Biography

Jalen Marcellus Rivers BIO
Jalen Rivers was born in Portsmouth, VA at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. At the age of 4, he was first introduced to sports, which was baseball. Jalen enjoyed Baseball very much. At the age of 5, he and his family relocated to Middelburg, FL in May 2008. At that same age, he started public school at Tynes Elementary. While attending Tynes elementary Jalen participated in Chorus, the school reading club, and on the News team. That same year Jalen was signed up to play basketball at the YMCA. Jalen’s mother and stepfather wanted to sign him up for football but the Oakleaf Gators were the only team in the area and they were pop-warner. Jalen was too big to play for pop-warner and was denied a waiver. The next year after a rivalry basketball game at the YMCA, a referee asked Jalen to join his AAU team the Jacksonville Nets. Jalen played basketball for the Nets AAU organization for three years (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade) Getting to play basketball without all of the restrictions at the YMCA, Jalen fell in love with the sport. In the fourth grade year, the Nets qualified to attend DIV 2 nationals in Charlotte N.C. and placed 7th out of 33 teams. Jalen has since switched to the Heart and Hustle (HAH) AAU basketball organization. in 2014 HAH qualified to attend DIV I nationals and placed 11th out of 65 teams. Not long after starting AAU basketball at 7 he was introduced to football. One day in the YMCA parking lot, a stranger asked his stepfather if Jalen had ever played football. After the discussion where he learned of the size problem he suggested they contact an organization called the Argyle Spartans. According to him, they were the first team in the area to start an “unlimited” football team. That’s when Jalen finally started his football career at seven years old. After two years of playing football with the Spartans and coming in fourth place at regionals in the second year in Ocala Florida, Jalen went to a new unlimited team closer to home. The former Oakleaf Gators who were pop-warner had transitioned to unlimited and were now the Oakleaf Knights named after the area’s High School mascot. Jalen played for the Knights on a team nicknamed “the HITSQUAD because of their aggressiveness. In three years (2012-2014) the team (Oakleaf Black Knights-HITSQUAD) produced three city championships and two 2014 national championships (NYFC and UYFL) a record of 39-4 going 17-0 in the final year with a combined score of 749-24. After the season Jalen was invited to and played in the hotbed all American youth football game. In August 2014 Jalen went to middle school at Oakleaf Junior High as an upcoming seventh grader. In the 2014/15 school year, he played school basketball for the first time starting at center. The team lost in the Semis in the NEFAC playoffs. In another first, Jalen went out for the school track and field team and at the Clay County Track Meet, placed second overall in both shot put and discus. In the 2015/16 School year Jalen started at Left Tackle every game and played nose guard, the Yellow Jacket team for the season went undefeated with a record of 8-0 winning the NEFAC championship. Jalen was named the best offensive lineman at the awards banquet. In basketball the Oakleaf Yellow Jackets fared no different going undefeated at 14-0 switching between center and power forward and starting every game the team won the championship. in track Jalen won every county and district competition in the shot put and topped it off winning the state championship for the shotput, Jalen in his freshman year at 7A Oakleaf high School started every game (except two due to injury) on the football team and was singled out by making the Duval Sports 2nd team all area Offense (the only non-Senior on the first or second team) . Jalen made the Varsity basketball team for Oakleaf High School and is splitting time at center and power forward. During the summer of 2016, Jalen was invited to a college preparatory program, AICE, that he now attends. During his ninth grade year, he was nominated to participate at the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders in Boston, Massachusetts. His academic achievements have yet to decrease. Jalen intends to continue participating in all three sports for as long as possible.
Jalen attends Elevation Church 7035 Phillips HWY, Jacksonville, FL 32212
WWW.elevationchurchfl.com