Toms River North Freshman Playing In International Football Game

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River teen will be part of a team taking on Canada in a football game next month.

Not soccer, mind you; real American smash-mouth tackle football.

Christopher "CJ" Niedzielski, a 14-year-old from Toms River, has earned a spot on the 30-player USA Football national team roster for the International Bowl in Arlington, Texas.

Niedzielski, a freshman defensive tackle and right tackle/tight end at Toms River North, was among thousands of athletes who tried out at the USA Football national team tryouts in Ohio and was one of 30 selected for the team, according to a news release.

Niedzielski, who is among nine Shore Conference freshmen playing in the Diamond Sports football game in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on New Year's Eve, will play for the USA team against a team from Canada in January.

He has been playing football since he was 6 years old, C.J.'s father, Krzysztof Niedzielski said.

"It is his passion that gets him out in the backyard throwing the football while his friends are playing video games and engaging in the normal teenage activities," his father said.

In addition, C.J. is on the honor roll at Toms River High School North, his father said.

"When he puts on the Team USA jersey and hits the field for the first time in an international event, when he stands for the national anthem, and when he begins to play the game he loves, he will understand what he has spent those long, exhausting hours practicing for," his father said. "He didn’t just get the chance to wear the Team USA jersey; he earned it."

C.J., who also has the support of his mother, Kimberly, and sister Jayda, 8, hopes to play college football at Texas Christian University, Florida State, or the University of Miami, his father said.

Photo courtesy of Krzysztof Niedzielski