Do high school football players miss playing football after graduation?

Posted by crazypoohuniverse@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 17 comments

I'm sure many of them miss it for identity reasons, like that peak in high school thing. I'm more curious if they miss playing the sport they loved?

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TsundereLoliDragon@reddit

Why would this be limited to football?

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I can't answer for OP, but I do think football is one of those sports that it's tough to play as an adult. There are rec leagues for soccer or basketball or football or volleyball, and it's easy enough to keep running or playing tennis or swimming, if those are your sports. I suppose hurdles or throwing the discus are more like football in that there aren't casual adult opportunities, but those are also more niche. Do colleges even have intramural football?

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Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit

I think part of it is that it requires so much equipment to play at all safely. It’s pretty easy to play a game of basketball but to have the equipment and people to man two teams would be extremely difficult. People will play touch football at big gatherings, but it’s not the same as being in full gear playing tackle.

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Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit

My son, who played football in high school and graduated this year, has mentioned a number of times this summer that he misses playing. I don’t think it’s the identity thing. He just really enjoyed the sport, and it’s probably hard knowing that he will never play tackle football again in the same way.

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Steamsagoodham@reddit

Some do, but I was honestly kinda relieved it was over. It’s a lot of work and I knew I wasn’t going anywhere with it. I mostly just stayed in my Senior year because my friends were on the team and I felt like I needed to finish out what I started out.

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HotSteak@reddit

Yeah of course. Why would I not miss thing I liked doing?

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InevitableStruggle@reddit

Al Bundy certainly did

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

People who are strongly identified by a sport in high school are usually able to play it in college too.

Very few make the transition from college to pro though.

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Defiant_Finger4011@reddit

My husband played one year in HS. He liked it but the time commitment interfered with the family business. We went to a very small school (like 60 kids per grade.) so obviously he was still friends with all the guys. Up until about age 30 all the guys still got together and played a game of football thanksgiving morning.

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TheBimpo@reddit

What do you mean “for identity reasons”? For most people, it’s not literally their identity. It’s something that they do that’s a lot of fun.

I definitely miss playing team sports after high school, there’s nothing like the sense of camaraderie that you build together. Rec league sports just aren’t the same.

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