A Football Star’s Journey

Addison Burns and Ella Rosstier

   It’s October! And that means it’s football season!!! Did you know that we have our very own football star in our high school? History and criminal justice teacher, James Seifert, shared about his football history and advice he has for student athletes. Seifert played football at Nanuet High School where he was entered into their hall of fame, played through all four years of college, and coached at Nyack High School for three seasons. Although he doesn’t coach our football team anymore, he still loves to attend student sporting events.

    Seifert always wanted to play football; his father and grandfather both played football in college, and he has always enjoyed the camaraderie of sports. At first, his mom was worried about him getting hurt on the field, but he began to play in 7th grade on the middle school team. Once he got to high school, he played on the junior varsity team until he was a junior. At this time Nanuet High School varsity team had high standards and was “unscored upon.” Yet, Seifert thrived on this team and took a big role in their success. During his senior year he went through the recruitment process, and was looking for a school that had a good balance between academics and a talented football program.

    Football may have been Seifert’s main passion, but he was also extremely bright. He didn’t struggle in high school and made the most out of his football seasons. Once college came along, it became more difficult to juggle what he calls “the big three”; a social life, football, and academics. Seifert was in a fraternity that consisted of other student athletes from different teams. He grew extremely close with those in the fraternity and his football team, and to this day, is connected with the friends he made, mainly through fantasy football. 

    During his highschool football career, he played offensive line but he felt he would have played better as a tight end. Some colleges did recruit him to play tight end, even though he never played that position in highschool. Despite many rejections, Seifert was given plenty of offers. Colleges such as Cornell, Harvard, University of New Hampshire, Lafayette and Dartmouth accepted him for academics and football. Harvard and Cornell were the last two choices and Seifert chose Cornell. He liked the idea that he could go to a top academic school, and even though football wasn’t at Cornell’s highest level, there was still good competition. He liked Cornell’s coaching staff,  and they offered him the opportunity to play tight end, as opposed to Harvard, who wanted him to play offensive line. At Cornell he was a starting tight end for  all 4 years. 

    Once Seifert became a senior in college he began to get scouted by NFL teams. Playing in the NFL was a dream Seifert had since he was a little kid. He was surrounded by teammates all headed towards the NFL. However, as Seifert entered his senior year of college, he faced a back injury that cost him a full season. He came back the following year for his final season. Despite this sudden break, Seifert was able to come back and receive  looks from the NFL. Through this season, he re-injured his back and had to have surgery. This didn’t stop Seifert from experiencing pro-football. Rather, he was given the opportunity of a lifetime to go and play football in Europe. He played a season in Italy, but faced an additional injury to his knee. He knew that once his knee recovered, he would have the chance to play again. However, Seifert said, “I remember laying there after it happened, and I knew it was pretty bad…” He realized that while he had the chance to go back to America and play football, he would be risking so much more than he found worth it.

    Although this decision wasn’t easy, Seifert found his love for teaching through his separation from football. A friend suggested going into education and coaching a school’s football team. This was an idea he had never considered, but once he started teaching, he realized how much he liked being around kids and training young football players. 

    As his life moved on, Seifert drifted away from coaching and has focused more on teaching, though he believes that his coaching days are far from over. Seifert highlighted the importance of friendship and stability. Extracurricular activities and sports are a great way to put yourself out there, build relationships, and most importantly, have fun!