In the pursuit of greatness, there are no shortcuts or half measures, only a single-minded commitment to one’s goal, and here’s a story of a boy who’s truly pulling out all the stops to reach the top: This nine-year-old athlete even wears his Under Armour shirt to church.
Damn. This kid is not messing around.
For as long as he can remember, fourth-grader Toby Fahlen has dreamed of being a professional football player, as well as a professional baseball player and a WWE wrestler and a UFC fighter—and while these may be lofty ambitions, there’s no denying that he is putting in the work. Not only does Toby do 50 pushups and 50 situps every day along with 40-lb bench press sets on his dad’s Bowflex, but he also stays constantly ready to compete, sporting his Under Armour UA Tech 2.0 Nova training shirt and Under Armour running shoes at all times so that, should there ever be a need for his athletic skills at church, school, or while running errands with his mom, he’s prepared to perform at the highest level.
Strutting into the foyer at Covenant Presbyterian Church each Sunday, Toby can practically feel the eyes of the other congregants admiring his Under Armour-accentuated muscles. “He’s only a fourth grader but he looks as strong as a middle schooler,” he imagines them whispering to one another. “It’s so cool how he made the travel baseball team on his very first try.”
While his mom has argued that there’s no reason for him to wear his Under Armour shirt to church if he’s not playing sports, she fails to realize that the shirt’s stretchy, form-fitting fabric allows him to bound up the church stairs four steps at a time without constricting his movement, and its moisture-wicking properties help him quickly dry off after working up a sweat playing Bible-themed games during Sunday school. She also doesn’t seem to understand that pretty much every pro athlete in the world wears Under Armour, and if Toby is going to grow up to be a multi-sport pro athlete as he intends to, he obviously needs to be wearing Under Armour, too.
SMDH. Toby’s mom clearly has no clue what it takes to be the best.
Toby may only be nine, but his commitment to doing whatever it takes to achieve greatness—even wearing the same shirt day in and day out, despite it absolutely reeking of prepubescent B.O.—should be an inspiration to everyone, no matter their age. The NFL, MLB, WWE, and UFC better look out, because it won’t be long before Toby comes to take them all by storm.
