Playing High School Football?

Football played an essential role throughout my high school experience. It’s the way I formed my strongest friendships, it fulfilled my competitive athletic desire and was overall a large source of happiness throughout my high school years. Football truly was the highlight of these four years. So, when my little brother, Matthew, began his high school career doubting whether or not to play football I felt obligated to persuade him into playing. My strategy in convincing him was first, to explain to him all the benefits and great things football gave me in all spheres of my life. I wanted to tell him personally why football was so important to me and what I personally gained. I explained to him how football set me up socially in building strong relationships which was especially helpful as a freshman starting high school. I told him how football tested my physical limits, whipping me into great shape and setting me up to physically compete at a level I never thought possible for me. Finally, I explained to him how personally football shaped my character and helped me grow into a more driven, disciplined and selfless person. My approach for persuasion was to highlight how significant football was in three very different and important spheres of life- socially, physically and personally. Also, I wanted to focus on my personal experience because he and I are very similar people and I wanted to show him that if I reaped all these benefits, he could too. This approach proved to be very affective as he not only played football but was eager to tryout and be a part of the team. Looking back, I feel I could have been more specific with exactly how football benefited my life. For example, instead of just saying ‘I formed strong relationships with my teammates’, I should have also included specific examples such as how I met and befriended my best friend, Will, on the very first day of tryouts. My approach incorporated ethos as I know he looks up to me as his brother and I also had the experience of playing football which built my credibility around the subject. I laid out a fairly strongly logos driven argument as I logically walked through exact evidence on how his life would be improved if he played. Finally, I used pathos when I described my own personal experiences where he emotionally connected and felt intrigued to join.