Austin M

“My dad put me in flag football. It was just the thought of hitting somebody or putting those pads on that got me really excited to be like the Dallas Cowboys. Whenever I strapped up, I just fell in love. I did make it onto varsity my junior year, but I quit after junior year. I played football to play football. I didn’t play to be on the sidelines, be a benchwarmer. My freshman year was when I started lifting weights. Before then in middle school, they didn’t really allow us to lift that much. When I got my new school in Austin, there were some very big and strong guys, and I was puny [compared to them]. So I worked my butt off. I’ve seen some progress in my shape and body, and I’ve actually had comments on it. I started seeing some muscle definition, and it really got me hooked. It made me realize that I’m making progress; I’m doing something; I’ve achieved something. And it just clicked in my head. My dad’s a big influence in my life. Most things I do are based on what he’s taught me. I’m a lot like him today, and I’m happy about that. He was a coach for my peewee team, and that motivated me to do better. I always wanted to make him proud. I always want to do the best that I can for him. I just like to make my family proud. I don’t want to disappoint him at all. He grew up poor, so he didn’t get to go to college. It’s good enough to him that I’m graduating. It makes it better that I’m going to college because he never had the chance.”