Perry’s Kolston Brewster overcame odds to get to the FBS level | Opinion

Kolston Brewster was flat on the seat of his pants.

Heartbroken, sad and stunned, the aspiring football player pondered whether this was the sport for him.

“I was the backup quarterback for my youth league team,” Brewster reminisced. “I messed up and the coach threw the football at me — hit me in the helmet. It knocked me over. ... For the next week, I thought about quitting and never playing again.”

That same young man who was knocked off his feet by one of his coaches announced on May 2 that he has accepted a preferred walk-on opportunity at the University at Buffalo.

It’s aggravating to think of a youth coach reacting in such a way against a young player. Coaches on all levels — especially at the youth level where skills are meant to be fostered, not ridiculed — hold an amazing amount of power.

They have the power to foster, and the power to deter.

All by how they themselves act.

By chucking a football at a young player who admittedly had made a mistake, the coach put the youngster smack-dab at the fork of a crossroad.

The options?

Quit or use it as motivation.

Not a day went by over the next decade that Brewster didn’t forget being treated that way.

“That really motivated me a lot,” said Brewster. “That was quite motivational, at least to me.”

Brewster went on to lead his team to a 25-2 record over his final two seasons at Perry, a pair of CVC Chagrin titles with back-to-back 10-0 regular seasons, and was named first team All-Ohio as a senior.

All after being knocked to his britches by an ill-mannered youth coach who let his emotions get the best of him.

Brewster is a 18, but has already began to dabble in coaching circles. He said he enjoys coaching his younger brother, Kaden’s, basketball, flag football and baseball teams.

And if he encountered that youth league coach again?

He probably wouldn’t chastise him — as he justifiably could do — but he’d probably smile.

Brewster came out on top when he had every reason to walk away from the sport.

“I’m going to a Division I school now,” he said. ‘If you flash back to that moment when he threw the ball at me, I never would have thought I’d be in this position right now.”