Jack Brennan '16 Recruiting Profile

"You have to play for the name on the front of your jersey and not the name on the back". -Tommy Lasorda. The lessons I have grasped from failure provide the structural basis to my later success. Throughout my years of playing football, there has been a multitude of life lessons I had not realized until I thought to myself, "why am I playing, and for what reason." I feel now that I have matured both physically and mentally to fully understand the deeper meaning failure conveys through my participation in football. Football establishes leadership qualities and sets up a solid foundation for work ethic. A strong leader has more than respect behind him. Becoming a strong leader involves having humility. It takes a certain individual to put their self at a lower importance for something greater. Being modest and leading those who want to work towards success. Most importantly, leadership enables the unifying of one another to work for each other as a team. As a team people are willing to work together towards one common goal, under one leader. Work ethic is the principle that hard work is intrinsically virtuous or worthy of reward. Like my football team, we all strove for one goal, to play in the state championship game. All season we busted our tails on and off the field. We all wanted a taste of victory and would do almost anything to get there. Although we lost in the first round of playoffs by one point, I realized there is more to life than winning. I realized through failure, not all things are given to you. You need to work for what you want, go the extra mile and strive for something bigger than yourself. Alongside work ethic and leadership, adversity played a huge part in football and in my life. During your journey there is going to be misfortune. Overcoming your difficulties is the key that leads to success. Football taught me to keep working hard because there is always someone out there working just as hard as you, wanting the same thing as you, possibly even harder. There will always be competition, like the team that beat us, maybe they worked harder and wanted to win more than we did. That defeat drives me to work just as hard this year. My passion for the game also gives me motivation to work. I recognize that when you truly bask in what you are doing, working towards your goal becomes easier. Now, I know failing is not enjoyable but ponder what the end result lays. This makes working hard for what I want enjoyable and helps me to look towards the positives. Especially when I feel like giving up, I can just remember why I started. Failure is an opportunity to learn and grow as a person. "Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out." - Benjamin Franklin. This quote exemplifies how we should never coward away from reaching out for something. Everyone fails at one point in their life, which is part of being human. But most importantly it is how you react and bounce back. That separates the winners from the losers, and the successful from the unsuccessful. Ultimately if you do happen to fail you can learn from your mistakes and move on. That is the most crucial part, bouncing back and trying again and again. That is the key ingredient to success. Without it we are nothing and do not after all have a purpose.