Kicking World Blog

When Your HS Football Career is Over

How to cope with your high school football career coming to an end – by Kicking World owner, Coach Brent Grablachoff
high school kicking career

How to cope with your high school football career coming to an end by Kicking World owner Coach Brent Grablachoff

Less than 7% of high school football players go on to play football in college. This means that the majority of HS football players will find their playing careers end after that last snap of their senior year football season.

This can be devastating. You’ve worked hard with your team and coaches, built a bond, have lasting memories, and will surely miss it (whether you go on to play college football or not). To this day I have fond memories of ‘Friday night lights’ and the All-Star game I was fortunate enough to play in my senior year. Thankfully for me, my career did not end in HS and I went on to have a solid college kicking career as a 4-year starter. I still was sad when HS football was over.

It’s normal to have feelings of sadness, loneliness, frustration, anxiety, worry about your future, and more. Some things that might help are remembering the good times with your teammates, the fun memories of the crowd cheering, the intensity of those halftime speeches, the pre-game warmups with music blasting over the PA system, and knowing that your family, friends, or that crush you had were up in the bleachers watching you play. Think of the good times and realize you were a part of something special and that will always be a part of you. If you have them, watch videos of your games and realize you’ll always have the memories and videos to watch when you get sad and have feelings of nostalgia later on in your adult life.

For the less than 5% of high school student-athletes that do go on to make it on a college football team, realize you’re starting all over in a way. Yes, of course, you will carry over your skills and what you learned in HS to college, but it’s time to prove yourself again, make new friends, gel with the coaching staff and your teammates, and work harder than you’ve worked before.

More times than not for each position on a college football team there will be 3+ other teammates fighting for the same job. Most returnees have already proven themselves and now you’re ‘just a rookie’ and no one knows you. You’ll need to stand out to get a chance.

Ways you can stand out:

  • Hustle
  • Be on Time
  • Practice with Intensity
  • Be Reliable
  • Do the optional workouts
  • Keep your grades up
  • Respect your Coaches
  • Study & do your Homework
  • Follow through on Commitments

Whether you are moving on to college or not, I want to say congratulations on being a part of one of the greatest and most intense team sports there is. Not many people have what it takes to play HS football, and YOU did it. So pat yourself on the back and look forward to whatever new adventures and challenges your future brings you. I can assure you that HS Football will surely have a positive impact on your ability to handle adversity, overcome life challenges, and have a work ethic that is better than the next person.

Good luck in your endeavors and I hope this blog post helped put you a little more at ease and gets you excited about the future!