For five years Lake Braddock senior Michael Harrison has participated in a sport that rewards patience and toughness and forces him to use an opponents’ weaknesses to his advantage.
No, not football, although Harrison is having a fine season at running back for the Bruins, who are 7-1 entering the final two weeks of the regular season. Instead, Harrison has a black belt in judo, a martial art that originated in Japan in the late 19th Century.
“I love it because I think the intensity and the focus I need for judo carries over to football,” said Harrison, who has competed in judo tournaments throughout the country. “Once I started doing it all the time it became something I just wanted to keep doing.”
Harrison has taken to both sports. He placed second at the Liberty Bell Classic in Philadelphia over the summer in the under-198 pound category for 13 to 16 year-olds. It was actually Harrison’s younger brother, Mitchell, who got him started in the martial arts. Now a seventh-grader at Lake Braddock, Mitchell began taking tae kwon do at six-years-old.
Michael Harrison took over at running back last season for Lake Braddock, which seeks the program’s first Patriot District championship since 1999. The Bruins would take a huge step towards one by winning at West Springfield tonight. Lake Braddock is 5-0 in the Patriot, but just one game ahead of the Spartans (6-2, 4-1). The improvement of the 6-foot, 205-pound Harrison over the last year is a big reason why. Last week in a 37-13 victory against Annandale he finished with a career-high 310 rushing yards on 24 carries and also caught two passes for 33 yards. The Bruins have won seven games in a row since a season-opening 21-0 loss to Robinson. They finish the regular season with a game at home against Hayfield.
“Michael has really gotten a lot stronger, faster,” said Lake Braddock coach Jim Poythress. “He’s one of those kids with the work ethic to go with his talent. And even though he’s a nice kid off the field he’s developed a mean streak at running back, too. And that’s helped him become an even better player.”
Bear on the Run
» Lake Braddock senior RB Michael Harrison was born in Georgia and has lived in Hawaii and Pennsylvania. His father, Michael Sr., is Brigadier General in the Army.
» Harrison says he has drawn recruiting interest from Army and Navy as well as Georgetown and Richmond.
» Lake Braddock senior QB Shane Halley returns for tonight’s showdown with West Springfield after missing last week’s game at Annandale with a hamstring injury.
