I Ain't No Dumb Athlete

By Coy B. Jackson

I Ain't No Dumb Athlete by Coy B. Jackson, tells his redemptive story of success. The author uses his favorite movie, Higher Learning, to relay his journey from childhood to manhood and the lessons he learned along the way. Coy shares how he fought back from a catastrophic injury to achieve success through healthy living and how his readers can also reach their health goals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: I AM Productions, LLC
• Release date: Nov 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532346088

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Chapter 1

I Couldn’t Spell Success

When a man looks back at his life, he should be proud of all of it…Not just the years he was great -Any Given Sunday

What do I see when I look at myself?  Who do I think I am?  When it is all said and done, will I be remembered for being great?  Will I be remembered for causing pain?  Will I be remembered?  Am I unique?  Could I be someone worthy to be looked up to?

I have always had these questions running through my head, and I am sure that you have at some point as well.  These questions directly point to one word - Legacy.  Can you do well enough to carve a legacy out for yourself.  History tells us about the legacy of either the great or the depraved.  You never hear about the average.  It is truly something that is not even considered.  It is black and white; a zero-sum game. Teachers, coaches, parents, and the media teach us subconsciously you are either something or nothing.

Looking at this practically and years removed from all the expectations, it is easy to see how crazy this is.  Someone on the team had to come in for Michael Jordan.  Someone had to assist Wayne Gretzky.  Someone had to brief Warren Buffet on his daily activities.  Someone had to build the space shuttles that sent Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins to the Moon.  These are the forgotten people that play an integral role in the extreme versions of success that are these larger than life people.  And we absolutely have no regard for them when it comes to our history class.  We are made to believe that these better-known people did everything 100 percent by themselves.  That is why they are our heroes.  And we love and even idolize them.  The larger point is that five Michael Jordan’s could not exist; they cannot hand out three Gold Medals to three Usain Bolt’s for the same World Record.  The problem comes when we define ‘average’ as something to be disappointed in as if being Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali was an attainable feat for any of us.  They were made for what they did, as you and I are.  There was, and probably still is, a lot of societal pressure to strive to be great, but what happens when we all are fighting for the same spot in the same field?!

Nobody wants to be average, and playing sports really is a great way of showing that you are greater than most.  The score says it all, either you win or lose.  Sports can be the great equalizer: poor or rich; white or black.  External world views do not matter as much inside sports as they do outside of sports.  Just like me, so many of us get wrapped up in the allure of being the greatest of all time.  And I blame the late 80s/90s for providing so many moments of greatness.  Shame on those athletes for making us believe the impossible to actually be possible!

Of course, I am joking, but sports were actually taken to a different level when I was younger.  I don’t think looking back that I started my athletic endeavors to either fit into some social construct or to achieve the precipice of a particular sport.  I played because it was fun.  I was born into an era where social constructs were very strong and virtually unbreakable.  If you were Black, you played basketball or football.  If you were White, you played soccer or baseball.  The internet was not a thing, so the Ghana Men’s Football (soccer) team (architects of one of the worst sports experiences for me when they beat the U.S. Men’s National Team) or the South African rugby team (made up of largely all White men who won the Rugby World Cup in 1995) was not as accessible.  I myself attempted to play any sport I could.  I gravitated to basketball and soccer, but I really loved playing baseball.  Something about hearing the sound of a baseball being launched from your bat or standing in front of a line drive coming at you anywhere from 95-105mph was amazing.  I did not play these sports to fit in or to be a Black example for excellence: I just wanted to have fun.

Playing soccer and basketball was the same for me.  I truly did not play soccer to be the ‘next’ someone.  I played it because all my friends were playing.  The sport requires quick decisions, foot skills, speed, and coordination.  And, let us be honest, have you ever seen a goal being scored in professional competition?  Who does not want to slide across the field, or do some crazy ass dance with their teammates after scoring?  Years later, I would realize that my foot skills never reached to the levels of my friends, so I switched to playing defense, particularly the Keeper position.  It required leadership, and an ability to see plays materialize before they happened.  I loved it!  Truthfully, even though I have not played in years, I would say that the only thing that comes close to the euphoria of hitting a baseball is stopping a penalty kick dead in its