Personal Statement

   My name is Donovan Jacob.  I would like to say that being in football and other curricular activities helped to give me a voice.  When I was younger, I had a bad case of social anxiety.  It was so bad that I couldn’t order my own food at restaurants until I was 14.  I didn’t have many friends because I was bad at talking to people.  My mom signed me up for a communications class in 4th grade; it didn’t help much though.  I was still, in a sense, afraid of the world.  I was afraid of what people’s impressions of me might be. It wasn’t until middle school that I just didn’t care anymore about other people and their impressions of me.  I learned to just be the best person I could be for myself.  Now I still have anxiety from time to time, but it’s not as bad as it was back then – thankfully.  

     Also, growing up I did not have a prominent father figure at home.  For this reason, I was glad school was there.  In middle school, I started to be active in school activities.  I played football and participated in theatre.  In high school, I added in wrestling.  These activities taught me things about life, and myself, that I know now.  

     Football has had a positive effect on me.  However, when I first started playing, I wasn’t convinced it ever would.  In middle school, I honestly couldn’t care less about football.  I was a lonely kid who had almost no friends.  Though I felt lonely and isolated, I also felt too overwhelmed to socialize.  I had a desire to be wanted or needed, and luckily the football coach asked me if I wanted to join the team because of my size.  I agreed, thinking this would somehow help me make more friends.  Initially, football was the worst experience of my life.  We had to run almost every day and seeing as how I was out of shape at the time, it was usually very grueling.  To top it off, I hadn’t made a friend yet because of my anxiety.  I was almost on the verge of quitting, but the quarterback on the team said I should stay.  It was probably only because I was the biggest linemen on the team, but I still felt needed.  He and I started talking more, and eventually, we became friends. Gradually, I became better friends with the whole team.  It made me so happy that I didn’t care how tired I got at football because I had friends there to enjoy and have fun with.  They were also there to share the pain with me.   

     Not only was football a fun activity that kept me busy, but it also taught me mental toughness and how to be a (young) man.  I learned to be a team player.  In all honesty, if football wasn’t there, I probably wouldn’t be the person I am now.  Being around everyone on the team, the coaches and their ideals, their ideas, and their ways of life all shaped my personality and my life.  Essentially, you could say that it helped shape me into the person I am today.  Sometimes, I honestly think about what would have happened if I had never joined the football team.  I would still be in a shell too scared to come out.   

     I also participated in theatre.  I thought it would be good for me.  I thought it would help me feel more comfortable talking to people and talking in front of others.  Overall, I thought it would help me to feel accepted, and in turn, others would befriend me.  I was in a few plays, and my reasons for joining happened to come to fruition.  I started to have more friends, and I started to feel more comfortable talking to people.    

     Then in high school, I joined the wrestling team.   Wrestling taught me that you can get back up from every problem if you just put in the effort.  It was a difficult road learning to wrestle.  Putting in the effort was problematic at times.  However, it was fun, and it was worth it.  I became pretty good at it over the years and even won a few medals.  This helped to increase my self-esteem, which consequently helped me to feel more comfortable when talking to people. 

     Being involved in football and wrestling, I had to learn to lift weights.  I worked hard at it for several years.  Even though it took discipline and hard work, I didn’t give up.  Eventually, I learned that when you strengthen the physical part of your body, the emotional and mental parts get strengthened also.  I eventually was able to squat 500 pounds.  This did wonders for my psyche.  I felt I had achieved a great accomplishment - a level of physical strength which made me feel good and aided me in feeling  better about myself.  All in all, football was a life changer for me.