Lanette Photography

Elijah Oppenhuizen believes that trying new things is the best way to fully experience his life.

While he was usually a second-string player, senior Elijah Oppenhuizen was fortunate enough to play three out of four quarters of the varsity football game against Wyoming High School this past season. That night, Elijah successfully got his very first tackle of the season. Hearing the cheers coming from the student section and his name coming from the press box is what made this memory so valuable.

Entering his sophomore year, football was a new activity for Elijah. The only athletic experience he previously had was for his elementary baseball and soccer teams; however, they did not stick with him like football has. His sole purpose of joining the football team was to show himself and others that he could accomplish hard things.

“I joined football sort of as a statement because I wanted to prove to people and prove to myself that I could do things I never thought I could do,” Elijah said. “I’m not much of an athletic person, but I am an athlete because I chose to put the work in. I just have to do that extra mile, which I am proud of.”

Throughout the hours of grueling practice that Elijah and his teammates endured, he began to notice not only physical changes but mental and social ones as well. He was growing muscle, strengthening his mindset, and building relationships with all of his teammates—some of whom were people he never believed he would become so close with.

During high school, Elijah has noticed that trying new things will always have a positive impact on himself. Meeting new people only opens up doors for new connections that a person never believed they would have. Knowing this, it has only motivated him to test a multitude of different activities, including joining FHC’s Burger Club.

“I joined [FHC] Burger Club, which was strange, because it wasn’t normally the people I’d hang out with,” Elijah said. “But someone asked me to join it, so [I said], ‘Sure, why not? Give it a chance.’ And then there were pretty cool people, so that was fun.”

Additionally, Elijah has recently picked up two new individual hobbies: reading and playing the guitar. The interest in reading stemmed from his dislike of reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children as a group in his Literature and Cinema class. Elijah’s teacher gave him the option to pick a different book from the library to read, leading him to begin The Hunger Games series.

“[Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children] is not a bad book, but I didn’t like reading it in front of the whole class for half an hour,” Elijah said. “So I went to the library and I got the first book of The Hunger Games, because I never read that, and [afterwards], I could sit down and read it for 40 minutes straight. I could do that before [I started reading The Hunger Games], but I never really put time into wanting to find a good book to read.”

After finishing reading the first book of the series, Elijah watched The Hunger Games that went along with it. He found it interesting to see everything he read in the book on the screen in action. He plans to complete the trilogy, both in book and film format.

The second hobby Elijah has found himself exploring has often left a hindering feeling, due to the immense amount of practice that it takes to play the guitar. Alongside this, his older brother—FHC alumnus Noah Oppenhuizen—began to learn guitar around the same time, and he seemed to progress a little quicker than Elijah did. But this separation did not stop Elijah from playing the guitar—in some ways, it helped him because he could ask Noah any questions he had about the instrument.

“[Noah] just picked up the guitar, and he, over time, became very good at it, just from listening to what he was doing,” Elijah said. “I can’t do that. I’m not that musically gifted like he is. So it was a little discouraging, I’d say, seeing him learn it and pick it up faster than I was. But it was helpful having someone to help me out when I was learning it. It is very rewarding when you can pick it up and just know how to play [the guitar] because you’re practicing it so much.”

Because his football season ended without any additional playoff games, Elijah has been searching for—and has found—new outlets to fill his time. He believes that any person should have no fear in trying new things because a person will never know where it will take them. Without football, Elijah’s life would be extremely different.

“I think any sport or any instrument or anything in general [is] good to put yourself out there [with],” Elijah said. “For me, because I’m not in band or choir, I think sports are good for me because it gave me a community that I didn’t have otherwise, and it made me be more physical. It made me happier having a schedule with friends that I could do things with, [making] me get out of the house, which is a big thing, because after COVID, it was a weird adjustment with getting out of the house more frequently. So football helped force me out.”

As he begins to transition from high school to college life, the lasting impact that football has created for Elijah will never leave him. The positive mindset he gained from his coach’s influence has truly altered the way Elijah wants to experience his own life. He believes that to put yourself out there and to try new things is essential to living a fulfilling life. Without FHC football, this understanding of himself would not be possible.

“Football has significantly helped me become who I am, mainly because the connection I’ve made with my coach has taught me to be more disciplined when it comes to being consistent and making sure you go out there and give it your all every time,” Elijah said. “He made a big deal about that because, for us, we knew our season was going to end early because our team didn’t make [the] playoffs, so he made a big deal about giving it your all. So, I think I’m going to move forward in life trying to give everything my all because [that’s what] I’ve learned from [football].”