Chester senior Jack Weir reached a significant career milestone last month becoming just the 10th player from the high school boys basketball team to reach 1,000-point career scoring mark, which is an incredible feat in itself.
It becomes even more admirable after seeing the adversity he's had to work through.
Weir has been a starter at Chester since his sophomore season, and his skills as a scorer have been steadily on display since he first took the court. But Weir suffered a concussion late last season, and there were times when his availability for his senior season was in doubt. He was able to recover and is Chester's second leading scorer this year, averaging 9.7 points per game. But that's been a slippage from some of the phenomenal numbers he had been putting up in the two seasons prior to the concussion. Now he's also dealing with an ankle sprain that's hobbled him of late.
"Getting him healthy has been the biggest battle all year," Chester Head Coach Brad Norman said. "He's had some bad luck with concussions and now a rolled ankle."
Before the unfortunate injuries slowed him down a bit this year, Weir was making quite the reputation for himself as a premier scorer that was tough for anybody to stop. He has a nuance to his game that not all players possess at this level of competition.
"Jack has an exceptional talent of slowing the game down and seeing it one step ahead," Norman said. "I believe that since he played with older kids growing up, he has learned to use his body and mind to get easy buckets. He spends a lot of time on the courts, whether it be playing pick up games or shooting nonstop in the gym with the shooting gun. But he has dealt with injury issues this year ... so his numbers aren't as impressive as they have been the last couple of years."
Even with the slight dip in box score production, however, Weir has been finding other ways to make positive contributions to the team. He's been utilizing his veteran leadership to influence the younger players on the squad.
"Some of Jack's biggest strengths are being a great teammate," Norman said. "He is always encouraging the underclassmen to do better and is there for them when they have questions. He is always a helping hand. Even with his injuries, he still shows up to practice everyday and finds a way to help the coaches. He has been much more vocal lately and doing his best to help the team in smalls ways like building confidence."
Those intangible skills have played a part in helping Chester to a winning record this year, and they also recently won the Trico tournament and finished second in the CIT. Despite all the individual and team success, Weir has decided to not get on the hardwood in college. He will be attending John A. Logan College in the fall strictly as a student. The same toughness that has pushed Weir to success during his final year at Chester will certainly serve him well in his next endeavors.
"Jack is a tough kid that has dealt with a lot in the last year," said Norman. "He has been a huge part of our program, being a starter since his sophomore year. His senior year has not gone as planned for him, but he is still very positive and always willing to do whatever it takes to make the team better."
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