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Having been a football star in my younger days you can only imagine the joy and thrill on my face as I witness the growth and emergence of my own son and his electrifying football career.
It all began at the tender age of 9 years old in youth football. His freshman year was one of anger, despair, and pure exuberance. As an ex-running back, it was my wish to have him in the backfield scoring touchdowns at will. My wish and the wish of the coaches were not aligned. As a beginner he started on all special teams, and eventually gained a starting position on the line. Slightly disappointed I still supported him 100% and started what would be a pretty large collection of photos of him in action.
Well the year started out great and finished unbelievable with not only an undefeated season but by winning the Super Bowl of the little league. I think back to that time and was glad I was able to capture some of the looks of excitement that the team exhibited that wonderful year in the photos I took.
The following season he anchored the defense at linebacker leading the team in tackles and sacks. He also had 4 fumble recoveries and 3 interceptions. The team finished 4 wins and 5 losses.
At his age, though, it was all about the fun; winning and losing didn’t quite matter yet.
As his talent began to emerge and the love for the game intensified, I now realized I needed to capture the next season with a different kind of memorabilia. I began video taping his games and building a library of films for him to enjoy in his later years.
His youth football career ended on a great note with no injuries and a new position as running back.
He was then off to play at the high school level on the freshman football team. As luck would have it, the starting running back on the varsity team injured his knee and the team needed a lift. They asked my son to be that lift, and moved him into a starting running back as a freshman. 5 years passed with no injuries, but it attacked him with a vengeance, ending his freshman football career, with a broken leg. He was out for 5 weeks, and after weeks of rehabilitation and therapy he was finally ready for the next year.
During his rehab I knew I had to preserve his future accomplishments. After 3 years of starting running back for the high school, along with 3 years of starting linebacker I had numerous photos and newspaper articles capturing his illustrious career. As the letters arrived from division 1 colleges all across the country, a scholarship to play football for Michigan State University turned up. This was when my son decided to create a Facebook to follow his career. On this site we were able to post all his videos and photos for friends and family to view.
Now that I had this collection of football photos and videos, I decided I wanted to use them to somehow create some wall art for his dorm room. I found this wonderful product iPixXL, where I can create him his own life size photo stickers of his football career. Plus the photo stickers are reusable removable vinyl and won’t ruin his walls, and will be easy to transfer to his very own apartment. What a great way to preserve all his accomplishments.
My son has since graduated with a degree in photography, opened his own studio, and is now a successful business man in the metro area. I can only think that my dedication to his photos and videos perpetuated his decision to become a famous photographer.
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