Janesh Sports Weekly Star Athlete Blog with Josh Williams, former RB for the Guilford College Quakers:This week on the fields with Eugene Shields(EG)

Janesh Sports Weekly Star Athlete Blog
(from Josh Williams/Janesh, former runningback for the Guilford College Quakers)

http://janeshblog.blogspot.com/2016/04/janesh-sports-weekly-star-athlete-blog.html?m=1

This blog is meant to recognize past participants of our College Exposure program. We hope to encourage other athletes and inspire those that help us pull these programs together.

I decided to mention our athlete’s name in this week’s blog. I interviewed him earlier this week and he was alright with the public recognition.

Eugene Shields
6’2 250lbs
DL Eastern Guilford High

This kid is awesome. He was a huge learning experience for my team and I. I met him back in 2013. He and his mom reached out to us about getting involved with our performance training. We took him in and trained him up pretty well for his junior season at Eastern.

We had some challenging times when we started our training program. They were our 3rd official training client so we were still feeling out our new system. There were so many obstacles that we broke through to have Euguene train with us. From price-point, to schedule flexibility, I was still in college, his trainer, Jordan Farmer, was also in school at Guilford College. It was a challenging time. But back then, everything felt challenging.

His mom was always very honest with me. Eugene and I grew a close bond during this time as well. He would tell me about his huge dreams of playing Division 1 college football. How coaches and players didn’t see the same thing for him. He felt underrated. Going into his senior year he had 0 scholarship offers. I was able to understand Eugene’s pain because the same scenario happened with me while I was leaving high school back in 2011.

This past weekend, Eugene contacted me letting me know he received an opportunity to walk on to North Carolina Central. Before this new development, he had committed to take a scholarship offer from Catawba College. Although I didn’t like the idea of him dishonoring his commitment to Catawba, North Carolina Central’s Financial Aid package was set up so that Eugene would only come out of pocket for $200. Where as with Catawba, his family would pay a greater amount out of pocket.

One piece of feedback I want to give to him or any other athlete making these decisions, make sure you are making these college choices based on which school will benefit your personal intentions. Meaning who will provide a solid career path, who will support your personal ambitions as a college athlete. Which school is going to provide you with the social life that you need. The financial part is important as well which is why I understand the decision but I just wanted to a acknowledge the other factors.

As for me…
Life is still an adventure. I had a conversation with my parents the other day. I call them when I get anxious about something. They usually level my mind. So this conversation was centered around the fact that I wasn’t satisfied with where I am in my life. I guess I thought about that fact that I’ve been out of college for about a year now.

From the conversation, I learned that I am where God designed me to be. There’s something that I have to learn from this stage of life. I have things to do during this stage. I plan to illuminate myself brightly in this stage of life. I feel I have a duty to use every opportunity I have to shine what God has done for me. I think I just made a personal commitment to myself. I appreciate you for being the witness.

Overall, things are good with me.

Thank you for listening.

2016 Showcase Jamboree 8/12 and 8/13
2016 College Exposure Camps May – July

– Josh Williams