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Diary 131 Football all-American Dear Diary, Wow! I am an All-American! Me? I can‘t believe it! I just got home from signing my letter of intent to play football at a Pac-10 school. A full-ride scholarship to college! Four years ago, I never would have pictured this. Football was just somethi...

Diary 131 Football all-American Dear Diary, Wow! I am an All-American! Me? I can‘t believe it! I just got home from signing my letter of intent to play football at a Pac-10 school. A full-ride scholarship to college! Four years ago, I never would have pictured this. Football was just something I did along with drinking, smoking, and drugs. School was something I tried not to do. As I look at my life now, football is one of my top priorities, but just four years ago when I was a freshman, getting high was the only thing that mattered. Since I was very young, maybe six or seven, I have wanted to be a football player. But when new friends introduced me to drugs, I began to lose interest in football. I started drinking and smoking in the summer after sixth grade. I was twelve years old. My drug experimentation soon became out of control. I started ditching school, stopped going to football practice, and dropped all my old friends. My new friends were all into drugs, too. So it made it easier to get high. This transformation took two years before full-on addiction. By the time I had reached my freshman year in high school. I was smoking pot three to five times a day. Besides smoking, I was drinking around the clock. Soon drinking and smoking weren’t good enough. I needed a bigger and better high. I tried many uppers and downers. I tried everything that I could to get high. My mom and dad kept after me about my grades and stuff. They wouldn’t just let me go my own way. My mom found out about Ms. Gruwell, who was doing all these cool things with her English class. Since my mom loves reading, she got me into the class in my junior year hoping that I would “catch” some of Ms. G’s excitement. Ms. G’s class, a camp experience with my church, and my parents’ continual encouragement helped me to see the mess I was making of my life. I cannot believe that just a couple of years ago, that was my life. Not only was I screwing up my brain but also my relationship with my friends and family. My mind-set was unbelievable. Now getting high is something I don’t even think about. I would much rather be with my friends or be working out. I have been working hard in school and in the gym to be ready for football at the college level. I went from an F to the second-highest A in all the chemistry classes in my senior year. I know I have what it takes, and I am going to do my best to make my next goal, a college degree and an NFL career!