Little Big Man

[JC QUICK]

Introduction


"Elway can run... inside the ten, head first... he dives inside the five yard line...My goodness you want to tell me that 37-year old man doesn't want to win this game, that's sacrifice."
From the first day I watched the John Elway 'Super Bowl Leap" I knew who I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a quarterback, but at the start of my freshman year in high school, my dream was dieing.
My height at about this time was five-foot three.
My weight? A whopping ninety pounds.
All of my life, I was known as the kid who loved football. I was the five-year old who had a subscription to Sports Illustrated. But when high school came rolling around, I didn't know how hard I would need to work. It was the beginning of my Freshman football year in High School, and I showed up for mini-camp at quarterback. The other players looked at me like I was crazy, and when the pressure got too much, I quit. My excuses were that I wasn't big enough, and I wanted to focus on making the baseball team in the spring but in reality, I didn't want to work hard. And, unfortunately, my parents never forced me to stay. Which now I wish they did.
I'm a senior in high school now, and I have learned that it was one of the dumbest decisions in my life to quit freshman year.
Although I do want to start at my freshman year of high school, because it was definitely the turning point of my life, and it was when I was forced to grow up pretty quickly. At the end of my 8th grade year though, I felt that I could be anything that I wanted to be. I always dreamt that when I would enter high school, I would be a 4.0 student and an incredible athlete with all these girlfriends and stuff like that. But I didn’t know at the time how hard I would need to work just to get there.
Growing up in Colorado, I played a lot of football, and it was my life. I played mostly in backyards and with my friends, and I was usually the best player, but I was also usually the smallest. I never got to play Pop Warner or anything like that because my mom thought I was too small and I would probably get hurt. I don’t live with her anymore, and I never see her anymore, but I really wish she would have put me in some kind of pee-wee football league. I mean seriously, those 7 and 8 year olds couldn’t have been THAT much bigger than me, but at the same time, I don’t remember how small I really was.
I never really cared how small I was, and I still don’t care. I guess God wanted me to be this small, and I have to deal with it. But sometimes I feel like I am the only person in this world that struggles with height and weight. They’re not many kids that are small like me in my school, and if they are, they’re not playing football. But I hate it when I start to feel sorry for myself, and when I feel that way, I just wish somebody would come by and slap me in the face, and scream, “NO MORE EXCUSES!”
I can say though, that my high school career has really tested me in what I want to do with my life, so lets start there, on a hot summer day in August of 2007.

---

[hockeyplaya2724]

Great start, I can't wait to see were you go with this

[SecretAgentManCU]

Excellent writing, i'm really looking forward to the next bit.

[JC QUICK]

High School Stats

Receiving

Receiving	Number	Yards	Avg.	Long	TD	Yards/G
2010	2	23	11.5	12	0	11.5

[JC QUICK]

College Stats

Dodge City Community College Conquistadors


Receiving

Receiving	Number	Yards	Avg.	Long	TD	Yards/G
2013	54	879	16.2	49	4	79.9

[JC QUICK]

National Football League Stats

[JC QUICK]

Chapter 3: Baseball's Life (I think)
So there I sat, watching my new found love - baseball. All day and every day, all I did was watch and play baseball. I wanted nothing to do with football. I wouldn't admit it, but deep down I knew if I watched some football I would miss it, and I would want to go back with the team, but it was too late. I went to school, got my athletic fee refunded and my football days were done.

I also had a new idol. Troy Tulowitzki, shortstop of the Colorado Rockies. He played the position I wanted to play. And the Rockies were pushing for a playoff spot for the first time since 1995, and Tulo was their star rookie. I studied everything he did, from the way he threw the ball to his batting stance.

I always had baseball as my second sport, but It was now my first sport. I couldn't wait until baseball tryouts came up. They were in February, and I was ready. The only problem I had never actually played organized baseball before, but I practiced constantly, and I knew how to catch a ball, and I had a good arm from my quarterback days, so I felt it would be a breeze to make the freshman baseball team, but I would later learn, that was not the case.

[JC QUICK]

Chapter 4: Frosh Year: Baseball Tryouts
I was so excited. I could not sleep the night before baseball tryouts. Now I was only going to tryout for the freshman team at my school, but I was still excited. I couldn't concentrate during algebra class, even though I never did concentrate in that class. It was a three-day tryout and I wanted to make a big impression on my first day.

It was a hot day in February. There was hardly a cloud in the sky. I walked out of the locker room, reminding myself that I was a freshman. I walked out in a t-shirt, a baseball cap and sweats. I was one of three kids who did not have a single pair of baseball pants. Remember now, I had never played 'real' baseball before, so I had never put on baseball pants in my life, but I looked really stupid in sweat pants. The day got worse from there though. I looked over and I saw the coach walking my way as I was talking to my friend Chris.

"James, you don't have all your paperwork in. Since the athletic office doesn't have any physical information, you cannot participate in the tryout today. I'm sorry but your gonna have to leave."

And I did. I missed out on a lot of baseball information, and my reputation was fried. It was not a good way to start off, but I still had two more days to show the coach what I could do.

The next day, the whole baseball team were required to run the "stairway to heaven." It was about a half-mile run to this mountain, where once you got to the mountain, you would have to run up these set up stairs that looked like they were going to heaven, which is where the name came from. It was about 120 stairs you would have to run up, and it was a brutal run for me. I finished just about last, because at the time, I hated running. It was not one of my hobbies. So after a tiring run, I finally got to play some baseball. I headed to shorstop, where we were hit numerous ground balls, and we had to throw it to the first baseman.

Although I thought I was doing good, another freshman was doing better. His name was Jovain, and he was good. He fielded the ball with ease, and he had a tremendous arm. Deep down, I was extremely jealous of him, and I hated him a little bit.

Day three, was a short day, because it was the day of the cuts, and it was the last time I would be able to show my abilities. We started the day off with batting practice, and with my 5-4, 107 lb. frame, I noticed I could hardly hit the ball out of the infield. Finally, the coached told us to wait in the locker room, before they would call our name into their office, and tell us if we made the team or not.

If you made the team, they gave you an envelope about the upcoming practices. I noticed a lot of kids walking out of the office with envelopes, and some kids, who were cut, did not get an envelope. Finally, after my friends Ethan, and Chris were both cut, I finally heard my name called.

"James, come in and sit down." I sat down as the nerves began to swell up in my stomach. I felt sweat at the top of my forehead, and I felt a little dizzy. There were three coaches standing in front of me. One was the head varsity coach, the other the JV coach, and the third was the freshman coach.

"Now James, your talented kid. You can catch a ground ball with ease. But your arm strength and your bat speed is an issue."

The nerves were even more intense. I was really dizzy, and I could hardly concentrate on what the coach was saying. I was just waiting for the words to come out to tell me if I made the team or not.

"Your a very small guy, and so I don't think this year is the time for you to play baseball for us. You just need to work on your arm strength and you need to get stronger if you want to play for us."

My heart sunk and it felt like it weighed 300lbs. I was sent home with no envelope, and crushed dreams.