Chevelle Early '24 Recruiting Profile

                    Chevelle Early

                    Oct 1, 2023

It has always felt like my moral compass has led me down the path of leadership. I feel that it is my purpose to be a leader whether it's leading teammates, myself, or others. While on my path I've learned a few things that have enhanced my perspective on leadership and my character within. This path has been very impactful teaching me self awareness, discipline and handling loss. A realization I've had is that we aren't meant to stay the same person, we're meant to mature in our experiences and learn from them because those lessons shape who we are. Not the expectations of others or limitations society seeks to shackle us with. My life experiences have grown my level of discernment that I hope will continue to expand.

This path has shown me that becoming a leader means I must learn how to handle loss in any situation. Growing up I played sports, so I knew what it was like to lose something you worked hard for. Dealing with the deaths of friends at a young age, seeing the people I grew up with lay dead in a casket truly changed my perspective. I lost a friend named Anthony the summer before 5th grade by suicide. Cleaning out his dad’s closet, he found a gun and, without supervision, he put it to his face and squeezed the trigger. At that moment a 9 year olds life was lost. How could a father, who is supposed to be the leader of his family, let something like this happen? If he had been a better role model it would have prevented the death of his child.

 Chico is another close friend that I've lost. We played for the same little league football team, we shed blood, sweat, and tears united in a common goal to win. Unfortunately, he died at the end of freshman year protecting his girlfriend in a fight, Chico died upholding and. protecting what he held dear. I respected him for that, but I wished it hadn't cost him his life. These two losses showed me that no one is guaranteed to stay in your life; death can come unexpectedly but we must stay strong for ourselves and others.  

The greatest example of leadership that I can think of comes from King Leonidas, the King of Sparta. He died in battle protecting Sparta with just 300 men but he stood against the great Persian army even though they were severely outnumbered. His story is inspirational, it taught me that I have to put forth all my effort in any situation. This mainly applies to football, my teammates look up to me, when they need motivation they look to me to give them hope. This means that I must set a good example because my actions don't just affect me. I've learned that being a leader doest start on the field when I'm at practice, it starts within. Holding myself to a higher standard makes me a better leader. I've realized that I don't have to be perfect and I'm going to make mistakes because I'm only human. Coach Patterson says, “whatever decision you make it will be the best one.” This helps ease my mind because I now worry less about the mistakes that I make because I know whatever decision I made followed the lines of my morals. His encouraging words helped me to overcome self doubt on the field and off the field. 

The path of leadership is a hard one, but with what I've learned so far and what I've yet to learn I know I will be a great leader. Following my moral compass and staying disciplined in my life will help me overcome any obstacles that may appear. I will be unrelenting in facing them because God is with me and he gives me strength.