Up until the moment Bristol High School quarterback Brady Slate decided to take his athletic and scholastic talents to Chestnut Hill College last month his parents were a bit apprehensive. Maybe that’s slightly too strong a descriptor.
Worried seemed more appropriate at the time.
Slate didn’t seem interested in continuing his playing career at the collegiate level. He was barbershop deep, shall we say, in his other life passion, and acquired skills; cutting, shaping, fading, barbershop customers’ hair.
Math is Slate’s favorite subject in school because “it comes to me the easiest,” he said.
His decision to attend college or join the workforce seemed to have been a challenging one because the young man wanted to learn a different set of fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills. He wanted to become a barber – a noteworthy profession endemic to sports culture.
Brady is now under the tutelage of Webstar Adams, One Cut Above Barbershop in Bristol. Adams is a living, breathing, hall of fame barber in the area, many say.
Credit: Submitted
The Bristol Warriors High School star quarterback was leaning towards continuing to work on his barbershop skills, his mother, Traci, said.
Then it all changed after a visit to NCAA Division II Chestnut Hill College campus, Mom said. On the ride home from the Philadelphia-based campus, she and Brady’s father, both college educated, could sense the visit was a transformative experience for him.
The whole way back, Brady talked about the opportunities attending Chestnut Hill College would afford him especially majoring in business management.
“I loved the campus and the football program is great as well. I really wanted to continue playing football and I feel like Chestnut was a program that really suits me and will allow me to succeed,” Slate told Lower Bucks Source.
Mom and Dad Slate were “absolutely thrilled” when Brady told them Chestnut Hill was his choice.
On Wednesday, January 28, with mom and dad by his side, two-year-old niece Siana, sister Rylie and dozens of teammates watching, Slate signed his letter of intent to take himself and face his set of athletic and educational hills to climb beginning next fall.
“It will definitely be a big jump from the high school, Slate said, but it is something that I am willing to go into because I am ready to compete and earn a job early on being there.”
“There are so many people that have shaped Brady into the person he is today making it possible for him to have an opportunity to play football at the next level. I would say that Coach Mike Ciotti would be one of the main people to thank because he saw something in Brady during middle school and freshman year and mentored him, encouraged him and pushed him to become the player he is today. I know they have spent a lot of time talking about future plans and what all of the options could be for Brady,” Slate’s mom said.
Credit: Submitted
Brady and the family also thanked Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Mike Poploskie and Principal Nick Nastasi for being there to help guide Brady through many conversations about future possibilities, especially since Brady was unsure which future route he wanted to take: college with playing football, college without football or going right into the workforce by becoming a barber.
There are those times, where young men and women, if given the proper support, information and experiences can and will deliberate about life impacting choices and come up with the right formula to solve the equation “with the missing X…”
Or in this case, a life choice.
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