Jamal’s Story
Hey MyoMinds, our founder George had the pleasure of interviewing Jamal Jackson, the founder of Student Athlete Counselling (@student_athlete_counseling) and the man behind the developing documentary “See Isaac Run” (@seeisaacrun).
Growing up, Jamal’s dad’s sporting prowess, playing American football, was an inspiration for him. Jamal’s Dad was the player featured in the famous “See Isaac run” video released in 1969, his dad’s footwork and speed on the field wowed everyone who saw it and still does to this day! Sadly, when Jamal was 16 years old, his dad passed away.
Obviously, this meant difficult times for him and his family, growing up Jamal decided to aim to be like this Dad, to strive to play American football professionally. Jamal worked hard and it showed in his skills, but becoming professional, when everyone else around you is too, is difficult. He didn’t manage to make it into the pro leagues, but Jamal knew he still had that passion to be in sports and he knew he had a passion to help others.
After Jamal finished at college he began working, starting from “ground zero” as he had to start figuring out what to do next. In 2011 he started his master’s degree in social work, he explained how his degree was mostly researched based but Jamal’s desire to help others pushed him to do extra, volunteering with local sports programs, helping young athletes be the best they can be mentally.
It was right around this time when Jamal first developed Student Athlete Counselling.
He began working with athletes one on one and in groups, Jamal quickly learnt that these athletes needed sport. Growing up in a difficult area and going through similar things that he did, he knew exactly what they were going through. Jamal began to perfect his style of coaching and counselling, he worked with athletes through loss of parents, anger management, problem solving and more. He began using the weight room in his sessions, showing athletes how they can apply thing from their sporting training into the world.
Now Jamal has become fully qualified and is beginning to push on with his counselling services. Helping mentor young children as well as older student athletes through many different avenues. As mentioned previously, Jamal has also begun to work on a documentary about his dad; named “See Isaac Run” where they explore the inspiring story behind the video.
Jamal’s story is inspiring, through the hardship of losing his dad and battling to make it as an athlete, to then working and helping others who are going through exactly what he did. It is important for us all to see this bigger picture, there is always some light at the end of the tunnel. Often, it’s what we go through that guides us to how we help others.
