My name is Jakob Ånevall, I’m sixteen years old and I’m from Sweden. I’m here in Québec as an exchange student for a year and this is my story about football. Not the kind of football that we play in Europe, but the other kind, where you use your hands more than your feet.

Back home in Sweden there isn’t a lot of football teams so I had never tried it when I first arrived here. But the first day in my new school some of my classmates told me that I should try it and I thought it would be a great experience to tell everybody in Sweden about. I was a little nervous though because I had never tried it before.

The first practice my friends had to help me put on my equipment and I didn’t do a lot of things right, but I knew that I was going to love this sport. To me it felt more like what happened out there on the field was a war over 60 minutes. The coach is the general who decides what to do. He commands his orders to the quarterback who gives the information to the platoon. The goal of the war is to get the ball to the end zone and in the way there is the defense who is trying to stop you.

It can get really tough out there on the battlefield and that’s another part I love of the game. You get hit a lot but it hurts just a little because you have a lot of equipment. But the day after a game you’re pretty sour in your body.

As the time went by I understood more and more of the rules in the game and I learned exactly how I was supposed to run and tackle my opponents. I learned that after a touchdown the offensive team can choose if they want to pass or kick the ball. I also learned that you’re not supposed to pull an opponent in the facemask or tackle him under the waist from behind.

I have never regretted that I choose to join the football team of my school. I have so many great memories from my two months of football and I’ll never forget this experience.