Crisp air on an autumn night, bleachers packed with roaring fans. Lights gleam across 100 yards of slick turf, and cleats grasp the field beneath their feet. Jumping, yelling, and cheering: it’s all a part of that high school football game experience.
Lacking a football team, conversations bouncing through the hallways at Canyon Crest Academy seem to be more about next Friday’s AP chemistry test than the Torrey Pines vs. Cathedral football game. However, students have become interested in the thrill of rooting for a professional team through fantasy football, easing their way into familiarity with the all-American sport.
It is an ongoing joke that CCA’s football team is “undefeated,” and the lack of knowledge about the sport is unbelievable. For example, Mr. Spilkin, a Canyon Crest Academy AP US history teacher, used an analogy about football, but soon was obligated to add, “But I know that analogy isn’t congruent with you guys because we don’t have football here.” It is highly likely that the average CCA student is unfamiliar with the difference between a cornerback and quarterback, which proves how unaccustomed students are with football.
With a reputation of arts and academics, it comes as no surprise that CCA students aren’t normally fond of football. However, every so often, the teenage boy glancing under his desk at his phone might be checking his fantasy football team instead of his Aeries account. Fall pep rallies are no longer dedicated to football games, and Friday nights become more about doing AP calculus homework than cheering for a local high school team. The excitement that comes along with football is not experienced at CCA, and therefore students are reaching out for a way to achieve spirit in alternative ways.
Senior Angelina Wang has never attended a high school football game in her 4 years of high school, which seems to be quite common among our students. It is appreciated that CCA events are supported, although the American tradition of football is being excluded from students’ high school experiences. The majority of CCA students have never gone to a football game, but fantasy football is providing a way to increase hype for the sport. Giving students a reason to involve themselves in following and rooting for a team is integrating athletics into our student population much more than before.
Fantasy football has evolved into a social experience; bringing together friends and family to participate in an American custom. The unification of students through fantasy football is creating bonds with each other and spiking the interest in football at our school.
The game itself is incredibly interesting and exhilarating, beginning with the draft. The stakes are high after reviewing the athletic profiles of each player, as the time has come to form and draft a winning team. As players are whittled away, some teams turn to disappointment, and others, pure excitement. For most teenagers, fantasy football serves as a pastime in a public or private league with pride on the line. More advanced players invest hundreds of dollars by raising the risk factor with money being gambled away.
The main reason behind participating in the fantasy game is simply, “Because it is fun, and we don’t have a football team.” Fantasy football has been a great way to get Canyon Crest Academy students excited about the athletic world, and is enabling many to bond over a love for the sport. As football makes its introduction into Canyon Crest Academy, students are not letting the absence of a football team prevent them from partaking in such a thrilling game.
Skylar Binney is a staff writer for Pulse Magazine.
