For any parents who might be on the fence about putting their child into multiple sports as a kid, new Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon might sway you into doing it.
Gordon, the first selection off the board for the Bears in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft at 39th overall, comes to the Bears as their likely new starter in the secondary. He’s a fluid player who had a tremendous amount of success while at Washington and should be an excellent player at the NFL level. Gordon’s an incredible athlete and attributes his success to his early days in dance.
When he was a child, Gordon competed in dance as young as six-years old. He travelled the country, performing a variety of dances including pop, lyrical, hip-hop, and event ballet. As Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun Times writes, Gordon explained all that went into it when he was young.
“I just remember going through it. It’s tough,” Gordon told Bears media Friday evening. “They just demand perfection. I got a little bit of that in me, too, just trying to do what I do and perfect my craft.”
Gordon’s quick hip movement can be attributed to those years of dance rehearsals. As Finley notes, Gordon spent 20 hours a week in those classes for four years. He didn’t start playing football until he was nine years old and still danced all the way up until high school when he was 15.
There’s even a YouTube video of Gordon performing a lyrical dance from 2008 when he was a child.
Being fluid with your hips and quick on your feet is imperative to being a good cornerback in the NFL. Bears national scout Francis St. Paul agrees and sees just that with Gordon.
“For him, that means his feet are better than his hands, which is great,” St. Paul said. “That’s what we look for in cornerbacks.”
Gordon’s future is in football, but it’s a great reminder for kids to explore other sports early on. You never know what skills they’ll develop and where that might take them.
