By Khadijah Torbert

From tee-ball to basketball, flag football, and soccer Sophomore Zac Pearson has had his share of being a multi player of sports, so deciding which sport he'd make a priority came down to a collective effort.

"We ended up sticking with football and baseball and ended up going with baseball when I got to highschool. The whole story with football is that it interfered with baseball, I loved football more at the time but when everyone in my family talked -and- because it was conflicting with baseball so much so we all decided to go with baseball and that's what we did."

It's a good thing too. He really found his niche with playing baseball taking on the position of pitcher. 

"We spend a lot of time going over the preparation of it. Your workouts, they matter. The movements they matter. Everything matters when it comes to pitching. So when you're in the game you have to have the confidence that you've done everything you could to get to that point, so you just have to do what you can do now and just go with it."

There's one thing he learned to master while attending Calhoun Community College, and he said it made all the difference.

"Breathing, those breathing exercises are really good, Zac said. "Pushing all the air out and clearing your thoughts and then finally letting that deep breath out when you can't hold it anymore those have helped me alot and I learned all that from my pitching coach here at Calhoun.

He said. "Growing up I would get stressed on the mound and at the time, I would say 'I perform better under it', but now that I know what it's like to perform without stress, you perform way better."

Out of high school Zac enrolled and played for Middle Tennessee before dealing with injuries and transferring into Calhoun in January of 2020 just as the pandemic was making its mark on the U-S and the state of Alabama. 

"We got a little into our season maybe 10 to 15 games in and it was  around this time last year when they called it. I haven't pitched in a game til this past season - this one right now - since 2017 due to injury and surgeries," said Zac. "I had baseball taken from me before but it still sucked because it's an injury but when it was someone else taking it from you and you don't have a say, we still all wanted to play."

Zac spoke on his two surgeries he had and the recovery time and not knowing whether he would be able to ever play the game he loved, again.

"There's a lot of times I didn't know. I had that little bit of hope and faith which is why I never quit or never gave up," said Zac. "I heard a thing growing up that you can "What if" it all you want but no one never knows. If you try and fail at least you know but if you don't you'll never know and i wanted no regrets."

He said this season was personal, it was either now or never.

"Me and one of my teammates stayed down here this summer in Decatur and worked out all summer together everyday on a pitching program our pitching coach  had gotten for us. The way I took it, is that it's my last shot. This is my last year to get out of here and go somewhere else and that was my mentality all summer coming into this season that it was either now or never."

A few personal goals Zac had for the season, he's already checked them off!

"Personal goals I had this year were to get a scholarship to play somewhere and I did, I signed with Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, so I've gotten that and that was a personal goal. Another one was to get back to the performance level that I was at before injuries and I've done that." 

Zac said, "As a team in my opinion, we have a pretty good team this year. I think we are struggling a little bit right now putting it all together but when we do we can make a really special run at the state tournament, hopefully."

He said his path playing this sport may not be the usual journey most take, but he did emphasize his advocacy for community colleges especially to young athletes looking for a foundation and the next level.

"There's a guy on our team who throws a 99 there's not many people on the face of the earth who can do that much less at Division I or Division II anything and he's at a JUCO right now. I'd tell anyone, don't think you're not good enough for it or too good for it, I promise you you're not. Come see some of the guys who are in it, and you'll understand," said Zac.

Although his time at Calhoun Community College is winding down, he says he is thankful for the time memories made.

"I never thought Decatur Alabama would be home for me but I've come to love it and enjoy it in it's own special way and i' sure I'll miss it when I leave," said Zac. "But i'm extremely thankful for the opportunity that coach [Cody] Gaskil gave me and coach [Jonathan] Wilkins for working with me."