Athlete Minded: Stories

Once Jon Cohen's parents divorced at an early age, sports gave him something to focus on.  He played all the sports growing up, and especially loved football. However, even though he worked hard, politics wormed their way in, even at the middle school level.  The most shocking part of this interview is when Jon recalls the moment when his coach told the team, with him in earshot, "I will never have a Jew as my quarterback." Even though he dealt with this bullying and abuse, Jon still continued to play football in high school, and eventually transferred his skills to the rugby field at Quinnipiac University.  There, he got the joy of the game back since he didn't have to deal with an official coach. As Jon explains his transition to being a non-athlete, he describes similar experiences of bullying at the office working in commercial real estate, but fortunately now he knows how to deal with it in a positive way.