JAX youth plays in NFL Global Junior Championships prior to Super Bowl XXXIX

Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Jim Bob Williams, a member of Westside Baptist Church, competed on the USA team for the NFL’s Global Junior Championship Feb. 5.

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Highly paid football professionals were not the only players to take to the gridiron during Super Bowl week in Jacksonville. High school football players from five nations competed in the 9th annual NFL-sponsored Global Junior Championship.

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The championship, always in the Super Bowl host city, brought teams from the U.S., France, Canada, Japan and Mexico to north Florida to vie for the world title. The 36 members of each international team roster resided with Jacksonville families for the week-long agenda of competition and festivities.

Jim Bob Williams, a senior at Trinity Christian School, competed on the U.S.A. team. The “home team” was made up of scholar-athletes from nine counties in north Florida. Each member was recommended to the team by his high school coach. Coach Verlon Dorminey of Trinity High School recommended Williams to the team.

The Trinity team has won two state championships in the last three years, narrowly missing a third this year. Although Williams says he has played “almost every position on the offensive line,” the 6'3", 255-pounder now plays tackle.

Among his most ardent fans is his family: mother and father, Johnny and Pam; two sisters and an older brother, a student at Dallas (Texas) Theological Seminary. The family is active in Westside Baptist Church in Jacksonville.

Pam Williams, who told Florida Baptist Witness she has enjoyed “every aspect of football” since Jim Bob was in the 7th grade, said the international competition added a new type of pressure to her 18-year-old son’s game.

“It is one thing to represent your school in a football game, but playing for your country made them want to go the extra mile,” she said.

Jim Bob said he enjoyed getting to know the other players, and enjoyed Christian fellowship with his “buddy” from Trinity, center Matt Stevens, and Bolles quarterback Riley Skinner. The international competition was a new experience.

“It was different not knowing what the guys across from you were saying,” he said.

Unlike the Patriots and the Eagles who played football games over several weeks to earn a berth in the Super Bowl, the international competition preliminaries were decided in one grueling day. On Feb. 3 at The Bolles High School, teams competed against each other in two “seven-minute halfs.”

“Jim Bob put his pads on at 1 p.m. and didn’t take them off again until 10 p.m.,” Pam Williams said. “He was pretty tired when he got home.”

The USA team, who had practiced together six weeks, blanked France, Japan and Mexico, but fell to Canada 14-7 after a last-second home team offensive play was spotted on the 1-foot line. Both Williams and his mother said the play was “a fluke,” and, after seeing the game film, said the Florida player caught the ball in the end zone.

The Global Junior Championship final was held on the night before the Super Bowl and again matched up USA and Canada for what Williams called “a grudge match.” In four standard 12-minute quarters, Canada edged USA 38-35. Although both teams received gold championship rings, Canada‘s were engraved with “champions” and USA‘s read “championship.” Professional players and celebrities attended, and ESPN covered the event. The Williams family hopes college coaches were impressed by one of the offensive tackles.

Jim Bob Williams will now turn his attention to finding a college where he can play football and get a degree in construction management. He hopes to join his father in his general contracting business after college graduation.

“I’m praying about where God wants me to go to school,” Williams said.