JAMESTOWN — Last spring, Ryan Harty approached Jamestown High School head football coach Bill Nelson with a question.
It was about his son, Brady.
“He kind of brought up the idea of Brady kicking and I said, ‘If (Brady) is interested, he’s got to come and talk to me,” Nelson said. “I am not going to go talk to any kids in other sports and try to get them to come out for football. I am not going to go intervene on what soccer is doing. They’ve got a pretty salty squad and they have goals.”
Brady has been a staple on the Jamestown High School boys soccer team for the past six seasons.
After Nelson’s conversation with his father, through no persuasion on Nelson’s part, Brady showed up to talk.
“I decided to kick because I thought it would be fun, and also because some of the guys asked me to kick,” Brady said. “I waited until this year because they never have needed a kicker because they had Louis (Kjellberg) and Sara (Sletto).”
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
Brady’s first football game of his high school career came against West Fargo Horace on Sept. 6.
“A football crowd is way bigger than a soccer crowd,” Brady said. “Jamestown is a football town, so the energy is completely different. (The first game) it was pretty nerve-wracking. It’s starting to get less nerve-wracking the more I do it though.”
The senior has been in house to adopt kickoff and PAT duties in three of the Jays’ last four games. Brady is 4-for-5 in extra points and 3-for-3 in terms of field goals for 13 total points. Officially, his longest kick has been 31 yards.
“He’s been practicing quite a bit and that kind of materialized over the summer,” Nelson said. “Him being in soccer has changed around our weekly schedule but that has been fine. We communicate daily and we just get our field goal and kickoff set done earlier.”
The longest Brady has kicked a football during practice is 50 yards. Brady said the continual drilling from large distances during football practice has helped with his long ball ability on the pitch.
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
The Blue Jay soccer team senior captain is the WDA’s second-leading scorer with 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points.
Dual sporting is not exactly new to Brady as he plays soccer year-round and also plays basketball and runs for the JHS track and field team.
“Doing two sports is easy because communication between my coaches and I happen very often,” Brady said. “It has helped me get my work done sooner because I don’t have as much time as I normally do.”
All in all, it seems like everyone is benefiting from Brady’s conversation with Nelson.
“It has worked out well,” Nelson said. “Good to have him on the team.”
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
Katie Ringer is a sports reporter for the Jamestown Sun. Katie joined the Sun staff in the summer of 2019 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with a degree in journalism. She can be reached by email at kringer@jamestownsun.com or by phone at 701-952-8460.
