GAMES
RANKINGS
Fulshear junior Seth Smith
THE VIKING: Fulshear's Smith Embraces Gladiator Sports
SETH SMITH IS A FAN FAVORITE, NO MATTER WHAT SPORT HE’S PLAYING.
He goes by “The Viking,” a nickname that started in rugby. The Fulshear standout braids his blonde hair at each end of his head, and kids started to recognize him as “that Viking kid.”
At wrestling matches, fans of Smith’s dress up in Viking attire.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s amazing. It’s real cool.” Smith stars in football, wrestling, and rugby, which he considers “gladiator sports” where “the strongest and fastest wins”.
Once you get tired in either sport, Smith said, you’re done.
Smith plays the toughest and most under appreciated positions on the field – fullback in football and flanker in rugby. Roles that prioritize speed, strength, fitness and physicality.
“If you’re the most well conditioned, you’re going to win that wrestling match,” Smith said. “In rugby, if you’re the most well conditioned, you’re going to get around the field better. In football, if I’m the most well-conditioned, I’m going to get there faster and get my blocks down.”
But it’s more than just the primitive nature that Smith is enamored with.
“What it comes down to is all of them are about respect,” he said. “You’re going to go out there and do what you have to get done, but you’re going to do it with the utmost respect.
“That respect aspect is what travels with me.”
Now that football is over, Smith transitions to wrestling, where he finished fourth in the 220-pound weight class at the Class 5A State Tournament last year. It was his first official year of competitive wrestling, as he had only wrestled sporadically, off and on for a couple months at a time, before then.
“Since I finished fourth, all three people who were above me graduated,” Smith said. “My mentality is being first. My takedowns are better. I’ve been working on speed and staying consistent on the move.”
Off the field or mat, Smith is a respectful, classy young man who loves peanut butter. He fondly remembers eating a whole jar in two hours.
Manners, respect and humility are important to Smith. He credits his upbringing for that. His father, Charles, and his mother, Callie, are his inspiration.
“Everything they do is for me and my little brother, and everything they do helps us be better people,” Smith said. “If they’re willing to give everything of themselves for me, I might as well give my all to be the best in what I do.”
East Central running back Dylan Grinsteinner (9) runs for a first down in the first quarter during the game between Moss Point and East Central at East Central, Friday, September 20, 2019.
East Central has hired a proven winner to take over its football program
By: Patrick Magee
East Central High School has hired a mentor of former football coach Seth Smith to take over its football program.
Eric Collins has stepped down after one season as the Bay High head coach to take the same position at the Hurley school.
Collins was Smith's boss when the two men were at Pearl River Central.
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