"The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers." I strongly believe that everyone has an American dream but however, I think it depends on your work ethic and how bad you want to achieve something. The time period of 2010 to present has a different American dream than years before. Maybe a more expensive and more judging American dream.
The American dream today is based on what people value the most and always having the best in everything. For example, people always strive to have the best car, the best house and to make the most money. I strongly agree that the American Dream is evolved around money because people think without money you don't have anything.  Something that people value a lot in America today is sports. My recent blog post have been on football, a very popular sport today. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday you will see that 73% of Americans spend their free time watching some sort of sports. Football is the most common sport played among male high school students.
The American dream can be a lot of different ideas to many different people. However, I think in todays time the American dream is what people value the most and to have the best in everything. In order to achieve this dream you have to be determined and have a good work ethic.

In December of 2015, Ethan was invited to play in the Best of the Bluegrass All-Star game for football. Ethan did not get the playing time he was expecting but he was very happy with getting the opportunity to be out there. I was heart broken from him because I knew that it bothered him not getting the playing time he wanted. About a month later he received two phone calls; one from Union college and Georgetown. He recently went on a college visit to Union where they offered him a scholarship to play football for them. Ethan was very surprised and he wanted to sign right then. Ethan has several different colleges looking at him so he decided that it would be best to wait and see the other offers he receives. I was very excited that he was offered a scholarship because I love watching him play football. He goes on another college visit next week to see what Georgetown has to offer.

Ethan recently got invited to play in the East West All Star game for football. He will be playing December 13 at St. X high school.   He was picked to be one of the four wide receivers to play. Ethan was the only kid picked from this area. He was very excited to be able to play again but this time in front of more college recruiters. I am also very excited to watch him play again and hopefully getting an opportunity to further his career. My family is very excited that Ethan gets this opportunity to come back to do what he loves. When Ethan had back surgery he thought that it was the end of him playing sports for good, but he dedicated his time to getting better and now he has multiple colleges looking at him for football and some for baseball.

During Ethan's senior year he has been followed my several colleges the past couple of months. Ethan has a very strong interest in Eastern Kentucky University, where he recently got accepted, and he hopes to be able to play football for them one day. EKU sports director is meeting with Ethan to watch highlight films. Lindsey Wilson has also looked at him for football and baseball. Ethan plans to go into the Wildlife program so he will be juggling a lot with sports and college work.

High school athletes suffer about 2 million injuries every year, resulting in 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations. The most commonly injured body parts are the knee, shoulder and hand/finger. The most common diagnoses were fracture, incomplete ligament sprain and complete ligament sprain. 7 out 10 of sever injuries were the result of player-player contact, 3 out of 10 of severe injuries occurred to the player being tackled and 1 out of 5 were to player making the tackle. Lower back or overall back pain is a common complaint in football due to overuse. Often a leading cause is overtraining syndrome. This is when a player trains beyond the ability for the body to easily recover. UW medicine has provided helpful tips to prevent injuries, they are listed below.

Perform proper warm-up and cool-down routines

Consistently incorporate strength training and stretching

Hydrate adequately to maintain health and minimize cramps

Stay active during summer break to prepare for return to sports in the fall

Wear properly fitted protective equipment, such as a helmet, pads, and mouth guard

Tackle with the head up and do not lead with the helmet

Have a pre-season health and wellness evaluation

Speak with a sports medicine professional or athletic trainer if you have any concerns about football injuries or football injury prevention strategies

Ethan battled through two life threatening back surgeries that has made him a stronger person in everyday life. Due to all of the hard work and physical therapy, Ethan was able to return to doing what he loves. Deer hunting, playing football, basketball and baseball was a majority of Ethan's time. He was able to come back just in time for football and with all his hard work and dedication, he was named to most explosive kick off return in the state. Ethan was very proud to see his accomplishment and it led him to due bigger and better things. He has been scouted by several colleges to play college football. Some of those colleges being, Eastern Kentucky University, Lindsey Wilson, Thomas More and Georgetown. The college that has got his attention is Eastern Kentucky because he recently got accepted into that college and now the football coach is coming to watch highlights from his football season. This had me a very proud sister. I was so glad that Ethan didn't let this injury affect his future. This has taught me a lot as a teenager, that no matter how tough things get that there is always a way to fix it although it may take time. "You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have."

Ethan had his second surgery about six months later. This was the surgery that could put him out for good if he was not careful. When Ethan found out that he was going to need a second surgery, he began to really worry about his future. He was very emotional for a couple months because this year being his senior year he wanted to be in the spot light. The same procedure was to happen again. the doctor was going to cut more off his disc to remove the part pressing on the spine. It was time for his surgery and it was more nerve wrecking than before. The surgery went well and Ethan was out of the hospital a couple hours after. This time Ethan did what he was supposed to do and he went to physical therapy three days a week for six weeks. He was still restricted from deer hunting and any physical activity till his back was strong enough. After a long month or so he was starting to run and do physical activity at football practice. Due to Ethan's hard work, the doctor released him to play football and all sports but told him to take it slow. I was so happy to finally hear good news and that Ethan was going to return doing what he loves. I was excited that I get to watch him every Friday night and be apart of his senior year.