Senior baseball and soccer player Brandon Smith has been around sports nearly his entire life. His parents got him started with soccer at the age of five and his father was his first soccer coach. Although his career in sports started young, Smith has never lost his passion for the game.
In Smith’s senior year of Mt. Zion High School, his soccer skills earned him all-conference and all-area honors as well as defensive MVP. Despite his success on the soccer field, baseball was what got him noticed, but his desire to play the game he loved for as long as he could was the real reason why Smith found himself at Blackburn.
When Smith arrived on campus, he came to the realization that his love for both games was too great to be contained by only one. Lucky for him, playing both was an option. “I got here and ended up emailing Rob and was like, ‘Hey, you think I could try out for soccer too?’ and he let me try out,” said Smith.
Most people are not cut out to be multi-sport athletes, but the exceptions are another breed entirely. Their abilities in one sport seem to transcend to the other-creating a beautiful grace and fluidity with their bodies that make something complicated appear effortless. It’s almost as if, for them, two sports become one.
Smith is one of those exceptions. His play is a perfect combination of power and calm. “Brandon Smith is a teammate who will put his body on the line just to make the tough play. He always tries his hardest and will always be there to pump you up” said former teammate Parker Ramaker. His play is even more impressive as he has had to adapt to a hearing impairment in his right ear. While Smith has had to get used to making minor adjustments to accommodate, he has been able to overcome and push past this obstacle. In fact, many may not even notice any difference between him and any other player on the field as he has “had it so long now, it’s just kind of normal for me.”
For anyone who has seen Smith—especially on the soccer field—he’s entertaining and provides his team and fans with a spark.
For anyone who has not met Smith or does not know who he is, he’s “the flip guy”; the one backing all the way up to the bleachers before taking off towards the sideline, ball above head, and yes, flipping. But the craziest part is not just the flip itself, but the accuracy and power behind the throw as a result. Those watching in the stands can often be heard asking, “How?” or “What?” followed by a silence that can only result from a lack of words to describe what it is that they just saw. It’s a thing of beauty, but just like all great things, it’s taken him years to perfect.
“It was just a random thing, I was just randomly flipping through the channels, saw the [Illinois] game on and they had two girls that could do it so I was like ‘Well, I can do that without the ball,’ so I figured let me give it a shot.” While Smith admitted his first attempts were far from impressive, he kept working on it. “It just evolved and I’ve gotten better and better and this is the best I’ve thrown the ball,” he said.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about “the flip” isn’t even the flip itself. Maybe it’s a little deeper than that because in the short amount of time that it takes for both the trick and fans’ jaws to drop, one thing is more clear in that moment than in any other throughout the game, and that’s love. Passion. Pure enjoyment. Smith doesn’t just play soccer. He doesn’t just play baseball. He lives it and he loves the games. He always tried his hardest and is always there to pump you up.
