We often consider professional athletes lucky because they make a lot of money doing something that we all did as kids. However, the truth is that behind every multimillion-dollar contract, fancy car, and big house, there are countless sleepless nights, trepidation, injuries, and persistence to endure in pursuit of a dream.
Our current article will tell you three stories of young athletes who pushed beyond the limitations of their surroundings, social establishment, and human fragility. We’ll discuss how college football became a stepping stone towards the achievement of lifelong dreams and expectations of thee talented individuals who did more than most of us would even dare to try.
If you’re looking for inspiration to help you push forward through the obstacles and challenges that life placed before you, these tales should make you realize that the impossible is nothing.
Michael Oher
The story of Michael Oher starts in Mississippi. His mother, Denise Oher, had another 11 children and suffered from severe alcohol and crack addiction which made her unable to raise her kids. His father spent more time in and out of prison than with Michael and was ultimately killed in prison one day, which led to Michael’s period of moving from one foster family to another.
After one of his foster parents’ suggestions to sign up for Briarcrest Christian School, Michael’s life begins to change as he started focusing on high school football. Even in those early days, football experts regarded him as a highly talented player with a prospect for a professional football career.
However, his low grades were blocking his hope of being accepted into an NCAA program. Therefore, Michael started working on fixing his grades through online courses and finally reached a GPA that gave him a fighting chance.
After fixing his grades and enrolling in the University of Mississippi, Michael Oher started building a fruitful college football career. It’s not very easy to start your football career at university with a bunch of homework and dissertation writing on your head.
It is not surprising that many athletes in the USA and Canada use a variety of modern tools, such as grammar checking or plagiarism checking software which really make their work easier. However, Michael managed to earn his criminal justice degree and string together 13 college football awards and titles.
The young orphan with nobody to lead him away from the gutter was able to build himself up through high school and college with nothing but his own talents, finally got his big break when he was drafted by the Ravens in 2009.
Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. grew up as the fourth child in a catholic family in San Mateo, California. Since his early days, Tom was fascinated with Joe Montana and considered him a role model which inspired him to attend the University of San Mateo football camp, where he learned the basics of the game from none other than Tony Graziani. These early contacts with professional football marked young Brady for life because his pursuit was not based on monetary reasons, which we’ll see later on, but rather on his pure love for the game.
In high school, Brady was better known as an amazing left-handed catcher, which made a lot of MLB scouts take an interest in him. In 1995, Brady was drafted by Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the draft.
A Canadian pro football team regarded Brady as an All-Star potential and offered him a lucrative contract parallel to those offered to players drafted in much earlier rounds. However, even with all that money offered to him, Brady was determined to dedicate his life to football and rejected the contract.
The University of Michigan recruited Tom Brady, but he didn’t get too much playing time which made his question his future with the Wolverines. Far from home, watching his dreams closing in front of his eyes, Tom even reached out for professional help to cope with anxiety and general frustration with his life.
It’s not unusual for struggling players to seek out alternative ways in order to improve their athletic and academic performance – many use different kinds of tools to write their essays or dissertations since studying in college it is difficult for them to combine study and sports at the same time.
And to be honest, even teachers try to be more indulgent towards the guys involved in sports. But if you really want to surprise your teacher, but you are short on time, try the plagiarism checker tool at edubirdie, which helps many US and Canadian students with plagiarism checking.
With the help of sports psychologist and assistant AD Greg Harden, Tom Brady managed to win his place on the team and improve his performance, becoming a regular in the years to come and even a team captain.
In those two seasons, Brady entered the Wolverine’s history books with 710 attempts and 442 completions. This was enough for New England Patriots to draft Tom Brady and keep him as one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL for 20 consecutive seasons.
Jay Bromley
Born in Jamaica, New York, Jay had a troublesome childhood. His mother was addicted to crack and her condition caused even JB to be born with the same addiction. His father was imprisoned for killing one of his prostitutes, which lead to Jay’s adoption by his aunt and uncle when he was just a couple of months old baby.
As a teenager, Jayson Bromley played football at Flushing High School where he showed substantial talent. As a senior he made 60 tackles and 12 sacks. However, as his senior year was reaching the finish line, there were no offers by any college team. The absence of recruitment opportunities did not demotivate Bromley, he kept on playing in hope of catching the attention of at least one scout.
According to New York Post, scouts thought of Bromley as too slow, they were unimpressed by his technique, and some of them even mentioned that his build was not athletic enough to make him an asset worth obtaining.
Nevertheless, after a brilliant performance at Outback Steakhouse Empire Challenge, Jay Bromley was declared MVP and a few days later an offer finally appeared. Syracuse University approached him, and Jay took his chance.
Playing for Syracuse Orange, the underdog from Queens achieved 121 tackles and 14 sacks and got himself named a third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection. After long and hard work on improvement of his athletic abilities, speed, and technique, Bromley got drafted by the New York Giants, which marked the start of his professional football career.
Conclusion
In pursuit of a professional football career, the choice of college plays a vital part in your development and recruitment chances. However, in order to reach your full potential and achieve your goals, you need to overcome numerous obstacles and beat the ultimate opponents-yourself. Let these three success stories serve as an inspiration when everything around you seems to fall apart and the future you hope for seems unreachable.
Author Bio
“Jeremy Raynolds is a freelance content writer engaged with several online publishers and content writing services. His work is based on deep research and authentic information at Velvet Jobs. As a writer, Jeremy tends to bring inspirational stories that raise interest and inform the readers.”