St. Joe baseball star is this week’s Walborsky, Bradley and Fleming Student Athlete of the Week

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -Jabara Pearson is no stranger to the Port St. Joe community as he’s been a football and baseball star for the sharks the past 3 years, but the diamond has always seemed to be the one that had his heart. ”Every since I picked up a bat, I felt like it was like was me, like that was my sport.” Pearson told us.

”He started for us for two years, our center field, as a 10th grader, he played a pretty big roll whether it was running bases, coming in late and playing defense” adds St. Joe head coach Ashley Summerlin. As a 3 year vet, Jabara is able to provide a guidance to a somewhat young team, a sense of reassurance and confidence. “I’m the one who tells them to focus up, tell them that don’t let the game be as big as it is, if we just go out there and play, it’ll be good.” “Just the way he goes about his business, he’s a calming presence for them for sure.” says Summerlin. Jabara is hoping to take all of these attributes with him to college next year. Now, he hasn’t selected a school to play ball at yet but he is leaning hard towards a major in sports management, simply for the love of sports.”Yeah, I like being involved in sports, in my off time I look at football, look at hockey, I look at just a bunch of different sports.” But before he goes off managing other players and teams, Jabara’s not quite done managing his own career. “He’s a great person, you know,” the coach tells us “and I think it always starts with that. If you’re going to be a good player, you’ve got to have that dedication, he definitely has that. He’s worked his butt off for a long time to do the things he wants to do.” “I Don’t want to put my ego out there or anything like that but I think I’m pretty good at it, I can go far with it, and I really enjoy playing it.” Pearson adds. Oh Jabara, it’s okay, you can go ahead and toot your own horn... with a .368 batting average, 19 RBIs and 5 bombs this season you’ve earned the hype. “I work hard and I do good in school, I try my best in everything. I put in the hard work and effort and I’m glad coaches see it and they give me opportunities.” “He’s a good person, he’s a good leader, he’s a good mentor for our young kids and they look up to him.” says the coach. “Newschannel 7′s Student Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Walborsky, Bradley and Fleming.”

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