Robert D. Campbell Junior High seventh-grader McCaden Skeens first picked up a basketball when he was five.

He also plays football and said he enjoys playing both sports to keep in shape.

“There’s a lot of conditioning in both sports,” he said. “It’s a lot running and quick movements. It works out because they keep me in shape. I don’t notice how hard they are sometimes because I enjoy playing them both so much.”

Skeens said he feels confident in his skills to get around his defender.

“I can catch the ball and I am quick with the drive,” he said. “I can dish it out to a teammate or I’ll just shoot it. I try to make it as hard for them to guard me as possible.”

Skeens admits the areas he still wants to work on.

“My free throw percentage isn’t the best,” he said. “I want to work on that so I can get easy points at the line.”

In football, Skeens has no doubts in his abilities to run the ball.

“I play running back and I would say I’m pretty good,” he said. “I can read the defense and have quick reactions.”

Skeens wants to work on his quickness and said he has been working on it in the offseason.

“I need to work on my cutting,” he said. “Football requires a lot of speed changes and change of direction.”

Skeens said his main reason he plays sports and wants to succeed is because it will pay off in the long run.

“What you do affects you for the rest of your life,” he said. “What do you now will help you later so I try to keep that in mind and do my best whenever I can.”

Skeens is driven by the impact his family has on his life.

“They take a lot of time out of their day for me,” he said. “They drive me to practice and come to my games. I can’t just give them no effort.”

Skeens wears no. 22 for basketball and no. 9.

He picked his football number from his favorite movie of all time.

“”The Waterboy” is the reason for my football number,” he said. “I seen him wearing that number and I didn’t think twice about the number I wanted to pick.”