At 13 years old, Jack was a three-sport athlete, playing lacrosse,
football, and wrestling. In football, he
was small at his position, which meant getting banged around quite a bit by
larger opponents. Even so, he was a starter
every season he played, more than making up for his lack of size with smarts,
toughness, and drive.
His determination also translated to wrestling. Following in the footsteps of his Dad, a
high-school wrestler himself, Jack joined his town’s Youth Wrestling
Association when he was in the sixth grade.
Wresting isn’t an easy sport to learn.
There are no teammates to lean on for help, and newcomers frequently
learn via highly physical defeats at the hands of more experienced wrestlers.
Being new to the sport, Jack had a lot of long days wrestling kids who
were both older and better.
Nevertheless, he was tenacious. He
got more serious in his second year, but was frequently matched against
opponents a year older. At one point, he
endured a 20-match losing streak that nearly saw him quit the sport for
good. Somehow, he found the will to keep
at it.
Then something unexpected happened.
Jack and his family were out of town for a regional tournament, but the
day before his match, Jack injured his ankle jumping in the pool. Jack decided to give his match a try rather
than see the whole family return home early.
With nothing to lose, the young man who rarely won when injury-free hit
the mat… and managed to win a medal despite wrestling on a bad ankle.
When football resumed, Jack was looking forward to another season. The day before the first game, though, a
routine play led to a collision between Jack and a much bigger teammate,
sending Jack to the ground. Thinking that
he’d just had the wind knocked out of him, he tried to roll over, but was
overwhelmed with shooting pain. When his
parents arrived at the field, Jack was being loaded into the ambulance. An MRI was ordered, and soon, the bad news
arrived: A vertebra in his lower back
was fractured.
Injuries were nothing new for Jack — he had broken his hand twice
playing lacrosse — but this one was much more serious. What followed was a long and painful
recovery, made worse by having to miss his eighth grade football and wrestling
seasons.
A few months later, in an effort to keep Jack’s spirits up and mind
occupied, his wrestling coach suggested he start coming to the elementary
school practices to help out. If he
couldn’t wrestle, at least he could stay involved. It was a tough sell for Jack, who didn’t
think overseeing a bunch of little kids could replace actual competition.
That first night, Jack saw that the youngest kids, aged 4 and 5, needed
help. He gravitated to them, and was
someone they could relate to. The
experience of sharing some of the lessons wrestling had taught him sparked
something in Jack. Not only did he keep
going back, he started to officially help coach.
Just as things were beginning to look up for Jack, his town was rocked
by the unimaginable tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. The horrific shooting took place at the very
school where the wrestling association held its practices and which some of the
team members attended, and the community of Newtown was devastated by the
events. The situation gave Jack new
perspective on his injuries, as he saw the outpouring of support coming in from
all over the world.
Looking for ways to help through sports, he reached out to the head of
Nike asking if the company could make some sort of donation to support the
town. Choosing not to publicize it, the
company performed numerous acts of kindness in Newtown. Meanwhile, the wrestling program remained
active in order to give the kids an outlet during the tough times. Jack was fully involved as he assisted with raising
money for the families of the victims, as well as providing support in the form
of things like yard work, landscaping, and other chores.
In honor of his resilience and compassion in helping to heal his town, Sports
Illustrated named Jack Wellman their 2013 SportsKid of the Year. And this summer, I had the pleasure of
meeting Jack when he attended the 2014 Ultimate Life Summit, an event I
co-created to teach hundreds of students and educators the 7 Mindsets so they
can make positive differences in their communities and the lives of
others.
Meeting young people like Jack reassures me that the problems of the
world will be solved through the open hearts and minds of today’s youth.
Until next week...
Live Your Dreams
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