Founder's Story

I started playing football during my junior year of high school with no expectations. I truly did not know I could take my skills into college because I had zero guidance. It wasn’t until I started getting actual coaching that I realized I had a real chance at becoming successful in the sport. After my junior year of high school concluded, I quickly found myself in my senior season where my coaches doubted my abilities at participating in higher levels of the game. Although, there was one comment by a former teammate that helped engrave the path I am on today. “Nels, you will never make it to any Division 1 program, you are not talented enough.” I understand the comment is not that significant, but the doubt and limitations that were put on me are what fueled my charge into college athletics. With the support of my family and the increased belief in my own abilities, I started my new athletic journey of becoming the best version of myself.
Newly out of high school and heading into college I weighed nearly 230 pounds. Why was my weight important? Because to be an athlete at the highest level I had to be in spectacular shape, which I was not even close to. Therefore, I had to make a health-conscious lifestyle change. It was imperative to make this change because I had zero football coaches looking in my direction. I began going to the gym every day while training for football. I also started eating the correct food proportions. With consistent work, I finally ended up getting a little workout with a former professional football punter. It was a good session, but unfortunately, I had already registered for college at a different program than what he had ties to. If there was a possibility of getting a spot on that team I would have to wait a year in NCAA compliance. (old NCAA rules) However, this was all hindsight as I did not know the NCAA rules at the time. Weirdly enough, I did not tell anyone about this tryout/workout besides my immediate family. Why? I did not want to jinx myself or get my hopes up about getting a roster spot on a Division 1 football team.

Although, what happened next in the following story fueled the ongoing flame from my high school teammates’ comments. “It was my first week in college where myself and my two friends from high school were settling into our new house. The weekend prior was the workout with the professional punter. As the weekend drew near, I kept wondering how that workout went. “Were there any talks about how I performed?” As it came down to Friday night, my roommates and I decided to finally go and get some groceries for the new house instead of eating fast food all week. We went to a big-name box store, and on the way out, I received a phone call. The phone number was unrecognizable, but I answered it anyway. On the line was the athletic director for the program I had a work out with. It was a good phone call, the athletic director proposed that I come work out with the team for spring and summer to see if I can earn a spot on the roster. (Once again, I did not know how this process worked.) I was ecstatic, and I accepted, but there was more to the process. The athletic director expressed they would be sending the paperwork over in an email shortly. As I was getting into the car my friends heard the last bit of the call to which we all started tearing up because I achieved my dream, and they were happy for me. The adrenaline started to diminish as we got back home. I then called my parents at 11pm to tell them the good news. They quickly called my number one supporter, my grandpa, because I now had the opportunity to play for his favorite college football team. After that phone call, doubt started to set in for me that this was all real. “What coach/AD would call at 10:30pm on a Friday night?” I kept asking myself and my friends. My friend was on the golf team at our current college and said coaches are weird with time to reassure me that it was legit. We ended up researching numbers to see if it was any of the current players on the team messing with me. (but they did not know about the workout with the other program) I then figured it had to be someone back home, which was weird as well because I did not mention the workout. Sitting there perplexed that it could be either a prank or legit, I did not know what to do until around 12:30am as I received another call. The call came from an ex-girlfriend saying that she set up the whole thing. She said she was sorry, but at that point, it didn’t matter. Just as quickly as I got my dream, it was ripped away by a little prank. The worst part was having to call my family and tell them it was all a joke someone wanted to play on me.”

