Sitting on the bus after a win with adrenaline coursing through his body, the player feels a sense of pride and accomplishment in his performance about how he played. As he scrolls through TikTok he sees trash talk and hate messages. Thinking back, he now questions his ability as a player.

   Football is not only physically demanding but also mentally and financially taxing for the players.

   “There is a ton of social pressure associated with being a Stephenville Yellowjacket,” head football coach Sterling Doty said. “The mental pressure that comes from social media to meet the need to be somebody or somebody else image that we want to be.”

   When the team experiences a win the town is right behind them and the team’s ego is lifted, but a loss can have an opposite effect. Many parents played football themselves in high school and have experienced this struggle. 

   “With me being able to have those experiences that I built playing both at the high school and college level, it’s easier for me to talk to my son in regards to all the good and bad when it comes to the game of football,” parent Landon Kribbs said.

   The mental toll on the team can affect how they play, so the coaches try to help block out external influences and focus present.

   “ The anxiety goes back to how you prepare,” Doty said. “If you put them in stressful situations in practice and off season, then game day is just another day.”

   The players want to be the best that they can be, so they challenge themselves mentally and physically to their limit, but they also must have some downtime.

   “Resting allows you to build up muscle and be where you want to be to play the best you can,” football player Twiggs Montgomery said.

   Even with all this preparation, injuries still happen. 

   “It’s very important as an athlete to have a trainer,” Montgomery said. “To be able to recover from injuries or to prevent them from happening.”

   An injury is both physically and mentally draining for a player. Having to step down from your position as the rest of the team continues to play and get better will challenge the injured player mentally. 

“For (Cash) the mental standpoint of having to think about that (his team playing without him due to an injury) day in and day out throughout that period of time, was very, very rough on him,” Kribbs said.

   With a sport that is so physically demanding, the coaches have to take safety precautions for the team to prevent injuries.

   “Preparing them for a variety of different things and strengthening their ligaments, muscles, and joints to protect your bones,” Doty said. “We lift the varsity guys three days a week and our sub varsity guys four days a week.”

   Coaches have to make sure to let the players know that resting is important. Football is draining on the body, and rest can be vital in preventing injuries from worsening or in avoiding new ones altogether.

   “Goes back to trimming practice time, taking some time off,” Doty said. “We’re done on Saturday at 12:30 pm and tell them to go home and rest and recover. Eat, sleep, and take a nap and wake up and watch football, hang out with friends, and get a good night’s rest on Saturday.”

   Financially, football cannot be a burden through the school. The school district provides transportation, uniforms and food for the team, but parents have to pay for everything else.

   “We are given a budget from the school district and have two fundraisers to purchase the very best for our guys,” Doty said.

   Even though the school district pays for the main equipment needed to play, there are still  extra costs for students and their families: gloves, cleats, visors, mouth guards. The Varsity Moms pay $300 to join varsity moms. The players pay $10 for team meals and snacks throughout the football season.

   “I knew, having a football background, what some of the costs were but I was shocked about  the price of the equipment I had to buy at the time,” Kribbs said. “There was a sticker shock of what it was in my mind compared to the actual cost.” 

   The hidden cost of extra things associated with playing football can be a deterrent for students and their families.

   “I think that there are a lot of kids that would like to play and be a part of things, but they can’t because of the financial burden that it brings,” Kribbs said. “Not only do you have to pay the fee to be on the team but then parents are driving all over the place every weekend. And that’s a $160 hotel room plus the cost of fuel.”

   If you ask students, they would say that football is worth it- the relationships, the discipline, the character-building, and yes, even the cost. The coaches are a huge part of developing the players’ characters at school, and the parents build their characters at home. The players take what they learn in football and apply it to their lives.

   “You’re going to win some and lose some and I’m not talking about the school board,” Doty said. “ The discipline, the structure, the amount of confidence that they’re going to stick with the players for life.  They will appreciate and value it when they get older. It’s 48 minutes to play and a lifetime we remember.”