The Americans We Are Still Discovering: Jon DeMello

Have you ever Met Someone with an Incredible Ability to Pick up a Sport?

Did that person continue to improve at a rate you never thought possible? Did he combine his natural athletic ability with a natural sense of where to be and what to do in this sport? Did he pick and choose his spots to talk shit in order to subtly throw you off your game?

Jon Picked Up Sports at the Drop of a Hat

Meet Jon: a former professional wrestler (the real kind) and club rugby player for the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. Jon switched to wrestling from playing and coaching hockey (including an athlete with down's syndrome) his freshman year of high school, and in three short years he built his skills to take fourth place in his weight class at the Kelsey-Graves tournament. He was part of a powerhouse Brooks School Wrestling team. His senior year of high school, he transfered to Nashoba Regional High School, where his coach encouraged him to join a club team and start wrestling for money.

Jon takes on Rugby

Once he entered college at the University of Edinburgh, he decided to take on rugby. He started at the intramural level as a fresher, and climbed the ranks all the way to club level. He did this all while taking up boxing as well (I am not sure how successful he was at boxing, but you can assume he was.)

Jon and his new sport: Basketball

Over the last three weeks, he has taken up playing basketball consistently for the first time in their life, and the results are Where Amazing Meets Extraordinary. He has an amazing sense for the game and displays his strength and agility.

Jon and his Sense for the Game

His basketball smarts are most on display when he is off the ball on the offensive side. Without any instruction, Jon makes v cuts, sets picks at the perfect time, rolls to the basket and gets in good boxing out position. He also plays decent defense and makes good decisions when he has the ball, even if these aspects of his game are not as inspired as his off the ball offensive play.

Jon Uses his Athletic Ability

His strength and agility are most on display when he is forced baseline by their defenders. Those fans who play and watch basketball know this may be the most difficult position to be in on the basketball court. You are often behind the backboard, which makes shooting a near impossibility. Usually another player on the court can help your defender to trap you without leaving his man, effectively cutting off passing lanes. You are forced to put the ball on the court and use your strength to create something out of nothing or, for most people a worse tactic, try to find a teammate on the perimeter. In these situations, Jon puts his agility and strength to the test because he keeps his dribble and uses his strength to get a lay-up on the strong-side or use their agility and quickness to get to the weak-side for a reverse lay-up.

Conclusion

The ability of Jon is shocking. The fact that Jon can pick up sports so late in his life can be frustrating to us who sweat like gym rats everyday just to become sub par basketball players. That people like Jon can handle his amazing abilities with such grace, dignity and humility makes it so it is only possible to love them.

If you know someone who is an American you would like to nominate for a "The Americans We Are Still Discovering" article, please send your submissions to me at Seifeldeine@gmail.com.

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The Americans We Are Still Discovering: Yi Li

Have you ever met somebody who worked so long and so hard at a sport with very little immediate return to their game only to one day wake-up to discover that this person had become a very solid player?

Did that person approach the game with the meticulousness and thought that rivaled a med student studying how to save lives? Did that person make the perfect leader and coach? Could he surprise and inspire you with his dedication and love for the game?

Meet Yi: Yi wrestled in high school to very little success until his senior year, when his technical skills and knowledge of the sport got him elected captain at Milton Academy. When Yi entered college, he also meticulously studied boxing, getting a punching bag and working on it daily over the span of months to greatly expand his hand speed and accuracy. During his sophomore year of college at Tufts University, Yi brought this same attention to basketball.

When I had met Yi he was a pudgy, goofy class-clown with a little bit of an attitude. He even wrote his college application essay on how he had discovered being a class-clown had gained him popularity. While still quite the jokester, Yi takes more time in his day to display excellent leadership capabilities, serious reflection on life and dedication to his friends.

Yi worked on his love for wrestling, boxing and basketball as well as general fitness over the course of years. While still no Adonis, Yi went from being the pudgy, funny Asian kid to the well-toned athlete he is today. The dedication he displayed during his time wrestling at Milton caused the coaching staff to seek out Yi to join them as an assistant.

Yi brought that same sensibility to the game of basketball. He is the type of player that seems to exert no effort despite setting valuable picks, getting himself into excellent rebounding and defensive positioning, moving his feet on defense, running the court and replacing on offense when the situation calls for it.

He is a true student of the game, and while his career path now has him headed toward an excellent career in internal medicine, he could easily one day make a great coach in either wrestling or basketball if he so chose to (or a poet, because although Yi has not had the opportunity or time to improve upon his craft, he possesses as much natural talent for poetry in his pinky as I do in my whole body.)

The Americans We Are Still Discovering: James Taylor

James Taylor spent a year at Milton Academy only to leave it for another school. His advisor recognized his gift for music, and would sneak him up to the attic during study hall so Taylor had more time to improve upon his craft.

The Americans We Are Still Discovering: Jason Yeager

Anyone who had the pleasure of hearing Jason play piano at Milton Academy (he was and has been featured on NPR many times since) will be delightfully surprised that it was even possible for this talented musician to build on his skills. Personally, I had the pleasure of seeing Jason's talent develop from my sophomore year of high school all the way until my final year with him at Tufts in 2009. I have not heard him since, but trust this dedicated professional has built his skillls in new and exciting ways. Be sure to check out this talented musician as he breathes life into a classical American musical genre and takes it in a new direction. http://www.jasonyeager.com/live/