Like many senior boys at Brighton High School, Juristic Collins III is part of the varsity football team. He has been working hard towards his dream of get a full ride playing football in college since youth ball, and won’t let anything hold him back.
It got real for him freshman year and he has only improved since then. Though it hasn’t been an easy journey with both the mental and physical stress sports put on the body, he keeps a positive outlook because it’s all about accomplishing his goals. Juristic has had many minor setbacks here and there, but a big turning point for him was when he dislocated his knee a few years back. As many athletes can justify, Juristic said that being patient was the hardest part. In order to get back on the road to success, he needed to keep his head up and not push himself as hard as he was used to. Thanks to the support from his family, the mental healing process was fairly easy, as well as the physical aspect of the injury. “I owe everything to my family.” Juristic said as we talked about his future, his siblings are his main motivation to reach his end goal of playing ball in college. With a full-time schedule, it’s easy to see why Juristic is so determined; he doesn’t have any time to waste. He is a full time student, a full time athlete, babysits his little sister on the weekends, and works on the weekend nights. This all seems very tiring but it is so worth it to him. “I don’t consider any other activities when I’m playing football. If I’m there, I’m going to be there 100% and even though I’m busy I don’t think I’m missing out on anything else because I love what I do. Everything that I’m doing is everything that matters to me.” At this point, Juristic isn’t going to let anything influence his priorities and he is going to reach his goals no matter what.