of the varsity team saw something special about my love for the game. He promoted me the next year to the varsity squad and I could not have been more ecstatic. My junior year I started as a cornerback and my senior year I started as a cornerback and I partially starting as a tail back. Unfortunately, I dislocated my shoulder on a number of occasions during my senior year and this prevented me from playing at the collegiate level. As a team captain during my senior year, I was truly able to experience the hardship of being an admirable leader on and off the field. I pushed my body to its physical limit, positively influenced my younger teammates, and helped lead the Chapel Hill Tigers to five playoff tournament game victories. The sport of football taught me that practice makes perfect and good teamwork is the key to success. I now know that you can accomplish anything if you genuinely dedicate yourself to your goals. The game of football has taught me many important things but most importantly to always get up when you get knocked down. I learned that if I could get up from the brutal hits that I endured, nothing in life could be strong enough to make me give up.