NFL Player Bret Lockett Visits Hathaway-Sycamores

New York Jets’ Bret Lockett Shares Football and Life Lessons with Boys in Residential Treatment 

For the second time in the last two weeks the boys at El Nido (our residence campus) were treated to a visit from an NFL player. On Monday, April 1st New York Jets’ safety Bret Lockett came to meet the boys at El Nido.

New York Jets player Bret Lockett visits Hathaway-Sycamores

Lockett attended UCLA after graduating from Diamond Bar High School. He shared with the boys the challenges he faced making it into the NFL. Lockett was invited to Cleveland to try out for the Browns after not being picked in the 2009 draft. Lockett discussed the determination necessary to make the cut, how he made up his mind to do everything humanly possible to make the team. No matter how tired he was he kept giving it his all. Lockett’s hard work and determination paid off when he was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent. He went on to play for the New England Patriots and was signed by the New York Jets earlier this year.

The most important message he wanted to impart to the boys is that anything is possible, to always stay positive. Lockett shared his philosophy of looking ahead to the next challenge that awaits him. He talked about personally having to overcome injuries and the need to plan ahead for life beyond football since the average career of an NFL player is only 3.3 years. The visit concluded with Lockett answering a lot of interesting questions from the boys.