Caden Quinn is only 12 years old and he’s already drawing attention in Clovis’s competitive youth sports scene.
He just wrapped up his first full season with the Clovis Clash, Clovis’s Pop Warner youth tackle football team, as the team’s quarterback.
“They asked if I could throw the ball and I said yeah,” Quinn said, recollecting when he joined the Clash earlier this year. “They put me in for practice and I just kept improving.”
Quinn helped the Clash battle its way to the semi-finals in 2019 and secured the award for offensive player of the year along the way.
“It just brought a smile to my face,” Quinn said about winning the award. “I was glad because I started off not knowing how to hand the ball off, barely being able to throw a spiral. Then at the end of the year my hard work paid off.”
Heather Frantzich, Quinn’s mom, said she knew her son possessed the talent and drive necessary to excel with the team.
“At the beginning of this season I was very nervous because he’s never really played that position before… but I knew he had the talent to fill that role,” Heather Frantzich said.
She continued, “I couldn’t help but have tears in my eyes for the mere fact that he has grown so much as a player, as a 12-year-old. For him to achieve all that he set out to achieve and the goals he had and really help lead the team you can’t help but feel proud, very proud.”
Quinn also plays wide receiver on the Cedarwood Elementary football team.
Football is only Quinn’s latest undertaking. He began playing sports when he was four years old, after his parents enrolled him in tee-ball.
His first and biggest inspiration was his parents, who trained Quinn at a young age.
“I started baseball when I was in preschool. My parents were my first coaches. We would go out to the field and just practice or go in the backyard with my tee and net,” Quinn said.
Baseball is currently Quinn’s strong suit, as he plays pitcher, first base and center field. In 2016 he helped lead his Babe Ruth team to the state championship. He ranked as one of the top players in the nation in his age group that same season.
Quinn, one to explore all areas of sports, currently plays basketball at Cedarwood Elementary. He plans to return to baseball in the spring.
He doesn’t yet know what he wants to do when he gets older, but he said he’d never give up on sports.
“It depends on what I do, if I get better at baseball or football. I’m never going to quit. I’m never going to give up on those sports,” the up-and-coming athlete said.