Crawford inspires young athletes to work hard

The GSWB Varsity Club had Brady Crawford as a guest speaker prior to Christmas break. Crawford is a 2020 graduate of Coal City High School where he lettered in football, basketball and track. Crawford said playing sports helped teach him values and gave him his hard work ethic.

While a Coaler, he was also involved in the National Honor Society, Coalers with Character, and Future Business Leaders of America. At CCHS, Crawford helped guide a team to a Regional title in basketball and his football team made it to the state semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Richmond-Burton.

Crawford is a Junior at the University of Sioux Falls (SD), where he is majoring in Exercise Science with a minor in Education. He joined the Cougars because it made him feel at home with the family atmosphere even though it is eight hours away.

He faced many challenges his freshman year, but overcame them to become even stronger. Due to Covid, there was no football in his first season at Sioux Falls. He had to form new relationships with teammates, professors, and coaches.

He was now a small fish in a large pond and had to prove himself again which was very stressful. He liked the idea of meeting new people and teammates while learning about their backgrounds.

He also had to make time to juggle his academics along with his demanding football schedule on a daily basis. He told the group he keeps a calendar with his week's activities to stay organized.

Crawford shared with the group that each day he has football activities for about 8 hours consisting of practices, weights, meetings, study tables, etc. He explained that the workouts in college were much more intense than in high school.

He has taken advantage of long bus trips and getting to know other players better. On game day, he loves the amount of fans and the atmosphere surrounding the field.

This season he earned all-conference honors but most enjoyed winning against their rival and going 8-3.

When Crawford told the group his most memorable moment was winning a big game as opposed to being selected all-conference, it spoke volumes. He went on to say it's what you want for your team, not yourself.

GSWB Varsity Club wishes Crawford the best in the remainder of his college football career.