Fossil Ridge High two-sport athlete Dustin Mock has his heart in the clouds
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Some of the best advice that Dustin Mock has ever been given is from his dad: 鈥渁 team of people can come up with a better solution than any of the individuals on the team could have done alone.鈥� For example, even if one person has a solution that is 80% solid, an entire team putting their heads together could most likely come up with a solution that鈥檚 90 or 95 percent. This is the mentality that Dustin brings to both his athletics and life in general.
Dustin is an eighteen-year-old senior at Fossil Ridge High School, where he plays running back on the football team and runs the 110M and 300M Hurdles in track. He鈥檚 also currently applying to the Air Force Academy and hopes to compete in track there, but he believes he has some progress to make on his hurdling technique for that to occur. He doesn鈥檛 see himself playing football after high school, mostly due to the growing concern with CTE and other long-term effects from injuries.
While he loves playing both sports, his reasonings behind each are unique. The biggest challenge in the game of football, according to Dustin, is the complexity of the game itself. Someone can explain the rules of another sport, like soccer, fairly simply, but football has so many components, the explanation can become muddled very quickly. Though challenging, he also enjoys this aspect, because it makes the sport quite cerebral as well. In addition to its physicality, a player is presented with a problem on each play before the snap; that player has to assess many moving parts and make split-second decisions based on his training. Games can be won and lost not only by who hit harder or ran the ball better, but often by who watched more film, drilled plays more effectively, or had better play calling.
Track and field, on the other hand, is interesting because many events, including Dustin鈥檚 specialties, aren鈥檛 exactly team-oriented. No matter what your opponent may do, it鈥檚 not going to affect your personal performance. In a sense, you鈥檙e competing against yourself more than anyone else. He compares it to other 鈥渟olo鈥� sports, such as wrestling, that often have mind games and some psychological warfare built in; with the hurdles, he says, 鈥渢he direct competition aspect is weakened significantly.鈥� Another facet he finds interesting is the difference in the 鈥渢eam鈥� dynamic compared to true team sports. Points are still scored together, but because events are mostly solo, you aren鈥檛 able to help out your teammates during competition. Support must be given completely on the sidelines.
Dustin views his friends and teammates as a healthy support structure, both on and off the field. He makes a point to hang out with his friends a lot, claiming them as a resource rather than a distraction. He shares that spending quality time with supportive friends can help you decompress and get through stressful times.
When he鈥檚 not busy with school, sports, or hanging out, you can probably find Dustin pursuing his passion for flying. He鈥檚 a certified private pilot, now looking to achieve his instrument rating. Upon his acceptance into the Air Force Academy, his ultimate goal is to become a military pilot, which also plays into his choice to not continue playing football. As he states, 鈥渋f I have to choose between flying planes and chucking my body into 230-pound linebackers to move a pigskin four yards downfield, I鈥檇 rather be flying.鈥�
Along with being individually driven, being part of a team is clearly important to Dustin. Throughout his years as a team member, what has he taken away? 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do everything by yourself, and that鈥檚 okay, because you don鈥檛 have to do everything by yourself.鈥�
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