ANTHONY GALLI

Hey there, I am Connor Hughes, a student at the University of Georgia and I used to play football in Highschool. I started playing tackle football in the 6th grade and fell in love with it right away. I have made many life long friends through out my middle school and high school years because of this sport I've been playing my whole life.

I first started at Sutton Middle School, in Atlanta, where I learned how much different tackle football was from flag football, which up until that year I had only played. Being my first year and also the youngest grade in middle school, I didn't see much playing time or serious roles. Eventually I improved and entering 8th grade, I was one of the best players on my team.

I don't mean to gloat, but I was starting on both offense and defense, and at the end of the year, I had won the Most Valuable Player Award for my team. I was so excited for what high school had to offer so I got straight to work. I started doing the high school work outs while I was still in 8th grade!

Going into high school football, you realize how much different it was and the increase in skill level skyrocketed. I only played on special teams my freshman year, but was excited to do my part and help the team. Entering my sophomore year, I earned a starting role at linebacker. The image above is from my sophomore year when I wore the number 26. This number will always have a special place in my heart.

During the season my sophomore year, I played challenging teams with players who are now on our very own University of Georgia football team. Even with this challenging competition, I earned a First Team All Region Award for being one of the best players at my position that year.

I continued this trend every year going forward with getting it my junior and senior years. I learned a lot from playing football, but I would have to say the most important thing I learned was discipline and adversity. You are going to face challenges in your life that you may think you can't overcome. However, these challenges have been faced by many people like you, and some challenges people have overcome are much harder on them then what you are dealing with. The most important thing to do is to focus on bettering yourself and making the most out of what you have.