After the prank,

I looked forward to my current college football tryouts. I continued my everyday practice and weight training. Nothing was going to stop me now as I was focused on only one thing, and that was playing college football. The first day of tryouts came and it was just speed and agility testing. All special team players had to come again the next day to try out for their actual position. Not one coach came that following day for tryouts, it was only the current special team players evaluating the individuals trying out. This supposedly ended up being an NCAA issue on why the coaches could not be there, but it is still unfair to have current players decide if walk-ons make the team. Not to mention I knew every player there, as they knew who I was as well. Ultimately, I ended up not making it on the team. From there, I finished out that semester and one of my coaches suggested I play junior college football at his alma mater in San Diego. I agreed with the idea and flew down to San Diego and tried out for the head coach. He saw my potential and invited me to join the team. Just like that, I transferred programs to continue my journey with football.
Over the course of two years down in San Diego, I worked on my football abilities. My kicking coach in Utah suggested this local coach to continue my progression with kicking. From there, I had a new coach, a new team, and a new adventure for myself. My new coach pushed me to new heights. He improved my game over and over again. In my first year playing, I only received kickoff duties while also getting to test out punting in games every so often. Fast forward to my second year at this junior college, I ended up picking up more positions with field goals included. I went on to go 14/14-made field goals that season until the very last game rolled around.
“I had the perfect season going, and with 20 seconds left in the 1st half we scored and I had to kickoff before heading into the locker room. I kicked the ball off, my return team completely missed the returner, and now it came down to me as the last man. I made sure not to let the returner get passed. However, he was running downhill (his top speed), and as he got close he dropped his helmet into the side of my neck as I was making the tackle. I’ll admit it, I got destroyed, but I did save the touchdown. After running off the field my trainers did not really check to see if I was okay. Halftime hit, and I did not even go into the locker room. I was out on the field with a cloudy mind trying to kick field goals, to which I did not have good balance or technique. I was spraying kicks left and right. About 20 minutes after the hit, I was put onto the field for an easy 26-yard right hash try. My kicking steps were off, and as my holder called for my ready I didn't really notice. The football was snapped, I saw it out of the corner of my eye and I tried to react as fast as I could. But because I was in a foggy state, I shanked the ball just right of the goal posts. It happened to be the game-tying field goal, and just like that the perfect season came to an end. Although, the importance of this story is not losing out on the great individual season and stat line, it is what happened after that hit that is what is important. At the time, I knew I was concussed, but what I did not know was that I was partially injured. The following Wednesday after the game, I went to the gym to complete my normal workout routine. I started warming up for a back workout with lightweight deadlifts. During my first set, as I stood up on my second repetition there was a massive pop in my lower back where immediate pain followed. I dropped the weight in shock, hoping it was just a strain… Unfortunately, I ruptured my L5-S1 and herniated my L4-S1.”
No matter what I tried to do, kicking or lifting, I was always in constant pain. I physically could not do anything or enjoy much for a year and a half. I tried multiple chiropractors with no end for my pain in sight. It was until one day, December 19th, I got so mad with my back that I did the unthinkable. I got on a hanging traction table that I regularly used, flipped upside down, and pulled as hard as I physically could in order to separate my spine. As I was finishing the long pull, I tugged as hard as I could, and BOOM! I immediately couldn’t feel my legs, and I couldn’t breathe. I was stuck on the table for about five minutes trying to catch my breath, worrying the whole time if I just paralyzed myself. I finally got off the table after catching my breath, and regaining the feeling in my legs. I could not walk well until about two hours after the incident, but when I did finally walk, I realized my back pain was almost gone. I was in shock that it actually worked. From that point forward, I was able to train slowly until the following summer for another shot at college football. I didn’t give up; I was persistent and ultimately made it onto a Division 1 football team after a solid tryout at their college kicking camp.
If you have stuck around this long, I appreciate it. We have gone through 3 years of my college life. These next 2-3 years of my college career will be a little quicker to read.
I MADE IT! I was finally on a big team. I considered this a massive win, because, at the time I joined the team, they were known for being the best team in the nation for their special team players. Therefore, when I joined the team no player was declared the starter, so it was going to be a full-out competition for the starting job come game day. I was just cleared to play after my terrible back injury, and to get a head start with the other special team players, we decided to head out a day before fall camp to practice. On my first warm-up drill, my cleat on my plant leg (left foot) got stuck in the turf, and I folded over the top of myself. I heard a pop and thought I had just broken my ankle. The guys carried me into the training room, and thankfully, it was only a grade 2 high ankle sprain. On the first day of fall camp, the coaches were laughing as camp did not even start yet and there was already one player injured. I sat out the first day of camp but came back the second day playing on the injured ankle. I heavily wrapped my ankle for the remainder of camp just to play on it. On the very last day of camp, I felt good enough not to wrap my ankle, which was a mistake. I was also using cleats I was not used to because I had to switch from my pair to match the school’s contracted brand. I was having a solid practice; this day was important because, after this practice, the starting kicker would be selected. With only 15 minutes left in practice, I hit the perfect scout kickoff to our returning team. As I was giving our returners a read of what the opposing team’s kicker would do, I started to jog across the field to make the tackle. However, this was not a live tackling drill, so I was not going to tackle. I finally met up with the returner, and as I stepped down on my left foot (injured ankle) the returner pushed my shoulder which torqued my body. My knee instantly felt like a rubber band, and my teammates were confused about why I dropped like that. I got up as quickly as I could and got off the field to not freak out the coaches. I went straight to the trainers and told them my knee was gone. After further testing, it was determined that I tore my ACL. Since being cleared from my year-and-a-half back injury, I am now out once again. I had to get two surgeries for the left knee and then I did physical therapy for a year. One day, towards the end of my physical therapy, I was pushing the limits. I was ready to crush it when I finally made it back to practice for spring camp. I ended up getting a weird pull in my abdomen while doing sprints with the trainers. They thought nothing of it and said it was just an abdominal strain. Two weeks later, I was cut from the team without getting a chance to prove myself again.

