Conrad Quits Football Because of [SPOILER] in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty'

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 1 of Prime Video's The Summer I Turned Pretty, as well as book spoilers for Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy on which the series is based.

First and foremost, we are #TeamConrad and nothing will ever change that; anyways, when viewers first meet Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney) in the new Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty, they quickly discover that he's behaving uncharacteristically. He's quite broody and mysterious, refusing to open up to anyone, especially Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung).

Soon enough, Belly and the others learn that not only did Conrad recently break up with his girlfriend and start smoking, but he quit football. Wait, what?! He dedicated his entire life to the sport, so why did Conrad quit football? Here's what to know.

In the Prime Video television series, Conrad admits that he quit football because he believes he'll just ride the bench the entire season. Obviously, this shocking decision is a culmination of other stressors and unfortunate issues in his life.

Although the series barely scratches the surface as to why Conrad suddenly quit football, it's hinted that the reason has something to do with his father, Adam (Tom Everett Scott).

Ahead of their big Fourth of July celebration, Conrad is under the impression that his dad will visit Cousins Beach for the day; this puts a damper on his mood. However, once the holiday rolls around and he learns his father will not be showing up, Conrad is in a good mood and smiling from ear to ear ... until his father makes a surprise appearance and ruins everything.

At one point, Conrad happily throws a football around with his brother Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) before their dad maneuvers his way into their game of catch. Conrad immediately grows rigid and abandons the area as he's not interested in interacting with his father. So, clearly there's some tension between the pair that caused Conrad to lose his passion for football.

Now, it's time for book spoilers!

In the third and final book in the trilogy, We'll Always Have Summer, Conrad officially reveals he quit football because of, you guessed it, his father. As most of us know, overbearing sports parents are incredibly harmful to young athletes; Adam really only cared about his son's success in football, which led to Conrad feeling immense pressure to always perform well on the field.

Additionally, Conrad confesses his father's frequent mistreatment of his mother, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) — including cheating on her while she underwent treatment for breast cancer — and his overall egotistical and abusive nature led Conrad to wanting to distance himself as far from his dad as possible. Thus, he quit the one thing that made him happy for so long.

Although the series has yet to address this, it's highly likely the storyline will arrive in the coming seasons.

Season 1 of The Summer I Turned Pretty is now streaming on Prime Video.