As spring trips go, this was one to forget for Parker Zasada.
It was 2024, and Zasada was in Florida with his Reavis baseball teammates.
While running hard to first base during the first game of the trip, Zasada suffered a torn Achilles tendon.
“Right when it happened, I thought it was really bad,” he told Southwest Regional after practice last week. “Because usually I don’t really get injured, but it was something like I’ve never felt before.
“And then I didn’t want to say what it was like, but I knew it was something bad.”
Bad enough to keep Zasada out for the rest of that baseball season and almost all of the 2024 football season. But he worked hard at his rehab and kept pushing his dad Tim, Reavis’ football coach, to let him get back on the field.
“It’s tough because we’re both competitors, right?” Tim said. “We both want to get out on the field and he’s right next to me on Friday and he’s trying to help, but he’s frustrated, I’m frustrated.”
So Parker and his dad struck a deal.
“He was like, ‘If I get my (physical) therapist to say I could play three or four plays, can I do it?'” Tim said. “And at that particular point, (my) wife said no, I said yes.”
Parker played against Evergreen Park, forced a fumble and after a handful of plays, was done for another season.
“He wants to contribute, man,” Tim said. “He wants to be a good teammate. He wants to be seen as someone you can count on.”
Finally last spring, after basically being sidelined from sports for a full year, Parker got his way.
The 5-11, 220-pounder was one of the mainstays for Reavis’ baseball team, hitting .375 with 31 runs and 22 RBIs as the starting catcher.
The Rams played Brother Rice in the second game of the season. “I remember that game,” Parker said. “That game was a fun one. We didn’t win but I remember I had to block a lot of balls back there. I was worried going into that game like, how am I going to do catching? But it was fine.”
Now Parker is finally back on the football field with no restrictions. He’ll be lining up all over, anywhere from tight end and fullback to defensive end and linebacker.
“For our football team, we always have to have a couple dudes in case other teams have some dudes to match up,” Tim said. “And he’s definitely one of them. So we expect him to do some big things and dominate both sides of the ball.”
Tim is one of the more intense coaches in the south suburbs. What’s it like to play for him when he’s also your dad?
“It’s been good,” Parker said. “It’s been good and bad. But I’ve always — coming out here to the games when I was little, I dreamed of playing with him. So I’m here now. We have some good days, he’s on me sometimes. But I like it.”