West Bend 6th grader competes for Russel Wilson's Youth Athlete of the Year

An 11-year-old West Bend football player is competing for NFL legend Russell Wilson's Youth Athlete of the Year award, and the public can vote online to help him win a $25,000 scholarship and a feature in Sports Illustrated magazine.

Deakon Brettingen-Nash plays defensive back, wide receiver, and special teams for West Bend Youth Football, which is currently undefeated. His family reached out to TMJ4 News Washington County reporter Marcus Aarsvold to share their story.

"To know that one day I could be in the NFL playing for the big leagues," Deakon said. "To know that I could be there too is so exciting to me."

His moms, Natalie Nash and Stefanie Brettingen, signed him up for the online competition, which pits youth athletes from around the country against each other for public votes.

Nash is also an assistant coach for West Bend Youth Football. "I'm just proud every day," she said. "Just to watch him have the confidence to do it. It’s amazing!”

Brettingen said Deakon is always focused on helping those around him improve.

"He's always trying to get better, make his teammates better, picking his teammates up," she said. "Somebody makes a good play and he's the first one there to congratulate them."

Deakon is humble but said he loves the game and helping out his teammates. He is a team captain alongside lineman Parker Lang, who also said Deakon deserves the award.

"He's a leader on our team," Lang said. "He tries hard every single day, works hard and he's kind on and off the field too."

Lang and Deakon's parents said his stature should fools people. In fact, it's one of the reasons they want him to win the award — to prove size doesn't matter.

"You don't have to be the biggest, baddest guy out there to be good at a sport," Brettingen said. "You just have to want to practice."

Deakon agreed, and said he uses his size to his advantage because it fools his opponents.

"Sometimes a few of the teams thought because I was small, they could run it to my side and they would get there easily," he said. "Then it's just fun to show them that they're not getting on my side."

Deakon also focuses on keeping his teammates motivated.

"If they're feeling down," he said. "We say, just remember that there's another play."

Voters have until Thursday night to advance Deakon to the semi-finals in the online competition.

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