Published: 12:00 AM, Mon Aug 06, 2012
Seventy-First noseguard Chris Goldman brings his 'A' game
By Earl Vaughan Jr.
Scholastic sports editor
When they're calling defensive signals before a play is run at Seventy-First, you can forgive noseguard Chris Goldman if he might have a few other things running through his mind: Things like AP physics problems or honors chemistry or AP literature.
That's because Goldman, the starting noseguard on the Seventy-First football team, has one of the highest grade point averages in the Seventy-First student body. But somehow, he's managed to find a way to make both work without sacrificing success in either endeavor.
A senior who spent most of his life in Georgia, Goldman moved to Fayetteville last year and made an immediate contribution to the Falcon football team.
He's been playing football since middle school, but academics had been an important part of his life long before then.
"My parents always stressed good grades,'' he said. "That's the pathway to life. It leads you to greatness.''
He said he heard more of the same message when he got to Seventy-First and joined the Falcon football team.
"Coach (Bob) Paroli was telling us life is all about getting knocked down and getting back up,'' Goldman said. "Sometimes you won't make a good grade in class, but you can come back. You need to have a mind set to be determined.
"You are always practicing on the field, always studying.''
While some see classroom work as a challenge, Goldman approaches it as a matter of time management. "They give you time to do the work,'' he said. "With homework, if you have the dedication, you get done with it quickly.''
But Goldman knows learning doesn't come as easily to others as it seems to for him, and he's willing to help out. Last year he mentored one of his football teammates, and he's willing to do it for others who come forward seeking help.
Paroli said it's a major advantage to have a player who can work one-on-one with another.
"I just had a conversation with a youngster who's going to be taking advanced functions,'' he said. "Chris happened to be sitting there, and I told him, there's the best tutor you can ever have.
"Often a student can put it on your level perhaps more efficiently than a teacher can. That's not to say a teacher can't teach it, but we've had kids tutored by students and it's amazing what those student tutors can do.''
Goldman's tutoring abilities extend beyond the classroom to the football field, Paroli said.
There are game situations when the defensive players break the huddle and some of them are not in the proper alignment.
"He'll make sure they're lined up in a particular defense,'' Paroli said. "If they're not, he'll be talking to him.''
Goldman's academic standing puts him in a special position when college recruiters come calling.
Paroli said they always ask two questions about a prospect. They want to know if the coach has a highlight video of him, and if the player qualifies academically. In Goldman's case, the answer is yes to both, and that automatically increases the chance of him getting either athletic or academic scholarship money for college.
"Whoever gets him is going to have the complete package,'' Paroli said, "an extremely bright youngster who works hard at what he does on the football field and makes every effort to get better each time at practice.''
Paroli said more players would be smart to follow Goldman's example.
"Everything Chris does, he does to the maximum, so he can be the best at what he does,'' he said.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.