ADAPTIVE MEASURES
Law’s Neider adjusts to challenges, winning in life and on field
John Neider didn’t play quarterback until his junior season. His high school career as a wide receiver ended with something stronger than a request.
“When I took over the program (in early 2020), with the direction we were moving, I said, ‘I need you to play quarterback,’ ” said Jonathan Law coach Chris Haley. “This kid was a sure All-State wide receiver. I said, ‘It doesn’t matter John, I need it to be done. This is what we need to do.’ ”
Months later, Neider was the SCC Tier III Player of The Year and All-State Class M as a quarterback. “It’s unbelievable,” said Haley. Neider would pass for 1,728 yards and 20 touchdowns. He ran for 1,153 yards and 15 TDs. Neider’s recollection? “Right after our passing league my sophomore year (COVID canceled 2020) coach told me he wanted me to play quarterback,” Neider said. “It wasn’t really a question.
“For the next six months, I was on the field learning reads and plays. Off-the-field learning as much as I could. I was trying to absorb everything I could in that little amount of time, so I’d be ready to go for gametime. I had a lot of help from my coaches and team.”
The hardest part? The mental aspect, Neider said. Knowing who’s where and making decisions in the moment.
Law was 2-8 in 2019. Law is 9-4 since Neider took over as quarterback. Through a 3-0 start as a senior, he has completed 34 of 45 passes for 677 yards and seven touchdowns and has run for 199 more on 16 carries for seven more touchdowns. The truth is not until he passed for three TDs and ran for three more in the 49-7 win over East Lyme last Friday night did Neider play anything resembling a full game. The previous games against Bethel (46-0) and Bassick (48-0) were decided quickly.
If you’re impressed with Neider’s
ability to adjust, well, you don’t know the half of it.
Midway through the eighth grade, John Neider was a happy kid, enjoying his basketball season, hardly a care. It started with being really thirsty. Over the next month, he started getting some major headaches and light-headedness. There was growing fatigue.
“One day I woke up throwing up everywhere,” he said. “I was totally drained.”
He would go to Yale-New Haven. The diagnosis was type 1 diabetes.
“No kid wants to hear that,” Neider said. “My heart dropped. It was a low point. The first couple of months were rough. I was upset and worried more than scared. I didn’t know how it would affect me sports-wise, living my life day to day.
“I had to adjust. I’m still adjusting to this day with everything. Obviously, it’s a battle to try to stay healthy. I’m still learning stuff.”
Type 1, once known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that makes up 5-10 percent of all diabetes. The pancreas doesn’t produce any or enough insulin. Injections or an insulin pump to regulate blood sugar levels is needed.
Neider wears a pump on his back. Through the wonders of modern medicine, he has a Dexcom hooked up to his cellphone. There’s an app where he can check on his blood sugar levels at any time. And if I had tried to explain this in the 1960s to a friend who was a diabetic, he would have thought I was from outer space.
“The progress has been amazing and continues to be,” Neider said. “I try to keep my day-to-day just like it was before I was diagnosed. I have to be a little extra cautious with what I eat. I have to check my numbers before I eat or do something physically active to make sure I’m ready to go. Or if I feel a little off.”
He brings Gatorade to the football field in case of low-sugar levels.
He said he has had no significant problems during games.
“I am cautious of some things,” he said. “If I get scratched, I make sure it doesn’t get infected. I’ve had some bumps and rocky roads (since the eighth
grade), but it has gotten a lot better.”
Until last week’s Servpro Student Athlete Spotlight — Servpro is a corporate partner of the CIAC — Neider also had kept his medical condition private. He knew talking about it could be a source of inspiration for others, especially kids. He also didn’t want to be defined solely by his disease.
“I hadn’t really told anyone,” Neider said. “My close friends knew. So this was a bigger thing for me. A couple of kids have come up to me and said they had no idea. I’ve kept it to myself for so long. I didn’t
know how to go about getting it out there. I felt this was the best opportunity. It’s definitely relieving.
“I also don’t want it to define me. I want to live my life normally. I don’t want other people to have to worry about my problems too often. I can handle it for the most part.”
Haley knew about the diabetes. He’s the head coach. He needs to know such things.
“I was so proud of him for putting it out there,” Haley said. “I also asked him if he was sure he was good with it. Or do I have to call somebody and get it taken down? He said, ‘No, I thought it was a good way of getting it out there finally and start talking about it.’
“As far as day to day you’d never know. You don’t see it. That’s what is amazing about it.”
Neider goes every few months for routine checkups. In the meantime, he chases life. He has a 4.2 GPA. A three-sport athlete, he also is a baseball center fielder and basketball forward. Starting his junior year, he was 175 pounds. Thanks to continued lifting and good nutrition, he’s up to 6-2, 200.
Haley pointed to a ball Neider crushed for a long homer last spring at Waterford as a sign of his growing strength. He pointed to Neider’s ever-growing understanding of the offensive system as to why he is evolving into a quarterback and not just a kid who throws and runs the ball.
Those are the end products that Neider hopes will lead him to play in college either as a receiver or quarterback.
“The reason I wanted him to be quarterback in the first place was I saw someone who was incredibly loyal, trustworthy, dedicated and a pure competitor,” Haley said. “It had nothing to do with ability. It had to do with mentality and who he is as a person. This is a kid who’s there at school at 6 a.m. lifting.
“He comes from a great family. He was raised the right way. That’s A-1. I’m not sure his parents were sold on the idea (of quarterback) at the beginning. John was willing. I just knew if you’re going to go down with somebody, you go down with somebody you can trust. He was just what we needed.”
A side benefit? His brother Mike is one of his wide receivers.
“Obviously we’ve been throwing forever,” John said. “We throw it everywhere. Wherever there is a football, we throw it. It’s cool to finally be able to throw on the field in a game.”
“If John didn’t put on the jersey on Friday night, you’d never know he plays football,” Haley said. “He’s a great student. He’s a quiet, down-to-earth, mellow goofball who turns into an elite competitor on Friday nights.”
One who has proven he can make adjustments.