TCA's Addison Coleman overcomes diabetes to excel on football field

 Oreos. That is what Trinity Christian Academy's Addison Coleman was eating on vacation when his mother told him that he could have diabetes.

Three days after returning from vacation before his eighth-grade year, Coleman got the official diagnosis that he had Type 1 diabetes.

Now this isn't the kind of diabetes you get from not eating right. Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes,  is when the pancreas quit producing insulin for your body.

A diagnosis that would affect Coleman for the rest of his life and come close to ending his football career, but he has fought through to become a leader on the field for the Lions.

"My first football season was crazy because I was running off every six seconds because I didn't know if I was low or not," Coleman said. "I would have Starbursts with me on the sideline, and I would just randomly eat Starbursts because I didn't know what I was doing."

But what do you expect out of a child that has been able to eat whatever he wanted through the first 13 years of his life with no effect.

But for Coleman, management became key.

"As I have grown, I have learned to manage my diabetes in way that I am almost always good," Coleman said. "Games are a lot harder than practice. So after every drive I come off and check my blood sugar. I have a couple of Powerades that I keep for myself in case I get low."

And TCA football coach Blake Butler knows that importance also, giving Coleman some freedom in practice.

"Addison usually stays on top of it," Butler said. "If he starts experiencing symptoms, he knows that he can go check his blood sugar at any time. We try to keep things around that he needs in case it is too low or too high.

"Going into games, he knows how to take care of himself and make sure it doesn't affect him. In between quarters and at half, he checks it."

There have been slips along the way, and there have been days where managing his diabetes was hard to the point he thought of stepping away from football.

"Going into eighth grade and going into sophomore year, I wasn't doing very well with my diabetes," Coleman said. "I had a legitimate conversation with my mom about not playing football, but she told me not to quit just because of my diabetes."

Coleman's mother has played a key role in helping him manage his diabetes by helping him count his carbs

"I love eating food," Coleman said jokingly. "It has not stopped me from eating. Instead of drinking a whole gallon of chocolate milk, I drink a half gallon. My mom is the greatest human being to ever live. She gives me carb numbers for every single meal I eat. She packs my lunch every day, and she puts a post-it note in it with the carbs."

Diabetes hasn't changed Coleman when he is on the football field, and Butler attests that all who know Coleman knows that he is energetic and loud and brings the intensity..

"The best way to become a leader is to go through hard things," Coleman said. "I have had a couple of hard things in my life, and it has pushed me to mature."

And be sure to not make fun of Coleman on the football field.

"Some people my freshman year made fun of my being a diabetic kid," Coleman said. "I can now accept the jokes, and I use it as a chip on my shoulder. One kid made a joke in a game, and the next play I destroyed him. It fueled me."

That adversity has helped him enhance his leadership on and off the field.

"It is not an obstacle that every kid has to deal with, checking your blood sugar and sticking yourself multiple times per day," Butler said. "It is hard enough for some kids to remember to turn their homework in, and you think about something as serious about your health like Type 1 diabetes, it is a big responsibility."

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Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.