Are You Ready For Some Football???

we had the opportunity to do something cool today- cheer on my nephew Jacob! Jacob loves football. he is currently a high school junior and plays QB. 

(i left my germans at home to sleep off the jet lag. but i do wish brian had been with us, since this is something he would have loved to see!)

jake and 5 of his teammates attended the ESPN/NIKE Sparq Combine today at Laney College in Oakland.  because it is a 3.5 drive from fresno, my sister and her family did not come up for the event. luckily, i live only 45 minutes away and was happy to be able to go in their place! 

however, i don't know much about high school football- or what a combine is even! lessons learned:

there are lots of combines (day long events where kids get to compete in solo drills and earn a rating based upon their performance) but the ESPN/NIKE one is the largest, nationwide combine. there are only 14 held nationwide. how lucky jake was to have one just 3.5 hours away! (many kids- and parents- had to fly in from across america today to compete! i heard kids being announced from colorado and kansas!)

the combine was from 9am-4pm. once registered, it takes the kids approximately 1 hour to complete their 5 events, plus warm-up. we got there at 10am and i was surprised to find jake in line still to register. they got held up on the highway in accident traffic and arrived later than expected! 

but we grabbed him out of line, snapped a quick pic, gave him a banana and Gatorade and told him we'd see him in there- eventually!

jake and his two biggest fans-

 while jake waited in line, we went in and got acclimated with the event. i had no idea that there was a high school division of ESPN-

 i took this picture and posted it on jake's FB page so he will always remember-

there were over 1400 kids competing today! boys like this one below, who have the bodies of grown men! (or at least bodies that grown men want!)

  

while waiting for jake, i saw/heard a boy get weighed/measured at 6'9" and 341lbs! AS A HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR! what?!?!?

several times this morning i was awe struck by these boys. all have trained hard. most want scholarships. some NEED scholarships for a better life. all want to be somebody, the next NFL superstar. they are all deserving. i quietly wondered if the next payton manning was somewhere out there today?? had he just walked by me? who knows where they will end up...

it was so hard to find jacob in this crowd-

 at one point my sister texted and asked "do you see him?" i sent her the picture below and wrote "no. do you?"

 FINALLY at 12:15 he entered to compete! after standing in line, in the hot sun for 2.5 hours! (i would have just gone home for a nap...)

 getting their Gatorade and shirts to compete in-

i had to take a picture to text to ambra, proving that i had found him! after only 15 minutes, can't you tell he had had enough with my being his own personal paparazzi? 

 jake (in the shorts with a white stripe) and friends getting ready to compete-

 because they were all in matching shirts, it would have been convenient if jake was wearing lets say maybe fuchsia shorts?! next time! (i'll even buy em!)

look at this kid's socks- that's what I'm talking about! his mom knew it was him from even the highest row of the bleachers-

meanwhile, on the bleachers- my kids are having a jumping contest of their own!

 and on the way to for a bathroom break, we noticed this beautiful bougainvillea (i think!) and couldn't resist a picture-

 event #4- throwing a weighted basketball, while on your knees. (I'm SURE there is a better name than that!) here he is, kneeling with ball in hands-

 see him back there? still kneeling, getting ready to throw-

 now here he has just thrown, ball in air- roof line of the building behind him- and he is laying out flat on the ground now-

 (this was his best event, throwing the ball 34 ft! he beat out 83% of the other boys!)

while planning for this day trip... in my mind, i really just thought we'd show up (with perfect timing!), watch jake compete for 1 hour and be on the road home again. since we waited 2+ hours to even see him register, that wasn't the case. thankfully- i was prepared! (everyone knows i pack WAY too much, right? sometimes it pays off...) snacks, drinks, blow up ball (from the leadbetter's in 2010!), bubbles, sunscreen (remembered to spray the kids. me? not so much...) and iPhones! just in case.

after 3 hours, i gave in. tate went straight to playing games. but macy- she took pictures of jake-

or whatever boy she thought looked like jake!


now back to jake- here he is in the crowd, just waiting on the next event and showing us his score card with his ratings-

 checking out the competition in the vertical jump-

 this 1/2 white boy CAN jump! jacob jumped 30.3 inches- his 3rd best event, beating 74% of the other competitors-

 because this is an event for juniors, to know how well they rank among other juniors nationwide (think scholarship!), jacob had NO idea what to expect or how to train for this combine. there were approximately 1400 boys competing today. jacob's goal was to just be in the top 50%. he did way better than that-

i was so proud to be there today as his aunt! he is a good kid, great student and amazing athlete. i look forward to attending many of his football games this upcoming season as he plays QB his senior year. and then i hope to be able to watch him play some college ball in 2013 too! a division 2 school, maybe? (fingers crossed!)