#PeopleFirst Friday: Jamie Marshall
AV Technician Jamie Marshall has hated being the center of attention since he was a child, but thrives in a team dynamic. Growing up, Marshall was a three-sport athlete, participating in basketball, soccer, and baseball.
“It’s funny, because I always enjoyed playing soccer growing up, and I was a great player, but they didn’t have youth soccer in my area from age 13 on, except for a showcase league,” the Hendersonville, N.C. native recalled. “It was expensive and a huge time commitment. At 13, I hung up my cleats.”
His retirement was short-lived.
“Literally the night before soccer tryouts my junior year of high school, I decided that I was going to go out and try out for the team. My parents thought I was crazy,” Marshall laughed. “I literally went out, true story, with baseball batting gloves, five-dollar shin guards from Wal-Mart, running shoes, and I made the soccer team.”
Serving as a back-up goalkeeper, Marshall was thrust into the spotlight towards the end of the season when the starter went down with an injury.
“We were playing our last regular season game in the rain, and the starter got hurt. He ended up tearing his MCL,” he said. “Guess who got the call the day before the state tournament to start in goal during the state playoffs?”
Marshall’s team would go on to win the tournament, though not without a few nerves.
“There was this one time I remember, we were leading by a goal, and I knew if I gave up a goal there was a good chance we would be going to penalty kicks. That’s a keeper’s worst nightmare,” he said. “Making saves in that game, you just have to react in a split second. That’s the way it is at CSM now too, you just have to react.”
While Marshall was a two-time state champion in soccer, he always gravitated toward baseball as his first sports love, and continues to do so to this day, regularly attending local minor league baseball games and rooting for his favorite professional team, the Atlanta Braves.
“I grew up playing baseball all the way through high school and was all-state my senior year,” Marshall said. “I was a utility guy. I could play third base, or you could stick me in left field, or I could go play second base and right field. I was all over the place.”
Being part of a team has always resonated with Marshall, which is part of the reason he enjoys his role at CSM Production.
“Whether it’s the nine guys on the baseball diamond, the 11 on the soccer pitch or CSM Production at a NASCAR track, it’s important to remember that we’re all part of the same team, we all have the same goal,” he said. “Everyone’s out there helping one another to achieve that goal. There’s no arrogance or playing favorites, no mentality of ‘I’m better than you, I’m not doing this,’ we’re all there for the same reason – to put on a kick-ass show.”