Senior Ian Crocker plans to play football at the collegiate level

Ermias Hagos, Staff Reporter
Originally published January 16, 2019

Senior Ian Crocker has been playing high school football since his sophomore year. Ever since he has stepped up to the spotlight he has performed at a high level on both fields. As Crocker’s senior year roll on, he has his sights set on the school he wants to play for after high school. Simon Fraser University.

Last year, Crocker suffered a season-ending injury during the first football game of his junior year. It devastated him at first, but motivated him to push forward and recover as soon as possible for his senior year. After having a great performance this past season, Crocker has  decided to join Simon Fraser for the next chapter in his football playing career.

“I went on a visit up there and I really liked the area, people and coaches and thought it would be a good spot to go,” Crocker said.

While athletes often get pressured and pushed to go play at a specific school, Crocker wasn’t pressured at all. In fact, aside from himself, family was the only other factor that helped him cement his decision.

“My parents really liked it, but I just looked at my options and it was the place I liked the most,” Crocker said.

Playing sports at the collegiate level is much tougher than the high school. The schedules are more rigorous, workouts can be tougher and the environment can be harder to operate in with the increased pressures put on the athletes. For Crocker, the influence for playing at the competing at that level came from his high school experience.

“Coach Humphries and all the other coaches and my teammates showed me how much fun it is to play and made me really love football. If I hadn’t played for Ballard I don’t think I would’ve kept playing because they made me really love playing football,” Crocker said.

As Crocker pursues football after high school, his baseball career will come to an end this season as he has no plans on playing in college. After coming back from a season ending injury last year, and having an amazing senior season this year, the future looks bright for Ian Crocker.

“[What’s made me most happy playing football in high school was] spending all of my time with my teammates and coaches because those are the guys that I’m gonna be friends with for a long time,” Crocker said.