For someone who has been taught the art of discipline, his hyper presence is anything but reserved and his happiness is contagious.
Jason Sturdivant is a dual-athlete at Pierce College. But before he became captain of the football and tennis team, he served three and a half years in the United States Army.
Although the difference between serving in the army and having a leadership role on a college sports team is significant, the time that earned him the nicknames “tank” and “army” prepared Sturdivant for the roles.
“I learned respect, discipline, leadership, and how to operate while stressed,” Sturdivant said. “Everything had to do with stress.”
In Sturdivant’s senior year at Crosby High School in Waterbury, Conn., he had a Marine recruiter come to his house everyday to talk to his parents and prepare him for the Marines.
The recruiter was reassigned to Massachusetts and Sturdivant decided to enlist in the Army instead.
“My Marine recruiter left me,” Sturdivant said. “So to get back at the Marines for taking him away from me, I took myself away from the Marines. I said bye to the Marine office and walked across the hall to the Army office.”
Sturdivant was trained to operate a tank at Fort Irwin in San Bernardino, Calif. He would have missions that started in the Mojave Desert and ended in Death Valley, which left him dripping with sweat.
He was ranked as an E-4 Spc. and started as a driver in the tank and moved his way up to being a loader and then finally a gunner.
Sturdivant was honorably discharged and received both an Army Achievement Medal and Good Conduct Medal. He made a personal decision to not reenlist and to pursue his academic and football goals.
He went online to search Google for California community colleges and he found Pierce College to be his best option.
After joining the football team, the coaches immediately threw him into a leadership role when they discovered his army experience.
Sturdivant compared it to being thrown to the wolves at first, but his love for the game kept him interested and he’s never had problems as a captain.
“Football is the number one sport to me and it will always be the number one sport to me,” Sturdivant said.
Sturdivant is majoring in psychology, but he considers it a backup plan as his primary focus remains football.
“Academics are important, but I’m not working this hard to just be a buff dude with a B.A. I’m trying to go the furthest,” Sturdivant said.
In the time between football seasons, Sturdivant plays on the Pierce tennis team.
“There is no ceiling to Army’s potential,” said tennis head coach Rajeev Datt. “Nobody on this team has a better work ethic than him. If I would have gotten my hands on him as a 10, 12 or even a 15-year-old, he could have gone and played at a university on a scholarship.”
His role as captain on the team goes beyond making his teammates better tennis players. Datt said that Sturdivant leads by example to help make his teammates better people.
“I think he brings in a lot of energy whenever we are on the court,” said freshman teammate Manish Kumar. “He taught me to always be positive no matter what.”
Sturdivant’s goal is to be a defensive back at a division one school, specifically San Diego State University.
Sturdivant still recalls the memories he has from his years in service that he can remember in detail.
He would listen to hard rock to get him ready for a mission and while in his tank. From a tank to a locker room, Sturdivant hasn’t changed his preparation methods.
Before games, he still listens to rock bands like Linkin Park and Nirvana, but before he takes the field or court, he slows the music down and listens to artists like Sam Smith or Drake.
“I’m a nerd on the low,” Sturdivant said.