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Scrums, studies replace dreams
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Like many a red-blooded, American boy, he dreamed of playing college football.
And former Shawnee football standout Aaron Jenkins was sold out to that dream, the pursuit of which gained him some considerable notice. He was an all-league and all-district lineman for the Braves.
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Aaron JenkinsThe funny thing about dreams, though, is they don't always come true. Sometimes, goals change as reality sets in during the pursuit of your dream.
So the 2007 Shawnee grad Jenkins traded his boyhood dream for an academic scholarship to Ohio State and a scrum — on the Buckeyes' rugby club team.
"I always grew up watching the Buckeyes and college football, and I always wondered what it would be like to play in college," Jenkins admitted. "Once I got closer to it, I was getting a couple of letters to play from colleges. And I was talking to UD for awhile."
But plans change.
"When I realized that it would be a lot cheaper to come to Ohio State, with the financial aid, I couldn't pass it up," he said.
All of a sudden, he was an athlete without a sport.
"I started checking out things to do once I got here and I saw the rugby club," he continued. "Another Shawnee grad, Eric Castle, was playing football at Otterbein and he transferred to Ohio State.
"I saw rugby and thought it was a pretty good sport. So we both gave it a try."
Besides, rugby shares many similarities with football, right?
"Not as many as I would have thought," he answered. "It's kind of like soccer and lacrosse. But hockey is what I thought it is most like."
That's not what hooked him, though.
"It's just a testosterone-driven activity," he said. "The interesting thing is there really aren't any serious injuries like in football."
Being a "rugger" already has allowed Jenkins to see a lot more of the United States.
"This past weekend, I went to North Carolina and we won most of our games," he said. "My first weekend here, I traveled with them to Tennessee."
Rugby has replaced football in his head, but how about his heart?
"I knew I wasn't going to be playing for the NFL," he said. "And I had a lot of buddies playing college ball, and they said it wasn't like playing high school ball. It wasn't as fun.
"It's nice being a kid and thinking the whole world is open to you," he continued. "But colleges are looking for big bodies and fast athletes. I wasn't either. But I wasn't too broken up about it. Rugby is fun. The more I've been playing, the more I want to stick with it."
Mainly, Jenkins, who carried a 4.0 grade-point average in high school, realized that his first priority is academics.
" I know I have to put a little more time into studying now," he said. "If I'd have played (football), the more time I would have put into football, the less time I could put into studying.
"I wanted to make sure my priorities were in the right place."
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364 or krowe@coxohio.com.
