Frank Leebrick

January 26, 2015

ENG 112-38
I Believe
Mrs. I

Of the many words I learned from my father the one that withstood all others is integrity.
Integrity: the overall quality of self-strength and well developed, strong, moral principles; moral
uprightness. My father stood his own when it came to being both a coach and a father of five
children, ranging in the ages twenty-one to five years old. On field as an athlete, integrity meant
that I must perform my role, do what I say; follow through for my teammates, whether or not I
felt like doing so. I kept up with him on every level from football, baseball, to being the best son
I could possibly be. Truth be told, I had felt overwhelmed because this also meant that every day
I had to make choices based on how I want to live my life and be vigilant about the you have
to choices I heard each and every day.
I left football behind when I made the transition into high school, until this day it still
haunts me as one of my biggest regrets. I upheld baseball at both schools I attended; however
being at practice never felt the same. I was held to many standards when I played beneath my
dad, I was held to integrity. I had once scored numerous touchdowns, ran yards that seemed like
miles and played to make my dad happy. I came to realize that I felt as though, I let my dad
down. I wasnt the player I was before, I no longer upheld a starting position and I had left his
sport behind, the sport of football. I no longer felt I possessed the qualities my dad defined as
integrity because to him I was not strong, and felt as though I now lacked moral principles.

Integrity followed me, clinging within my heart and a lingering whisper drilled into both
ears. When I graduated and went on to get my first job I had attempted so many times to put an
end to the word, bury it in the depths of my past, and move forward to my own drum. When
college began, I thought I succeeded in putting integrity behind me, what was integrity when I
had supported myself in paying my college tuition? I no longer had the moral standards integrity
required when my parents failed to back my college decision. This question haunted me; I began
to let the questioning define me. Why exactly was it that I had worked so hard with nothing to
show, no car and a list of books for the classes that had left me empty handed. I had no financial
aid and no chance of ever receiving it after my dad had fell short of completing his taxes. I had
realized I was alone; I was doing life alone with no support in my effort to pave a future for
myself.
It was then that even when I found myself in a state of being solitude, that my fathers
voice steered me back to a player on the field, forcing me to do the hard work and performing to
my best ability on the field. As determined as I was to study, to get my degree and to do it all
alone I realized theres so much more to the integrity that was strictly required on the football
field or at a weekly baseball practice. The lessons my dad taught me in sports could easily be
applied to so many real life circumstances I was faced with. My father preached integrity and I
every time I tried to run from the word, or bury it in the words that filled my text books, he was
right. When I realized this it was for the first time in a long time that I believed in myself, that I
accepted the circumstances I was left to deal with on my own.
My dad brought me to realize a single belief, sports brought me to a single belief and
finally doing life on my own brought me to a single belief. I believe that integrity is the driving

force when moving forward in life. And learning the person you become when your doing life on
your own.