Arizona Wildcats safety Kwesi Mashack has a unique support system.
His father, Elton, was a four-year starting swingman for the Loyola Mary-mount basketball team, averaging 10 points and five rebounds. His mother, Meika, attended UNLV on a track scholarship before transferring to Cal. She’s also a professional life coach/therapist for pro athletes and business executives.
So in addition to being blessed with athletic genes, Kwesi has received plenty of coaching. He said his mother has been trying to refine his running form since he was a youth.
“Elementary school to middle school to high school to … now,” Mashack said, laughing. “Basically forever.”
It was Mashack’s strength, more than his speed, that earned him major playing time in the second half last week against Colorado. Safeties coach Jahmile Addae wanted someone who could “hold up physically” against the power-running Buffaloes. Mashack came off the bench to record four tackles, tying his season high.
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The junior from Vista Murrieta High in Murrieta, California, moved from cornerback to safety in the offseason. He has remained healthy after an injury-plagued 2015 but hasn’t gotten as much playing time as he had hoped. His mom’s positive reinforcement helps.
“She always makes sure I keep my head up,” Mashack said, “that my confidence never sways, that I never get too down on myself.”
Meika Mashack stresses to her children — Kwesi, younger brother Jahmai and younger sister Malika — that it’s important to “stay hungry and humble” and to have “humility in wins but be gracious when you lose.”
“I strongly believe sports is a microcosm of life/the world,” Meika Mashack wrote to the Star. “You have the privilege of connecting with people from all walks of life and learning lessons about life that cannot be simulated in other forms.”
Meika’s education and experience make her more qualified than most to dispense advice. Kwesi doesn’t see it that way, though.
“That’s just her being a mom,” he said.
