Potential unleashed at Garinger
By Langston Wertz Jr. lwertz@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Sep. 12, 2008
Thomas Gooding is a 6-foot-5 senior at Garinger, playing
high school football for the first time after turning his life
and grades around. He's buoyed by the chance to go to college
via football.
Photo by YALONDA M. JAMES –
yjames@charlotteobserver.com
Last winter, Garinger High football coach Chris Carter was walking
by the gym after school. He stuck his head in and saw 6-foot-5,
215-pound junior Thomas Gooding playing basketball for an organization
called Right Moves For Youth that tries to help at-risk youth get
on the right track.
Carter saw an athletic young man with long arms and great leaping
ability.
“Man, I just saw a lot of potential,” Carter said.
After the game, he approached Gooding and asked why he'd never
played sports at Garinger. Carter told him he really thought he
could have a future playing football, one that might include a
college scholarship.
“That doesn't happen all the time,” said Carter, whose team will
host East Mecklenburg (3-0) tonight. “But one look at this kid
and I was like, ‘Wow.'”
Two weeks ago, Gooding played his first game for Garinger (0-2).
He played receiver and safety. He had three tackles and an interception
on defense.
On offense, he beat his man on a deep pass and drew a pass interference
call. He got open a few more times, but the Garinger quarterback
just missed him on plays that might've produced Garinger's first
points of the season.
“He started showing that potential,” Carter said. Actually, Carter's
just glad Gooding is getting the chance to show it. When they started
talking last winter, Gooding had missed 60 days of school and was
ineligible for sports. His family was moving around frequently.
“My life just wasn't going how I wanted,” Gooding said. “I wasn't
focused on school. My family was going through a hard time.”
Gooding played football in middle school at Eastway. He liked
the game and wanted to play in high school, too, but his grades
always prevented him. His high school social worker, Sara Morrell,
saw that sports was something Gooding was interested in and got
him involved in the Right Moves program.
“That was the springboard,” she said. “And when coach Carter
saw him and started encouraging him and starting saying, ‘Hey,
you've got some skills. Hey you can make it,' that's when things
started turning around for Thomas.”
Gooding practiced with the Wildcats football team in the offseason.
Coaches from Akron and Marshall watched him and told Carter they
were very interested. Gooding started going to school, going to
class – and he started excelling.
“Right Moves got me playing basketball and doing other things,”
Gooding said. “It showed me school isn't as bad as I thought, and
coach showed interest in me and got me to come out here. I love
football, but every year, I would get my report card and it wasn't
good. Coach said, ‘You can do this. You can get the grades.'”
Gooding started believing.
“It was just focus,” he said. “I can do the work. I didn't care
before. School wasn't my first priority. But I've seen now what
my life could be. Coach started telling me I could be something,
that I could be really good. But he said, ‘You gotta get the scores.'”
Gooding's sudden change surprised his mother, Jackie Haney.
“He did it real quick,” she said. “I'm really proud of him. He
knew what he had to do. He brought Fs up to As in one quarter.
He just came home one day and said, ‘Mama, I'm going to do it.'”
Gooding pulled a 3.2 GPA in the fourth quarter of the 2007-08
school year, his mother said.
Playing with Garinger in summer drills and scrimmages, he began
to turn heads.
“He's impressive for his first year playing,” said Mallard Creek
coach Mike Palmieri, whose team scrimmaged Garinger in July. “He
was physical. He made some good catches. I only saw him for 90
minutes, but I'd say he has a future in the game. I see college
potential as far as size and speed. I don't know at what level,
but he can definitely play.”
Carter promises he'll do everything he can to help Gooding get
to college, even if the route includes a stop at a prep school
or junior college.
Gooding is just thankful for the chance.
“I really hope I can go to college and play football,” he said.
“It's what I always wanted to do, but it just wasn't how my life
was going. I didn't know where it was going. Now I'm doing everything
I can. I hope it works out, you know. I mean, you can always do
better.
“If your family is doing bad, you can go to school and help your
family. If you sit around and do nothing, it won't get any better.
That's what I learned.”
Reprinted with permission from the Charlotte Observer.
Copyright owned by the Charlotte Observer.
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