The word “spring” is synonymous with prison to many boys who live for the chance to play the sport that causes them pain but glory in their high school hallways. Football may only be played for a short season, but it stays on the minds of battle-tested players all year long. These players may feel withdrawal every year during the months of February through August when practices and games are absent from everyday life. During this time players reminisce on everything from the past seasons, from heart-wrenching losses, to a blowout win against rivals. All these memories fly through your head like a bullet pass from a quarterback’s hand.

Most players miss the freedom players have on the field to take out aggression, sadness, or any emotion out on the field. Without this way to let out feelings or emotions, some players get quiet or withdrawn when it isn’t football season so they don’t get in trouble. “The field is like a therapist room; you can take out all of your worries there,” said sophomore Brandon Beasley, a veteran of the Fluvanna Fluco football team.

Others miss the competition of going one-on-one with someone else to see who is better on that down, or to see who wants the yards most. That constant competition helps players a lot. It gives them a drive to work harder on and off the field to have a chance at winning that competition. “It is amazing to go one-on-one. You might lose, but that chance at winning keeps you coming back every play and every year,” said Beasley.

Some players also reminisce over the plays that made them or broke them. Every player has one of those moments and it is up to them on how it ends. They can either react or stay there; most react, but the ones who don’t react in time are haunted by those memories all off-season more than any other.” Everyone messes up. You just don’t want to be the person to mess up when it depends on you, because if you do mess up it will haunt you,” said freshman Drew Hampshire.

Then again they might miss the memories that are not under the lights of a Friday night. Maybe their memories are from practices or the long road trips to away games or the locker room during halftime. All those events and wins, and sadly, losses, form a deep-rooted thing, that only football can form, a brotherhood among young men bonded together by sweat, blood, and tears. That is the best memory: your brotherhood made in that three-month stretch when it was your team against the world.