At the onset of his high school career, Jack Shay’s athletic sojourn took quite a dramatic detour, as he traded the pitch and the soccer ball for being a signal caller with the pigskin on the gridiron. Yet with persistence, positivity, and the great perspective of the bigger picture and the constant craving to learn, he has made a complete transition.

The Hand senior played soccer up until freshman year and was geared up to join a Tigers’ program that just finished off a four-peat of Class L state crowns. However, after COVID hit that year, Jack was drawn to another endeavor through playing beach football around the Surf Club with friends.

Now, Jack has emerged as one of the main starting quarterbacks for the Hand football team this fall, while still displaying his fancy footwork as a punter and kicker on special teams for the Tigers.

“After playing with my friends during the pandemic, I realized I could throw the football well. I had gone to the football games, but I never fully realized how important the sport was to the town. It is such a different culture than anything I had experienced,” says Jack. “I love running out there on the field on Friday nights and seeing the people in the stands go crazy. I was lucky, because in my sophomore year, I saw guys like Pat Flanagan and learned from guys like him. It was very helpful, and I got to learn from people every day. I like taking what you learn and putting it to use.”

Jack jumps at the chance to be the focal and starting point of every offensive snap as the man behind center in the black and gold. He adds it can certainly be very mentally and physically demanding, especially with the potential to take licks while letting it fly.

“I like how I get to touch the ball on every play and know where everyone is supposed to be and making reads. Having control of the play is so significant,” Jack says. “You cannot get down on yourself as quarterback, and you have to get better each play. Throwing a football leaves you in one of the more defenseless positions out there, but you just have to take it on the chin if you get hit.”

While he got his reps in with the iron during the offseason, Jack has sharpened himself cerebrally by embracing the inevitable mistakes that will come down the road and using them as a stepping stone to a higher pillar of prominence.

“Being in the weight room this past offseason has helped me get so much faster and stronger. Also, watching the other quarterbacks has made me more well-rounded with understanding how to play the position and how to carry yourself,” says Jack. “Mentally, I learned that you have to learn from your mistakes and that you cannot be perfect every play, and you will not win every game. Yet every play, there is always something to learn from it. You then have to figure out ways to not repeat those mistakes.”

Also competing for the Tigers’ boys lacrosse team in the spring, Jack is setting his sights on collegiate athletics, but he is simultaneously keeping himself grounded in terms of hitting the non-play books academically, thanks in large part to the intangibles afforded to him through the game.

“In terms of athletics, I want to play college football or lacrosse. Playing the sport at the next level has always been the end goal for me,” Jack says. “With football, the values of discipline I have learned from it have really helped me as a student and get my schoolwork done.”

Hand football Head Coach Erik Becker further details that while Jack may be constantly under the spotlight, he does so many of the unnoticed gestures around the program and club behind the scenes that truly give them an always essential emotional boost.

“Jack is the ultimate teammate,” says Becker. “He is always first on the field. He has a great attitude every day, and he brings great energy and lifts his teammates up. He really does all the little things.”

The 2023 campaign may have gotten out to an inauspicious start for Jack and the Tigers after an Opening Night 28-21 defeat to Bunnell at home, though it will only make Hand’s players that much more tenacious and eager to work harder and smarter to put themselves in a position to be in victory formation more often than not for the remainder of the fall.

“We had a tough first game of the season, but in that game, we had glimpses of being a team that can go far and win games,” says Jack. “Everyone is so determined to get back out there to work and prepare for the next game and be at the level we know we can be at. The first loss will help us get better, and we always look forward to getting back to work.”