Ethan McArthur cuts pieces of metal with a blowtorch before preparing, finishing and forming a weld with a 7-inch grinder. He then heads to Kathleen High School and uses his welding experience on the football field.
His off-field skills are continually honed at Travis Technical College Monday through Friday at 6 a.m. McArthur is usually exhausted by the time he finishes football practice at 1:30 p.m., but the All-County offensive lineman has found a way to use that strength on the football field.
“It builds my character,” McArthur said. “Afterwards I’m tired. I’m ready to go home and go to bed, but it builds my character in a way so I keep going even when I’m tired.”
Welding never lets McArthur rest, as it’s a strenuous and demanding process. After using the grinder, he clamps his workpiece and places it on a stick before hitting it – essentially playing with fire. It’s called stick welding. The metal is red hot, too, but the process has taught McArthur skills he uses outside of his welding program, such as in football.
“It helps me build patience as a character. With welding, you don’t get it right immediately. You don’t automatically get it perfect. You have to have patience,” he said. “It definitely helped me build patience to be a better team leader and hopefully lead the team to a successful season, which I know we’re going to have.”
Football isn’t usually a sport that requires patience, but McArthur used it masterfully last week against Ridge Community. In the first half, Kathleen running back Xavion Mitchell managed a 2-yard gain. McArthur pushed linebacker Shane Peterson to the sideline, and Peterson took offense and hit McArthur in the helmet.
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McArthur had the opportunity to take revenge, but chose not to.
“When I was doing it before, I would have lost my nerve, lost my patience and done something about it. But now I have patience, keep a cool head and just stay relaxed,” McArthur said. “It’s like saying, ‘OK, we’ve got more to do.'”
McArthur, who also plays defensive tackle, also had five tackles, including two for loss. Overall, his play has drawn the attention of some Division I, Division II and NAIA schools.
If football doesn’t work out, he would like to work underwater as a traveling welder.
In the month or so that McArthur has been participating in the welding program, discipline has helped him in a sport in which, according to the Lakeland native, he would have no chance compared to his teammates.
“My biggest goal is to prove a lot of people wrong. Growing up, I was told I would never amount to anything in football and I would never amount to anything. … I was always told I was bad and I would never amount to anything. So my goal is to prove everybody wrong and I want to take it as far as I can because I love football so much,” McArthur said.
