Silent Bulldog

CFC INSIDER

Bulldogs standout warming up to all university options.

There are two occasions when John Barsby Bulldogs middle linebacker Parker Bowles has a yearning for silence.

Parker Bowles

Positions:
Linebacker (Middle), Fullback

Height/Weight:
6’2, 190 lbs

Teams:
John Barsby Bulldogs (high school:  BCHSFA)
Dakota Lancers (high school:  WHSFL)
St. Vital Mustangs

Commitment:
None

Official Visits: 
None

Considerations:
Open

Class: 
2016

Parker Bowles

Parker Bowles, linebacker for the John Barsby Bulldogs of the British Columbia High School Football Association (BCHSFA) was born in Winnipeg and began his football career in Manitoba when he was eight years old.

“I started playing when I was eight years old for the St. Vital Mustangs there in Winnipeg,” Parker says, “In my grade nine year, I went and played for the Dakota Lancers, an ‘AAA’ football team in Winnipeg.”

“I started my first year there.”

Parker’s play in Manitoba attracted the interest of Bulldog recruiters, which in turn, became a family mission.

“I was recruited to play in B.C. and so my whole family and I moved out to B.C.,” Parker says, “Not only for me to play football but my brother as well.”

Parker played middle linebacker for the senior Bulldogs team in grade ten, which went on to win the Provincial ‘AA’ Championship that year.

 

With a long career already behind him, Parker can look back on many noteworthy games but one play back in Manitoba stands out for its special connection to his family, its excitement, and its raw physicality.

“When I was playing for Dakota I got an interception and it was my first ever and I kind of stopped in shock and then I ran,” Parker says, “All my teammates we’re blocking for me and then right on the twenty yard line me and my brother were both running side by side.”

“We were able to play together for that one year and I remember the other team’s quarterback coming for me and there was another guy to coming right for me. My brother took the other guy out and I went straight for the quarterback.”

“I just ran him over, knocked his helmet off and made him unable to play the rest of the game.

Parker looks to his favourite professional player, Brian Cushing of the Houston Texans to inspire his playing style.

“The first time I saw him play and researched him on YouTube I just loved the way he handled the management of playing middle linebacker and his attitude towards his opponents,” Parker says.  “I play my game just as he does.”

Parker also looks to his mom, his teachers and his Bulldogs coaches Larry Cooper, Glen Cook, and Rob Stevenson for guidance and support, while working to give that support back to his teammates.

“I don’t really focus on what other teams’ players are doing or have done,” Parker says, “I just focus on being the best leader and teammate I can be so that my team can win games.”

Parker keeps his focus off external competition and fixed on the internal battle against his own limits.

“My goal is to be better than the guy in the mirror looking right back at you,” Parker says, “I feel being focused is the best way to train for me.”

“I’m not a very social person in the weight room, I just do what I need to do and keep to myself.”

Parker brings that same quiet focus he exudes in training to the gridiron come game day.

“Game day for me is silent,” Parker says, “I don’t like to interact with people on the day of a game because I’m not sociable with very many people during football season, but especially on game day.”

As for his options following graduation in 2016, Parker is keeping similarly silent.

“I have not decided yet but I am leaning more to go to university,” Parker says, “I haven’t made any decision yet regarding that.”

Max Olesen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/WritingOlesen

Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.

Leave a Reply