Xplorers player visits Southaven Middle School

April 21, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Memphis Xplorers News Release


SOUTHAVEN, Miss.—Memphis Xplorers quarterback Brian Jones visited Southaven Middle School on Wednesday, April 24, and spoke to two classes of 7th and 8th grade gifted education classes as part of a career series.

Teachers provided him with a list of questions ahead of time that ran the gamut from special equipment he uses on the job and working hours to teamwork and working conditions.

"Working conditions can be pretty hostile," Jones said. "Fans may be sitting there with a beer in their hand yelling at you, yelling anything you can think of. Because it's arena football the fans are very close to you, close enough to reach out and touch you. But that's part of it, the heckling and giving people a hard time, because we count on them to be there every game and cheer for us as well."

One question pertained to the relevance of his schooling to his profession. Jones graduated this semester with a degree in marketing and sales from the University of Toledo.

"My classes taught me patience and perseverance, which is something I will take into any profession," Jones said. "The longevity of a person playing professional football is about 5-6 years. Only about one-tenth of one percent of athletes get an opportunity to go on and play a professional sport. That means the other 99.99 percent who don't get that chance have to do something else.

"I just graduated but I'm going back to school this year to get my M.B.A. It's important to have something to fall back on, or to go on to when you are done playing sports. That was my plan before I entered college and I think it's important not to let that fall to the wayside while I'm playing football."

The students had many questions about the amount of physical contact that goes on during the game.

"I've had knee surgery, I've separated my shoulder—I've gotten hurt a lot," Jones said. "My body is about 10 years older than it should be. I'm only 23, but I feel like I'm 33. It's brutal. It's a brutal sport."

In arena football, players have to deal with the additional obstacle of arena walls.

"You get hit by these huge defensemen, you get crushed into the wall, and then you hit the ground," Jones said. "It's like there's an extra hit both ways."

Teacher Emily Forbes asked how, when the receiver and the quarterback don't connect, a person can tell whose mistake it was.

"Well, the quarterback knows where the receiver is supposed to be and tries to put the ball in that spot," Jones said. "It's really difficult because you've got these big D-guys coming at you. I'm only 200 pounds and these guys weigh in about 315 pounds. It's really hard to see where you're putting the ball. You have to throw it right to that spot and you have to trust the receiver's going to be there, but if their timing is off or if it's a bad ball, the pass will be incomplete or intercepted."

After Jones finished speaking, student Charquita Anderson said his speech impressed her.

"He showed that he loves playing the game, and he's really passionate about it," Anderson said.



arenafootball2 Stories from April 21, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central