Excellence Personified

7/18/2023

All that sweat.

All those weight room reps.

All those trips up and down and around Collegiate’s Jim Hickey Track.

Will it pay off? Ben Brackett wondered as he plotted the course that would prepare him, he hoped, for the 2023 Move United Junior Nationals, scheduled July 8-14 in Birmingham. Will it ever produce tangible results?

As always, though, he soldiered on, undaunted.

Doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. Deal with the inconveniences. Hey, you’ve done that all your life. Show up. Be present. Round every corner. Stay focused and positive and dedicated to excellence. After all, it’s the effort, not just the outcome, that’s important.

So Brackett persevered: one step at a time, throughout the spring track season and into the heat and humidity of summer in Central Virginia and then at Camp River’s Bend in the Allegheny Mountains where he served as a counselor. He left nothing to chance. He took nothing for granted. He kept his eye on the prize, even if he didn’t have a totally clear vision of what that prize actually was.

As his track and field teammates strove to earn spots in championship meets, Brackett trained day-in, day-out and ultimately met the standards that qualified him to participate in the 100, shot put, and discus in the seven-day festival of athleticism, courage, and emotion which, like the Paralympics, offers a wide range of sports for athletes of various ages with various levels of disability.

“It was really exciting to get to go and compete and see other people doing similar things,” said Brackett, a Collegiate lifer, now 17, who’s entering his senior year. “People have stories. You learn from them. But I didn’t really expect to win anything.”

That’s not self-doubt, mind you.

It’s Brackett’s humble understanding, well-honed through a lifetime of managing the challenges of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, a condition that attacks the peripheral nervous system and affects his motor skills, balance, and mobility, that you can control only what you can control.

It’s his understanding that 30 minutes of stretching exercises for his hands, legs, and feet every night are essential so he can function at max capacity the following day.

It’s his understanding that his disability, to him a relative term, is a test of his resolve, resilience, and no-excuses mindset that he regularly passes with flying colors, manifested by his black belt in karate and Eagle Scout achievements.

It’s his understanding, too, that in track and field, there’s nothing you can do to affect the performance of your competitors. You can only do your best.

When Brackett arrived at the Spain Park High School track in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover early this past week, he could hardly imagine the adrenaline rush he’d feel as he acclimated himself to his surroundings and the stifling Alabama heat and, in the ensuing days, exceeded his wildest expectations.

As he went through the warmup regimen that had served him well at Collegiate, he quickly impressed participants and mentors with his work ethic and singleness of purpose.

One of those mentors was Max Rohn, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who lost part of his right leg while serving in Iraq in 2009 and later became involved with adaptive sports. He then went on to win multiple gold medals in the Invictus Games and is now training for the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in November and the Paralympics in Paris in 2024.

While conducting a clinic the day before the competition, Rohn took Brackett under his wing and over a two-hour period helped him refine the shot put and discus technique he’d learned from Collegiate throws coach Beth Kondorossy and even introduced him to the javelin.

“Ben is the exact reason why I wanted to do this,” Rohn said of teaching the intricacies of the throwing events to younger athletes. “It’s finding a kindred spirit along a similar journey. You’re just waiting for a chance from somebody that you can actually be good at something, and when it does happen, you can see that passion displayed physically.

“Ben is very mild mannered and matter-of-fact. He didn’t say much, but you could see that he was picking up on all my cues. The best part was, he came out the next day and executed.”

On Wednesday morning, competing in the 17-20 age group of the T43 classification, Brackett won the shot put (27-4.75), then returned in the afternoon to win the discus (58-6, a national record for his age group and classification).

On Thursday, he completed the trifecta with a victory in the 100 in 24.96.

“It really was a dream come true,” he said. “It was nice knowing that all the hard work had paid off.”

All the while, Brackett’s mom Callie, who registered as his coach, enabling her to be on the field with him, watched with joy, admiration, and, she readily admits, overwhelming emotion.

“It was an amazing opportunity for Ben, who is so strong and capable, to compete with others like him and succeed,” she said. “It was humbling. Everyone was so kind, so happy. Nobody felt sorry for anyone. Everyone — every coach, every parent, every single person — was helping each other. I think I cried 17 times a day. Collegiate is so kind to allow Ben to compete, but it was just awesome to see him compete with like-abled athletes and see where he stood.”

Next up for Brackett is his final year at Collegiate. He’ll serve once again as varsity football statistician while continuing his training, run track in the winter and spring as he has for several years, perhaps compete in Move United regional competitions, and, if all goes well, return to Birmingham next summer.

“Ben’s accomplishments show that when he puts his mind to something, he’ll make it work,” said Brent Miller, Collegiate’s head boys track coach. “He has the drive and motivation. He always finds a way. All of us at Collegiate are so happy to see that his effort produced such great results. We couldn’t be more proud of him.”

~Weldon Bradshaw

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