Basketball player’s hard work pays off

By Jaycob Ammerman | gargoyle@flagler.edu

After high school, Jared Hammock never thought the opportunity would arise to play college basketball.

Hammock, originally from Melbourne, Fla., played high school basketball at Covenant Christian. As a senior, he led the county in several statistical categories.

But after his high school career, Hammock did not believe he possessed what it took to be a part of head coach Bo Clark’s system at Flagler College.

“My high school coach was going down the list of players and saying who he thought could play college ball and I was not one of them,” Hammock said.

Instead of sitting around and giving up, Hammock used this as a confidence booster. He developed a work ethic for basketball drills to help improve his game.

As a freshman at Flagler, Hammock tried out for the team, but was devastated when he did not make it.
Instead of giving up on basketball, he accepted to be the Student Manager for the team. Hammock saw this as an opportunity that could help him get closer to his basketball dreams.

“I got to see basketball from a different perspective, but it was something that drove me to want to play and work harder,” Hammock said.

After the season was over, Hammock was looking forward to the summer to work on becoming the best basketball player he could be so he would have a shot of making the team.

“I really just focused a lot on shooting: I would shoot every time I was doing a load of laundry,” Hammock said.

He knew that he would have to do well in the try-outs to seek the attention of the coaches. Therefore Hammock said he pushed himself to the brink every day. He would run daily, and he would also lift four or five times a week.

After the try-outs, Hammock said he was nervously waiting in the gym for the news of whether he made the team or not. Head coach Bo Clark came into the gym and called Hammock to his office.

“I literally did not hear another word after he told me I made it. I just kept telling myself: man you made it,” Hammock said.

On Nov. 29th, Hammock saw his first action of the season against Trinity College.

“It was a great feeling to step on the floor that first time, and to realize that this was all finally a reality,” Hammock said.