FAIRIVEW, Ala. — In this interview, I talked to Fairview kicker Elijah Guyton, who will continue his academic and athletic career at the University of West Alabama.
Elijah put in a lot of hard work over his years at Fairview and made a lot of great memories on and off the field.
“Some of my greatest sports memories were in the summer during summer workouts. It was always a blast building strong relationships with your friends and your coaches, while also building up strength and just getting better as an athlete and as a person,” Guyton said. “After school practices was another great memory. There was nothing better than getting to go practice with your second family to get better and work for something that you wanted as an athlete. My senior year was full of the greatest memories. From day one of being a senior, we all wanted to make it past the second round of the playoffs and go as far as we could go, so we came into summer workouts and practice and we pushed to be great and by the end of the football year, all that hard work had paid off. The greatest memories were getting to hang out with your coaches and your friends every day to strive to reach our goals and better ourselves as athletes and as human beings.”
Guyton added,
“One of my best high school memories was definitely mini-camp. We would get there in the evening and set up our air mattresses in the break room and then go get ready for practice, then after practice, we would all get to hang out and bond together. Later in the evening, we would have team meetings and have walk throughs and learn plays; just continue to build together as a team. After all that, we would go sleep in the break room and wake up and get to have a signing day and then have a scrimmage. It was just a great memory getting to build as a team, but also getting to hang out with your friends and coaches while having a great time. My second-best memory would definitely be getting to the fourth round of the playoffs because our school has never done that before, and no one thought we could do it. Everyone thought we would lose in the first round because we weren’t big enough or because they were stronger than us, but with our “Black Mamba” mentality, we were ready to prove them wrong. Another great memory was definitely getting to play under the Friday night lights. There was nothing like walking out at home games or away games and being fired up because of the Fairview fans and ready to make them and the coach proud while on the field. There’s so many memories that I will cherish forever while being a Fairview Aggie, and I hope that in the time we had, we left an impact on the next seniors and all the kids that looked up to us.”
Elijah feels lucky to have plated for some great coaches during his four years at Fairview and learned so much from them.
“Playing for coach Redding and all of the other coaches on the team was an amazing four years. There were tons of memories and tons of lessons throughout the years,” Guyton said. “Coach Redding was always ready to put in the work and he knew that we could be great. Every day, he came into the fieldhouse pumped and ready to put in the work needed to be successful, but also make it to where I had a great time too. I learned many things from coach Redding. I learned that it wasn’t about the score at the end of the game, but it was about how hard you fought every play and how much effort you put into the game and practice. I learned many things from him and the other coaches. They always preached that it’s hard, but to never give up and strive for your goals. They taught us many life lessons and many things that I’ll remember forever. My senior year, they taught us this strong lesson, and it was “Black Mamba”. This quote and lesson helped us to be great. We weren’t always the biggest or the strongest, but we had heart and we gave it our all on the football field. All of the coaches taught us that you don’t have to be the biggest or the strongest; you just have to have determination to put in the work and play with the best of your abilities to be a great football team. The coaches taught us very many lessons and it was the best four years of high school making history as a Fairview football player while learning many things that I will use in my adulthood.”
Elijah took away so much during his time as an Aggie and will deeply miss being at Fairview.
“One of my biggest take aways that I will take with me would probably be to have a strong work ethic, because one day, I will have a family to support and they will rely on me to put in the hard work, like I did while playing football at Fairview,” Guyton said. “They always relied on me to get those extra points and to get those field goals to help us win, and to be there for my team, I had to have a strong work ethic. I practiced and trained really hard on and off the field so that when my team needed me, I could be there and perform at a high level. Another take away would be to always cherish every moment in life. High school went by fast, but when I was a freshman, I thought it was going too slow, so when I became a senior, I cherished every moment with my coaches and my teammates/friends. I got up ready to put in the work and cherished the time I had left as a senior.”
Guyton added,
“What I will miss the most will definitely be getting to hang out with great friends and coaches every day. Also, I will miss playing under the Friday night lights with the loud and energetic Aggie fans that supported us everywhere.”
Elijah gave some advice to the students that are preparing to start high school themselves in August.
“My advice to them would be to enjoy every second you have in high school with your friends and teachers, and to set goals and try to reach them by senior year. Also, get to know the people around you and make new friends.”
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