Project One: Rough Draft

There’s nothing like a Friday night in South Georgia during football season. Sound stereotypical but I absolutely love it. A stadium filled with ten thousand people that had a tendency to overflow all there for the same reason. Its gives a whole new sense to being a community. Blinding lights shining onto the field. You can smell the boiled peanuts, and burgers throughout the stadium. Everyone can put aside their differences to support their team. It doesn’t get much better than that- oh wait yes it does. My high school team is legitimately the best. We are unlike any other in the state- no in the country. I can say this because we have the rings to prove it. My junior and senior year my team went 30-0, won the Georgia High School State Championships two years in row, and we won the 2016 National High School Championships. I wasn’t a player, so why is this such a big deal? Well, I was so dedicated to supporting my team I was a part of the paint up crew. Every week we chose a theme and bought exterior house paint from Lowes. Like clockwork, before every game the paint up crew would meet near the stadium and to paint our clothes and bodies almost entirely. Two of my favorite games were during my senior year. We payed tribute to the victims of 9/11 on 9/11. Covered in red, white and blue paint the guys spelt out “Never Forget” and the girls spelt out “United We Stand.” In October we supported breast cancer awareness month and painted ourselves pink. The girls spelt “Fight Like A Girl” while the guys were entirely pink. It was typically a “rule” the guys stood on the front row of the student section while the girls stood behind them, but this game was different. Because of the theme the girls got to stand on the front row, which really isn’t that big of a deal but it was memorable. We didn’t just stop at painting up, oh no we went all out. We would shoot off confetti canons and throw baby powder (flour wasn’t allowed) at kickoff. We made fat heads that were about 2-3 feet tall of the Seniors captains for each week. Typically, this rambunctiousness of teenagers would make any adult cringe, but because there was such a strong sense of community, our school spirt was encouraged. I only missed 3 games my entire high school career and two of those were due to sports related injury. The pure joy I received from each game day experience is something I hope to remember for forever.