1. Football camps are a great way to test the waters.  If you want to know if football is for you, go to a camp the summer before your first season. Camps will teach you form tackling, put you through tackling drills, and let you scrimmage on full contact 11 on 11 situations.  Some camps are only a day or two or you could go to some that are weeks long.  After this you should know if the contact of the sport is for you.
2. Football is a GREAT way to meet friends.  Especially if you go into high school not knowing anybody, you instantly know 40+ people your first day of school.  I would say 80% of the kids on you freshman team have never played tackle football before either so don’t let that deter you.
3. Don’t worry about your size your freshman year. It was rare for someone to be strong freshman year that wasn’t natural.  Many players who were small freshman year had growth spurts in the next year or two and then became some of the biggest on the team.  Start working out hard the offseason after freshman year if you want to get bigger when your body is matured more and it will be easier to gain muscle and weight.
4. The football team puts you in situations you otherwise would not be in. This could be a positive or a negative to some. I saw it as a huge positive as it forced me to be friends and spend a lot of time with a diverse group of people that I otherwise would not have and I really enjoyed that aspect of it.  Others might not be as comfortable or welcoming in a situation such as that.
5. The football team is the biggest team in the school.  With most schools having a team with at least 40 kids, and some have 70 or 80, the team is huge and you are not guaranteed playing time with only 22 spots with some players playing offense and defense.
6. Injuries ARE really a BIG part of the game.  More than any other sport, you will get injured in football.  4 out of 10 high school sports injuries occur from football, this study includes the 9 major high school sports from a study of 100 high schools by the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Center for Injury Research and Policy in Columbus, Ohio.
7. Knowing injuries will happen to you. Going into high school and never playing tackle football I always heard injuries happened but never being injured before, I did not expect to be injured.  I ended up breaking my arm the 2nd game of the season and my team lost 10 players to season ending injury that season.  At the end of my senior year I don’t think 1 player out of 40 did not have an injury.  My injuries at the end of high school included: breaking my arm, spraining my knee that swelled up and caused me to miss one game, and a torn ligament in my hand I suffered in my final high school game of my career.
8. Football is just as much a mental game as it is physical. Your team could have some physical beasts that could rush the quarterback with ease but if he can not remember his defensive assignment, a smarter, less athletic, and smaller player could take his spot. I saw this occur on many occasions as coaches benefit players work ethic and attention to detail.
9. Don’t set your mind on 1 position. If you put all your eggs in one basket only wanting to play quarterback, you could be missing out on playing your best position potentially. Also, if you want to only play QB but are not named the starter, you could possibly be a starter at another position. Camps are also a great place to try out numerous positions you are interested in.
10. Four years of High School goes by FAST. Don’t take any of your games for granted. Freshman football is some of the best times because you get to play a bunch of positions and play a lot less structured than Varsity.  Remember there are only 10 guaranteed games each year and you have to make the most of them all!

The BEST Football I have ever used, feels like you can throw whatever pass you want