So defeated Again,

I was out on my own trying to get back onto a new team. But I needed to figure out what was going on with my abdomen first. I had multiple MRIs with no results each time. I sat out for a month because the pain was too severe to kick with or work out. After a long month break, I went out to kick again and the pain did not improve. It was now much worse. I did not know what to do, because now the college I first attended (Where the kickers decided my fate in tryouts) was now trying to have me walk-on and be their potential starter. Fortunately, Covid gave me some time as the football season was canceled, but it was resumed 3 months later for a short season. My injuries did not resolve in time. I tried everything to fix the issues going on with me, but it was too late. I got onto the team and had to play through the injuries. The injuries got so bad it felt like my leg was hanging from a thread, and every movement or kick felt like I was getting stabbed in my nether region. It was not until after the season I started seeing “specialists'' to fix the injuries. We first did an operation because it was a suspected bilateral sports hernia. After this surgery, I received a complete mesh liner for my abs. Six weeks after the surgery (timeline given to resume sport), I felt no change and was still feeling extreme pain. I then was sent to Idaho for another “specialist,” where we did a bilateral adductor tenotomy surgery. This surgery did not do anything other than remove all the scar tissue. Supposedly, the goal for this surgery was to help the body create new scar tissue to heal the muscles. We did this because the doctor found I had a grade 3 adductor tear in all my adductors. He said, “While looking at the ultrasound, it shows that your adductors are completely severed, kind of like a machete has sliced through them.” At this point, I was happy because we finally figured out the issue I have been living with for over a year since my previous college team. After weeks of physical therapy with the team, I noticed I was not getting any better. We drove back up to the doctor in Idaho and performed another tenotomy because “all the scar tissue was not removed the first time.”6 months from the bilateral hernia surgery to now, after the third surgery, nothing has been resolved. I did a lot of physical therapy after the most recent surgery, but I ended up failing again as the issue was not fixed. I decided to play through the pain again, but without notice, the head coaches said no, and I was cut from the new team the first week into the 2021 season.
The news of being cut was disappointing, but it ultimately needed to happen because I would have ruined my body more. I moved back home and started going through numerous tests with local hospitals and health professionals. Nothing popped up on tests, nothing was wrong with me. One day I went in to check to see if I needed to get the nerves cut so my pain could go away, thankfully, that test failed too, or I would be in a world of trouble. Finally, on my last trip to a local doctor, he suggested I see a specialist in Pennsylvania. My family and I made the appointment and flew across the country 4 months after being released from the team. On January 9th, 2022, I got a unique MRI performed by this doctor. After the MRI, I sat with my family in a hospital office for 8 hours. I was STRESSING, I thought to myself he was not going to locate the problem either. As the 8th hour rolled around, the doctor came back in. For me, the bad news was something was not wrong. So I was hoping for the bad good news. He then proceeded to say the bilateral hernia surgeries were pointless, all the adductor surgeries were pointless, and what I had was much worse. What the small little “abdominal strain” turned out to be was a torn pelvic floor, and because I continued to kick and play is why it continued to magnify in pain. It magnified in pain because other muscles started ripping away from the stable base. (pelvic floor) The stabbing feeling was a mix of nerves getting pinched, my abs being ripped away from the pelvic floor attachment, and the machete depiction of the adductors also being completely ripped from the pelvic floor attachment. Therefore, as I mentioned previously, the dangling leg feeling was true to what this doctor explained.
10 hours passed, and I was already into surgery after finding out my diagnosis. The day following the surgery, I was already in physical therapy. This surgery was not like one I have had before, because, after the surgery I had a medical device called a “Blake Drain” hanging out of me. I used this device to drain and monitor how much blood was being collected. After a week of therapy in Pennsylvania, I finally returned home and continued physical therapy with local physicians. About 10 days after the surgery, I became very ill and had a large mass where the surgical incisions were. I notified the doctor in Pennsylvania, and he said I have a hematoma and need to fly back immediately. Approximately 2 weeks after the first pelvic floor repair and other surrounding muscles, I was getting another surgery. Following that procedure, I recovered for a month and a few days before needing another knee surgery on my left knee. I needed this surgery because scar tissue was limiting my range of motion. Unfortunately, I got a hematoma on my knee as well, it did not resolve for a few months. 7 months went by, and in October of 2022, I wrote back to my doctor that I am still hurting and there is a lump above his previous incision. I scheduled another appointment with him and flew across the country for a third time. After another MRI, we found that my oblique (which was missed during the first examination due to way too many injuries present) had torn through my abdominal wall. This happened because all the muscles were not working, so the oblique was working overtime, creating too much friction on the abdominal wall. As per the last surgeries, the next morning, I received the operation.
Now back to the present day. I am still recovering and taking my time rebuilding all the muscles that have not been trained over the years. I have decided to take a break from football as it could possibly be something for the future. But this is not the end, as I said in the first paragraph, there are endless possibilities out in the world, it just takes you and I to create the many opportunities the world provides.