Hinsdale boy wins Punt, Pass and Kick national championship
Chuck Fieldman cfieldman@pioneerlocal.com January 17, 2012 4:58PM
Luke Adams, 7, of Hinsdale, won a national championship Saturday in Punt, Pass and Kick competition in Baltimore. Luke has several trophies for football and chess competition in his bedroom. | Chuck Fieldman~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 20, 2012 9:04AM
It didn’t take very long from Luke Adams to go from being both a little scared and worried about being a participant in a football competition to winning a national championship.
The 7-year-old Hinsdale resident claimed the championship of the 50-year-old national Punt, Pass and Kick competition’s division for boys ages 6-7 with an outstanding effort in Saturday’s finals in Baltimore. He was one of the winners introduced on national TV during Sunday’s NFL playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans.
Luke said he wasn’t nervous or scared about competing at the national level in this year’s competition. But that wasn’t the case a year ago when he had his first experience in Punt, Pass and Kick.
“My dad (Dan) took us last year, and I didn’t know what to expect, so I was a little worried,” Luke said of the local-level competition in which he and his brother, Jake, 9, took part.
Even as a first-year participant, it turned out Luke had no reason to worry. He advanced all the way to the national finals in Atlanta as one of the top four in his age group and placed fourth.
Local and state competitions are held for Punt, Pass and Kick throughout the United States. Participants are scored, based on the distance and accuracy of punting, passing and kicking a football. Those with the top four total scores at state competition advance to the national finals.
“I didn’t really try that hard when I went last year,” Luke said. “I made a friend there, and we were just laughing and having fun.”
Luke, who has been playing flag football along with youth baseball and soccer, said he practiced his skills for Punt, Pass and Kick between last year’s finals and the start of the 2011-12 competition.
“I like passing the best,” Luke said. “I can throw pretty far and on a straight line.”
Luke, a second-grader at Madison School, continued to work on his skills with his dad after the 2010-11 competition in hopes of making another trip to the national finals.
At the most recent state competition, Luke’s total number of feet for his punting, passing and kicking improved to 190 from 170 the previous year. But the improvement wasn’t over for him. Luke increased his score to 223 total feet to win Saturday’s national competition.
“I was happy to go again, and I thought I could win,” he said.
One of the most difficult aspects of the Punt, Pass and Kick for Luke during his two successful attempts was being patient during the process.
With each state conducting its competition on different dates and only those with the top four total scores for each age group advancing to the nationals, Luke had to wait more than a month after winning state competition to know if his effort was good enough to advance.
“I checked the computer a lot to see the results from other states,” he said.
When state results were completed for the 2011-12 competition, Luke went to Baltimore with his dad and grandfather, Dan Adams, who celebrated his 70th birthday by watching his grandson win a national championship.
Luke entered Saturday’s competition with more confidence than he had the previous year, but he wasn’t the only one in the family who liked his chances for success.
“I thought he would do better this year,” his brother, Jake, said. “He knew this time what it would be like because he went last year, too. I thought he would win, and I am proud of him.”
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