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(above) Maria and Kimorah get ready to go to the Miami-Kent game. Maria shows her team spirit and support for her husband by wearing Josh’s jersey.
(below) Marriage has allowed Josh to become an even better quarterback. Now he plays for his family. |
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“He is definitely more responsible,” Maria says.
“He is more attentive to my needs. When I first met him, he was playing video games all of the time.
“He still does play video games. But now, he was making time for everything. He was making time for me, family and football. When I am at work, he is always taking care of Kimorah. I listen to some of my friends who have had children, and they aren’t getting the kind of help I am getting. It’s really surprised me how he’s taken a lot of the work in the house.”
Maria says Kimorah helps strengthen her relationship with Josh. She says patience comes whenever the couple struggles with raising Kimorah.
“Kimorah smiling makes us forget our problems,” she says. “When she’s frustrating us, we can’t just put her away. We have to stick through it. Then when we get frustrated with each other, we know we’re not going anywhere. We might as well work through it.”
hopes and dreams
Along with evolving personally, Josh has also been forced to make a transition on the field. When Kent State hired Doug Martin as the Flashes’ offensive coordinator in the spring, Josh’s primary goal was to become a better passer and more complete quarterback under this new teacher. Over the summer Josh had to balance learning the offense and spending time with his newborn.
“Coach Martin came in, and the offense was easy to grasp,” Josh says. “But having a family made it harder because it’s hard to do everything to the max.”
Two of Martin’s recent students at East Carolina University have played professionally: Marcus Crandell in the Canadian Football League and David Garrard with the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL.
Josh hopes he’ll be next.
“I feel obligated and duty-bound to play in the NFL,” Josh says, referring to his hope to provide for his wife and child. “But it has always been a dream.”
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| Josh does not want his wedding ring to be lost or damaged in game, so he replaces it with a band of tape. |
Josh remembers his seventh-grade teacher giving him statistics on how many people earn scholarships to play football. Then he was given numbers on how many people make it to the NFL.
“The number got smaller and smaller,” Josh says. “I want to go back and show her I did it. Not to prove her wrong, but as a celebration.
“That would be the peak of my life athletically and top my life off.”
This season had been especially trying as the Flashes were desperately looking for respect. With each win, Josh gained the glory, but with each loss, Josh shouldered the responsibility.
He says he wants to succeed for his family but also knows through the marriage, fatherhood and football, his family will always remain behind him.
“As an athlete, you can accept losing. I used to just sleep it off,” Josh says. “But now I have to face my family. It adds more stress because I feel like I let my family down.
“But they ease the pain. There’s a lot of love in my life. [Maria and Kimorah] give me lots of hugs. They are like a pill I can take.” |
