Jaden Perkins, also known as “Perkins”, is a successful student athlete who attends Jersey Village High School. He is known for his outstanding athletic performance and high success level. This must’ve been easy for him,right? Wrong. Perkins has had many things that have tried to stop him from achieving his goals, injuries being the main barrier.
Football is a dangerous but beneficial sport for many athletes. Perkins has had a few minor injuries that he could quickly shake back from, however this one was different.
“It happened during spring football. I was running and two people tackled me. My leg twisted then my knee popped really loud. My ACL was gone,” said student athlete, Jaden Perkins.
Summer of 2023 was not very good for Jaden athletic wise. After tearing his ACL during spring football, it seemed that everything began to try and stop his career.
“A lot of things tried to stop me, but I think my biggest barrier was my knee injury. It really messed me up when I tore my ACL. All I could focus on was being able to walk again,” Perkins said.
Getting injured was a mental challenge for this student athlete. Not only did he lose his ability to play his sport, he also lost his ability to walk.
“It was hard being in that position because I couldn’t do much of anything about it. I just wanted to recover quickly and get back to doing what I love,” he explained.
Did he let that slow him down? Absolutely not! Perkins continued to stay consistent during injury rehab,on the field, and in the weight room as any good athlete would.
“The recovery process was definitely tough. It took over a year to heal and I had 2 surgeries, but I stayed as consistent as possible and started playing ball again,” said Jaden.
All was well after his recovery. He began to play again during the fall season and everything was great.
“My season was pretty good after tearing my ACL. I still performed well despite the fact that I was scared to get hurt again, but I didn’t. I was excited but also nervous to be back on the field. Other than that, the season was great for me and I feel like I did better than I ever have in my first game back,” Perkins commented.
Perkins was finally back to his grind and playing his game for the 2024 season, but of course another barrier came along. On September 26th, 2024 Jaden Perkins was playing his heart out during the Northbrook game. Unfortunately, he did break his middle finger.
“I was honestly bummed that I did that. At the moment, I just wanted to get help because I was obviously hurt, but afterwards I was ready to get back on the field,” said Jaden.
Since then, Perkins has continued to play football even with his broken finger. He pushes himself to the max and plays hard on the field. Jaden has big dreams to play college football and he refuses to let any kind of barrier stop him from accomplishing that goal.
“At the moment, I really want to play college football and then take steps up from there. My only roadblock is my schedule and how easy it is to get hurt in such a competitive contact sport,” Perkins explained.
Jaden Perkins has experienced many barriers and roadblocks throughout his high school football career, but he has overcome every barrier that has got in his way, especially his injuries. Perkins will continue to show society and the athletic world that being a successful athlete is the furthest thing from easy. He will continue to show his dedication to his sport and achieve his goals.