Bernie Fratto

Speaking
of
Sports 

by
Bernie 
Fratto

 
Getting Their Kicks

8/31/07

Congratulations are in order for Northville resident and Novi Catholic-Central graduate Jason Gingell. As a member of the 2004 graduating class at CC, Gingell was a prolific kicker and a key cog on Two State Championship Football teams.

At 5’9” and 171lbs his booming kickoffs and long accurate field goals were a thing to behold. When he committed to Michigan, I absolutely remember telling a Novi parent that I believed this young man would win a job for the Wolverines someday. Interestingly enough this particular parent had a son that was a kicker that stood 6’4” and he felt Gingell was ‘too small’ to make it. Haha, here we go again…

One of the most impressive aspects of Gingell’s odyssey was that he was recruited at the same time as Garrett Rivas, an All-American kicker from Florida, but he never gave up and now his perseverance has been rewarded. You probably remember Rivas’name as he has been Michigan’s starting kicker for the last 3 years. But now that he is gone the job opened up to heavy competition among 4 recruits.

Gingell won the battle with his consistency and strong finish. At 5’ 9” Gingell kicks big and plays big, that’s all that matters. He’s proven once again that size means nothing if you’ve got game. You can be 6’ 7”, but if you lack the skills, coordination, and toughness to play big what good is it? You might be the first one to know it’s raining, but that’s about it.

Meanwhile, Novi’s Pat Sijan will also be handling kicks and possibly punts for Northwood University. A three-year starter for the Wildcats, Sijan also kicked for the West squad in the prestigious State All-Star game last July played in East Lansing.

Sijan joined the ranks of former Novi greats Chase Chandler, Matt Gorman, Josh Buck and Kevin Cislo, as all of them represented the Cats in fine fashion against the State’s best.

Meanwhile Gingell and Sijan will do a fine job representing their respective Northville and Novi communities when college football kicks off this week.

And the rest of us will get our kicks watching them play…

(c) 2007 Novi Information Network
www.novi.org

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Bernie Fratto is a freelance writer, radio personality, and motivational speaker.  His passion for sports comes in part from his experience as a former Cincinnati Red farm- hand.  "Behind every sports story lies the hearts and minds of real human beings" said Fratto.  "These athletic endeavors often serve as a metaphor for the game we call life."

Bernie is also on the broadcast team at Live 97.1FM talk-radio, and is a frequent co-host on the popular "Parker & The Man Show," a nightly sportstalk show which airs Monday-Friday from 7-11pm.