The Shawnee News Star
By Billy Brown, Sports Editor
Shawnee juniors Jack Diamond and Tyree York and the Gain Sports 7-on-7 team traveled to Bradenton, Fla., over the weekend to compete at the NFA 7v7 Southeast Regional where they finished as the No. 4 seed after pool play Saturday. Diamond and York, along with Skiatook’s Shae Garner and Baron Odom of Wynnewood, completed the Oklahoma portion of the team’s roster.
Gain Sports, founded in 2014, is a resource available to student-athletes, coaches, and teams to aid with events, marketing, promotion, athletic development and to provide access and education during the college recruitment process.
Team Gain went undefeated in their first three games of pool play Saturday, taking down Big HITS All Stars Club Silver coached by former NFL talent Ernie Sims to start their day. The boys followed up with a win over TC Elite Training as former Minnesota Viking receiver Randy Moss watched from the sidelines.
Diamond and his team capped the undefeated run with a big win over two-time National Champions Team Tampa before taking a loss in their final game against Burch Sports Performance.
The team hadn’t met for the first time until the night before and had less than three hours of practice time before their first game against Big HITS, Gain Sports Founder Josh Clark said.
The boys played in three games the next day, losing two in overtime after jumping out to early leads to drop out of the double-elimination tournament.
With the short amount of practice time and large success from Saturday, Clark is confident that the team could make a national name for themselves.
Diamond impressed by making high-level throws over the weekend and is a quarterback with a lot of capability.
“There are some small things Jack needs to put together and if he puts them together it's really going to help him take off,” Clark said.
York was equally impressive in the receiver role where he had “as impressive of a performance as any receiver in the tournament all weekend,” Clark said.
Clark said York is a highly skilled athlete with a capability to play at the highest level. He proved to be a playmaker amongst some of the best talent in Florida and the country, Clark said.
Odom is a big target who moves well for his size and is “probably one of the best blocking tight ends in the country on film,” Clark said.
Shae Garner, a receiver on the shorter side, has a lot of Darren Sproles-esque qualities at his height, Clark said, and has the capability to be an explosive player in the right offense.
Clark said that all four athletes were a pleasure to coach.
“Their eagerness and the work they put in, all four of these young men strive to be the best football players they can be... they did a really great job of representing the state of Oklahoma,” he said.
Shawnee senior and Vanderbilt commit Jackson Winrow and Wolves junior Creed Humphrey have also spent time working with Clark and Gain Sports.
Humphrey traveled with Gain Sports on their first summer college bus tour two summers ago approaching his sophomore season. At the University of Georgia, Humphrey quickly impressed from his first punch against elder Georgia defensive linemen, Clark said.
“We knew from that moment that this was a kid that wanted to play football,” he said.
The Wolves and the rest of the 7-on-7 team don’t know what their next challenge will be yet, but they will continue to accept the challenges put in front of them.
