When you think of a football player, you picture meat-head jocks with little interest in anything that doesn’t involve sports. When you think of a high-school actor, you picture the kids who run from their football playing counterparts and avoid most if not all physical activity. However, what if you were to find the exceptions? Those who have seen and lived both sides of the spectrum. I am one of those people. I have and continue to live both lives. Even though they conflict with one another, those of us who choose to do both make it work.

For players like Josh Hymes, a starting senior defensive lineman, Jonah Pattie, a junior linebacker, and me, a starting offensive lineman and linebacker, it is hard to keep up with both passions, but it is something none of us would change for the world. Josh Hymes spoke to me on the matter. “Learning lines for theatre and plays for football can feel a lot like homework, but it is doable because we love to do both things.”  Hymes continued on when asked about how others respond to his hobbies, saying, “From the players and coaches both we get mixed reactions some are good and some are bad.” Jonah Pattie  had a very similar comment saying, “The routine of both can be very strenuous, but for those who are dedicated, we can make it go smoothly.” When asked about how people react Pattie said, “A lot of people are very weary of it, but we have a strong community backing us.”

As football players we get the butt end of many jokes about our other activity, especially since it is just something you don’t see much of in the sports community, and when our other teammates hear about our upcoming shows, they really aren’t sure how to react. Some react with uneducated jokes and banters. For most, they show us support and many times even come see us in action. Last year during JHS’s showing of Cornfield of Dreams, a student section of mostly football players came to support us as their teammates. Their loud cheering and enthusiasm even caused our principal to have to ask them to calm down.

From the stage perspective, being a football player amongst primarily non-athletes can be a certain experience. Most of our fellow actors see us as equals and are excited to bring us outsiders in. They see it as an opportunity to find out what we “jocks” are really like and to see if we have the brain capacity to keep up. Though sometimes they do feel as if we are a slight bit on the meat-head side, they welcome us into their community.

Most of them come to football games to cheer us on forming one big community. Being a part of both activities makes us feel as if we are part of one big community and not border states to some cultural standoff. Many people think we are supposed to choose which community to associate with, but we see no problem in calling ourselves part of both. We don’t have to be undercover nerds hiding behind football pads or undercover jocks hiding behind the stage curtain. We feel just as comfortable wearing our pads and climbing on stage no matter what others think. It’s who we are and who we always plan to be.