Some athletes will dedicate their whole lives to one sport, practicing the same routines and doing the same training drills daily in hopes that they will get a chance to prove their worth on the playing field, even if just for one shining moment of glory.
Not Matt Nicholson. The junior linebacker has been playing football for the Cougars for three years, but has been involved with football and lacrosse since elementary school and has already achieved success in both.
"I’ve been playing football since I was in fourth grade. That’s the first year you’re allowed to play with full pads," he said. "I didn’t want to play flag football. I could play that with my friends. I played lacrosse since I was in fifth grade."
Although Nicholson has been familiar with sports his entire life – his father and uncle both played baseball at Ohio University, and older brother Kurt played high school soccer, baseball and rugby – he didn’t know anything about lacrosse until he started playing the sport.
"They started a youth program (in Plano, Texas) when I was in fifth grade. They had a big meeting just describing the sport. I didn’t know what it was, so I went there and decided to try it out," he said. "I got a little starter pack with all the pads and everything, and I’ve liked it ever since."
Nicholson describes lacrosse as a mixture of different sports.
"It’s basically like hockey, but it’s on a soccer field. It’s real fast-paced," he said.
Nicholson continued to excel at both and also took up baseball in high school. He was talented enough to make both school teams, but had to make a choice between playing lacrosse or baseball because their schedules conflicted.
"I had to choose between lacrosse and baseball because they’re both in the spring time. I chose lacrosse because it’s more physical," he said.
Nicholson said being involved with a variety of sports growing up helped him develop as an overall athlete, and it’s paid off. He leads the Cougars with 57 tackles (33 solo) in seven games this season and also has one sack for a 15-yard loss against the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers.
Nicholson said he is able to use the skills he learned from playing different sports to help him thrive on the football field.
"I played defense in lacrosse, too. Your footwork is just like playing linebacker (in football). You’ve got to keep your feet square. You don’t want to waste any steps. There’s a lot of similarities in that sense," he said.
Nicholson, who is majoring in sports administration, would like to continue sports after college, whether as a professional player or a coach.
"I probably have a better understanding of football because I played it longer and I played at a higher level, but I’d coach either (football or lacrosse)," he said. "(I want to do) something with sports, because I’m passionate about it. I don’t want to sit in a desk all day just to get a paycheck. I just want to do something where I can kind of give back."
