Introduction

My name is Jordan DeGiacomo and I am currently a student at Westerly High School. Everyone calls me DeGiac for short. This nickname started when I was younger and my football coaches would always call me DeGiac. So till this day everyone calls me by DeGiac. Many of the kids that are on the football team are called by there last name. I guess it’s just the nature of the game. At Westerly High School I am a sophomore in English 2. My English teacher for the first two years of high school had been Ms. Barnhart. It is a requirement for all of the high school students to complete a sophomore independent project. We need to complete this project so that when it comes to be our senior year we will be prepared for our senior project which is a big part of our grade and if we don’t pass we will not be able to get a diploma and graduate. Our sophomore independent project asks us to choose a topic that interests us and show the coming of age of the chosen topic or in other words we need to show how the topic changed over time. I am trying to talk to young high school students about the many issues in sports. When I was younger I grew up with everyone in my life watching sports listening to sports and playing sports. As a young boy I started out playing tee ball, then base ball, then basketball, and finally I learned how to play football. I started to play football at the age of seven and I was instantly attached. My cousin was the first to introduce me to pee wee football he told me that it was so much fun and being 7 years old at the time I bought it with no questions asked. Now I have played 7 years of football and going on 8. My idols were always the star players that made the big plays and were entertaining to watch. My favorite player was Jerry Rice because for one he played on my favorite team the Raiders and he is the greatest receiver of all time. After learning what the sports were about I started to learn all the other details hidden behind the action and outside the lines. This caused me to watch sportscenter everyday and listen to every detail. Stuff like Steroids, Kids my age skipping college to play in the NBA, the involvement with women in pro sports, the outrageous amount of money that they were getting paid to do something that is merely a game. Also the violence in sports. These events that were happening on the sports world are what made me what I am today. Many older people that I know think of me as a talking ESPN because I watch it and just absorb the knowledge because it is something that I enjoy doing every morning and every afternoon. The coming of age of all these events changes how we look at the game today versus 10, 20 or maybe 30 years ago. It is my goal to educate the young high school sports players on how engaging in stuff outside the lines could have serious consequences on you and the sport that you play.