I have been playing sports since I was 7 years old. When I started off I played football and you can say i specialized in that for about 2 years playing at the Boys and Girls Club on Nantucket, which is where I grew up. When i reached the age of 10 I played almost everything (soccer, basketball, baseball, football). My dad thought it was best to play all of these sports to stay fit for football and stay active throughout the year. My father, Elvis Butler is a former professional of the San Francisco 49ers in which he played for 2 years until he tore his acl and had to stop. I know a lot of kids that are sons and daughters of pros don't get pressured by their parents as much as their peers, because when I think back all I heard was "josh why aren't you as big as your father" or "how come your so soft". It got to me a lot when I was a kid and i eventually grew mature enough to ignore it when I got to high school. I played football all four years of high school and my dad was hired as the defense coach, our relationship when real close playing wise because I was getting recruited to Division I schools that he got offers from when he was a kid but I had plans to play Basketball in college and thats when the trouble and the arguing started between us.
When I was a junior in high school he put a lot of pressure on me to have a successful season and he wanted me to play for myself so that I could stick out. When it comes to football its very difficult to play for yourself because its the most team oriented sport in the world to me. I played Wide Receiver and Safety, and I was a tall one at that so a lot of passes came my way and I would never get any breaks whether it was on defense or offense. My sophomore season was pretty successful, I led the league in interceptions. But my sophomore and junior season was pretty unsuccessful but I still managed to stick out.
Once basketball season came about, me and my father rarely spoke to one another. He would still make an appearance at my games after work but I just didn't feel enough of his support like I did with football. Our Basketball season was off to a great start I had been a starter on the team since I was a Sophmore and I was a hell of a leaper in the post. Sophmore year our high school held the best record in its school history (16-4).
Skipping all the way to my senior year I became a hot head, always full of anger all the time. During football season we had only 14 kids come out for the team and I thought I was the man, nobody could tell me anything. Me and my dad would always get into these arguments during practice and curse each other out, and I also was suspended from 4 games that entire season. So you can say i had quiet a few burnouts. I felt like he wanted to live something through me and still had something to prove instead of just supporting me. Every game i played that year I averaged over 100 yards receiving and set a school record for the longest reception touchdown. Yet I still felt like there was nothing for me with football and I only looked forward to Basketball. My senior season with basketball I averaged 21 points a game, I had the best times of my life with my team and they selected me as captain that year.
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