I absolutely love anything football, especially high school football: the game, the bands and the atmosphere. My husband and I raised three boys, so our home revolved around sports for many years. I always felt it was important for my children to be involved in sports, not only to keep them physically active, but to promote teamwork and good sportsmanship. Our family attended all of their games beginning with t-ball through JFL football, high school baseball, soccer, basketball and even wrestling and golf. We have twin boys who were very competitive, but they were always there to cheer on each other and their younger brother.

My youngest son played JFL football for the Washington Panther team, but he did not continue with it in high school. And though all the boys have since graduated from high school, we still attend the Washington Panther games on occasion, which brings back a flood of good memories.

I was thrilled that INB chose to “own” channel 95.5 GLO Red Zone High School Football this year. It’s awesome to hear the announcers talk about Illinois National Bank’s Red Zone, knowing everyone in the community is hearing that. It’s also nice to know that the organization I work for is helping bring the local games to people who can’t always attend. That truly is a service to many members of our community . . . and to the families whose children are members of local teams. And at the end of the day, it brings young and old together to talk about the action from week to week.

As I think about it, our sponsorship was a natural choice since high school football is a community event, and INB is all about being involved in the community. Our Peoria staff is involved with many local groups including:

Alzheimer’s Association of Central Illinois.

Community Foundation of Central Illinois

Goodwill of Central Illinois

Hult Center for Healthy Living

Junior Achievement of Central Illinois

Make A Wish Illinois

Neighborhood House

Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce

Peoria Riverfront Association

Quest for Colleges and Careers

Rotary Club of Peoria-North

I’m proud we can add local high school football to this list. It’s definitely something many, many families rally around each fall.