Texas Royalty

When I talk about the royalty of Texas, I'm not talking about this.......

I'm talking about this....

Yep. High school football is the King of Texas.

There have been numerous books written about it.

There is a TV series based on it.

But, until you experience it,.... ..you may not understand and I don't even know how to put it into words.

To start off, high school football does not begin during the freshman year. It begins way before then.

The majority of male children in the state of Texas are held back a year before entering kindergarten so they will be bigger and more athletic when they reaches high school. I have heard it referred to as the Texas high school redshirt.

Little league football is really the beginning of high school football practice. It starts as soon as a boy is just big enough to wear helmets and pads.I have seen teams out at practice with their parent's headlights shining on the field after dark. Yes, they are still in elementary school.There are towns that start the kids running high school plays so they know the play by heart at the time they finally reach high school. When they do enter high school most of the boys have been playing football with each other or against each other for years.

It's not just about the football players, cheerleading starts just as young. Each of the little football teams has a cheerleading squad. The girls learn cheers, do stunts (minor),  and wear their uniforms to school the day before the game. It's the real deal!

It still doesn't end there. Marching band is just as important. Marching band starts in middle school. There are hundreds of kids in the band that practice throughout the off season and summer. In fact, their practices last longer than the football team's practice. There are times during the summer where they are practicing at the school for 12 hours a day. I will say, their performances are amazing!

The stadiums are huge around here. The neighboring town just opened a $60 million stadium that sells out it's 18,000 seats. It has two scoreboards, a 38 ft. high definition video screen, and 42 lines for concessions. Aaron and Este went to the game on opening night. It was impressive!

Each high school has a practice field, a playing field (Varsity doesn't play on that field. They play games in the stadiums) and an indoor practice field.

I don't want to get into the politics of school funding and overboard athletics; I'm just telling you like it is. The competition is cut throat, die hard, and high stakes. High school football is taken very seriously around here.

That is why at the end of one of Ethan's games we were confused when the officials had the teams line up for another play. Both teams lined up. The ball was snapped and the linemen slowly stood up. From the line of scrimmage ran one player from the other team with several other players surrounding him in what appears to be an escort. He ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Our team jogged down to the end zone to give the player a high five. Those of us in the crowd were absolutely confused.

Turns out that team has a boy who LOVES football. He works hard at every practice and does his very best every time he sets foot out on the field. The problem is due to brain trauma the only time he can actually set foot out on the field is at the end of the game with the opponent's permission, he takes the snap and runs for a touchdown.

Tender moments don't just start at the high school. When a little league football team lost a player tragically, the crowd for their next football game was huge and consisted of many opponents from the league and their families wearing that team's colors and the boy's  football number. There were banners on the fence around the field sharing love and support for this football team from every team in the league.

The local newspaper had a recent article about a football player who was injured during a football game and how the players and staff from both teams met at midfield and joined in prayer on the players behalf.

Maybe high school football down here is a little bit crazy. I've heard it said that to say that football is big in Texas is like saying it snows in Alaska but, there's something about it that warms my heart when you look at the good it can teach these boys.