I have been playing football for as long as I can remember; since I could walk. Now, at 17 years-old, reflecting on my path through football, I can see it has been a long rollercoaster with dents in my motivation but never a shatter in my passion.

We, as youth, are always reminded of how important constant academic success is to succeed in the future. The most popular saying we are all reminded of as athletes is “You are a student athlete, student comes first.” I used to find this statement very frustrating because I did not agree with it.

Now, granted, I was younger, more naive, but also more passionate. All I wanted to do was play football and go professional. I was not motivated for academic success and was focused only on my athletic passion. I saw myself not as a ‘student athlete,’ but as an ‘athletic student.’ I miss these days of naivety, a lesser regard for academic success, and pure passion.

Over the years, as I grew older, I changed. Let me rephrase, I was forced to change. I had to change. Cruising through school and only playing football was not an option anymore “if I wanted to have a bright future”. I was often told statements like these in more versions than I can remember, always with the added “If I wanted to succeed,” or “If I wanted to have financial freedom.”

These statements angered me and confused me. Were these people not aware of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., and all the other millionaire football stars? Later, I finally understood. They were ‘stars,’ their level and lifestyle seemingly unattainable and far too out of reach, as a star is perceived to be.

I did not believe this. I knew with focus, dedication and time, anything was possible. Focus. Dedication. Time. This was the issue. I was told I had to put these traits into my academics in order to succeed. It was quite paradoxical because focus, dedication, and time can be used in many senses; but I was told these three were only for my education. They could not be used for anything else until I was out of university with a stable job.

The journey of an ‘athletic student’

The pressure for academic success started when I entered middle school, in the 6th grade. I was told my middle school years would affect my high school years and my high school years would affect my university years and my university years would affect any future employment opportunities. This was quite daunting to hear as it was conveyed that in order for me to have success in the future, everything matters now. When I say ‘everything matters,’ the ‘everything’ really means ‘my academics and grades.’

During my middle school years, I battled against this pressure and expectation. My passion for football was the sun soaking up the puddles of academic pressure and it felt like I was winning this battle. However, all of this came to an end in high school. The last four years before higher education, and adulthood.

“This is the time to focus. This is the time to grind. This is the time where perfect grades are essential.” I was told this throughout my high school years. Again, I was confused. Wasn’t the time for all this in 6th grade, then 7th, and ever since middle school? It seemed I was told in different ways and over time how my education was always the most important.

I found the crossover between athletics and academics to be very illogical and in a young boy’s terms, unfair. How was it possible that we students who played on the sport teams were faced with great pressures to excel academically before anything else, yet the students not participating in sport or only focused on academics were never told to join an athletic club? There is an imbalance in the expectations for ‘athletic students’ and other students, again, because academics has been deemed the most important factor in our development and future.

Pressure is needed but to a certain extent and in certain environments. Unhealthy pressure regarding external activities or situations has no place near passion. Pressure; intense, unhealthy, academic pressure will be the final hole that sinks the vessel of passion.

Passion

The Merriam-Webster definition for passion is ‘a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.’

I think of it in a different way. Think of it like this. Passion. Raw passion is the unrefined, unexplainable, addiction to something. You cannot live without it. You cannot go a week, a day, an hour without it. It’s not just an intense desire. It’s an intense love. Something that is not desired, wanted or liked. It is a part of you. It is why you are you. It is everything. That is passion.

A Brazilian friend of mine put his passion for football perfectly. He said football is not a thing he does, his favourite sport, something he’s good at. No. Football is a part of him. It’s inside of him. He lives for football. Every time he touches the ball it feels as if he has just touched a football for the first time and falls in love all over again. This is passion.

Football is not just my passion; it is my life. Football is why I wake up at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning with a smile on my face. Football is why I go to sleep at midnight on Wednesdays with a smile on my face. It’s football. It’s my passion.

So go and lead your passion.

“Football is life.” (Dani Rojas – Ted Lasso)