Saturday is football game day for my family. Whether it was through me, my brother, or UT, Saturdays are revolved around football.

When I was younger, I was a cheerleader for NZA Cougars (a youth football league). Saturday mornings included waking up, putting on the uniform, and driving to wherever the game was that weekend. Regardless of whether I cheered at that game or not we had to attend all the games from Rookie to Senior.

Right after I left NZA, my brother was old enough to play. So Saturdays still consisted of all day at the field, except this time I was watching on the sidelines from the crowd, not the track. Occasionally, I got to take a break and sleep in when I ventured off to my dad's for the weekend.

NZA's goals were to promote sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage, and respect through the sports football and cheer. The NZA teams were a family, growing together both physically and mentally.

This ritual of Saturday football games continued until this year, when my brother entered seventh grade. He now plays for his school football team and those are on Tuesday nights. Now, Saturday football games are just me and my friends... HOOK EM!

sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage, respect