Zach Hodskins

This kid’s a stud.

Zach was born without his left forearm but has developed into one heck of a basketball player. Florida’s coaching staff saw him play during some summer leagues and offered him a preferred walk-on spot next season at UF. So he won’t have a scholarship, but will suit up and practice with the team. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Last month, I went up to the Atlanta area to meet and spend some time with Zach. The plan was to shoot his senior night game, but mother nature decided to dump ice and snow all across the south. Classes and all games were cancelled. But I was still able to meet up with him at a local gym for some pick up games. Then shoot a practice with his high school team.

After he announced that he’s going to UF, the media requests started to roll in like crazy. He had to shut down his twitter and after a while, just stopped taking requests. So when we (the Sun) called, things had died down quite a bit. He and his parents allowed me and a reporter to hang out for a weekend. Plus, they said since we were local media and not the big guys, they felt more comfortable. Score one for small daily papers! As we were hanging out at home watching golf, Bryant Gumbel and HBO called. They turned them down… for now.

My favorite tid-bit from Zach was when he started talking about how he handled all the phone calls and media requests. Before he announced, he posted a highlight video on YouTube with his phone number at the end. That’s pretty common for high school players. But he started getting hundreds of calls, most of which he ignored. But on a whim, he decided to answer one. He picked up and said “hello” and the guy on the other end asked “how many hands do you have?” And Zach said “Two of course.” And the guy on the other end said “oh, shoot, wrong number.” and hung up. Genius!

So yeah, he’s got a great since of humor. And I’m looking forward to seeing him around Gainesville. Be sure to check out Kevin’s story in The Sun. And check out the video I made. (below) Including him making 7 threes in a row at the end of a tough practice. If you’ve ever played basketball, you know how hard it is to shoot with dead legs. So to make 7 in a row after a 3-hour practice… stud.

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