| Menelik Watson swaps inner | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 11 2015, 07:51 AM (10 Views) | |
| djaobaiy | Oct 11 2015, 07:51 AM Post #1 |
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Menelik Watson swaps inner A Z Sports Athletics Boxing Cricket Cycling Disability Sport Football Formula 1 Gaelic Games Golf Horse Racing Motorsport Olympic Sports Rugby League Rugby Union Snooker Swimming Tennis Winter Sports Full Sports A Z Events Glasgow 2014 World Cup 2014 World Sport European Football Champions League African Football Around the UK England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland American Football TablesTables American Football Home From devouring free sachets of tomato ketchup as Cheap elite jerseys an impoverished Nfl jerseys china kid in inner city Manchester to the brink of a multi million dollar career in the NFL, Menelik Watson journey is an incredible tale. As one of four boys brought up by a Cheap nfl jerseys single parent on the tough Anson Estate in Longsight, an area of Manchester which until recently was infamous for gun crime and turf wars between gangs, life dice were loaded against him. One of the Watson boys is still in prison and another has spent time inside. But not Menelik. "I saw my brothers hit the streets and I really saw what it was doing to my mum," the 24 year old told BBC Sport ahead of Thursday NFL Draft (early hours of Friday in the UK), in which the cream of the college crop are allocated to the sport 32 professional teams. "I always knew that I didn want to add to that stress it was really breaking her down. "I been on the Wholesale mlb jerseys china street corner before, but I always been blessed by a good spirit around me that kept me out of trouble." That and his quick feet. Able to complete the 40 yard dash in a shade over five seconds, Watson is freakishly fast for a man standing 6ft 5in (1.95m) tall and weighing 310lb (22st, 141kg). Watson also thanks his lucky stars for the day he met basketball coach Rob Orellana. The American spotted him at a Christmas 2006 basketball tournament in Manchester, just after Watson 18th birthday. While being 6ft 5in tall is something the vast majority of us can only dream of, amazingly it is not quite tall enough to put you into the stratospheric world of an NBA power forward. But Orellana thought he would take a punt on Watson anyway, because of his "agility, lift and unique ability to move laterally for a kid of his size" and offer him a place at his basketball academy in the Canary Islands. It represented a second chance in sport for Watson, whose dreams of playing as a defensive midfielder for his beloved Manchester City had been shattered along with his ankle five years previously during a "100 against 100" game of park football. "Can you imagine seeing the bone poking out of your skin? The doctor told me they almost amputated [my foot] because they were worried about the difficult complications that could happen if they put my ankle back together," he recalled. "They told me I shouldn play sports again. Me being bone headed, I found basketball and fell in love with it." What he lacked in inches Watson certainly made up for in application, although he openly admits to having initially found Orellana tough training regime hard to deal with. "The first year, I hated him. I couldn stand him," joked Watson before talking about the incredibly close relationship which now exists between them. When it was clear a couple of years ago that his protege would not make it as a professional basketball player, Orellana took Watson to a small town college which barely registers in its home state of California, let alone across the United States. "We showed up unannounced on the doorstep at Saddleback junior college and said he wants to play [American] football explained Orellana. "He ran a little, they looked at the size of his legs and they said love to have you At this point, Watson had never donned a pair of shoulder pads or even picked up an American football. |
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7:03 PM Jul 11