Photo by by Jackson Moran ’21 | Profile photo of Owen Blake ’19
By Jackson Moran ’21
THE ROUNDUP
Owen Blake ’19 has been a dual sport student athlete on campus ever since his Freshman year.
Blake currently plays tennis and hockey on campus, but has tried many different sports over the years.
Blake has played tennis for six years, a prior commitment that he hoped to continue when he came to Brophy.
“It was a big part of my life before I started at Brophy, and also my brother was big on tennis when he was at Brophy,” said Blake.
It has remained his primary athletic commitment throughout his four years, consistently being a dedicated member of the team.
Blake enjoys the solo nature and self reliance that comes with tennis.
“I like how it’s more of an individual sport,” Blake said, “How you can count on only yourself to win.”
He wants to continue this mentality into the spring season this year and hopes Brophy tennis continues the streak of excellence, as they have won the state championship for the past two years and were undefeated last season.
Blake joined the varsity team during his sophomore year, and has been the fifth or sixth best player on the team every year since.
Teammate and friend, Garrett Metzler ’19, has known Blake for 6 or so years, through their mutual affinity for tennis and their time at Brophy.
“We both have gotten a lot better over the years,” he said, “we have been able to progress together and get better at tennis.”
According to Metzler, both of them started tennis as upper JV level players, but have gotten the top varsity spots now, as seniors.
Metzler said he has enjoyed seeing them [he and Blake] grow together over the years, both as players, teammates and friends.
As a senior, Blake hopes his legacy on the team not only includes another championship, but a lasting bond with the underclassmen teammates.
“I definitely want to be someone for the freshmen, sophomores and juniors to look up to,” said Blake. “Maybe be a good role model for them.”
Aside from tennis, Blake has played other sports every year, and also tried football during his freshman year and cross country his sophomore and junior years.
Metzler also ran cross country with him, “We kind of decided to do cross country together to get in shape for tennis,” he said.
“It was neither of our first sports, we weren’t super good at cross country, but it was kind of just a fun thing learning how to do a different sport than tennis,” Metzler said.
According to Metzler, being dual sport athletes, especially in a sport like cross country, has improved their game on the court.
“Just playing one sport your whole life, you don’t get opened to what another sport could teach you,” said Metzler.
He said that cross country taught him endurance and perseverance, giving him the strength not to “check out of the match.”
“Playing two sports keeps me going, and I like practices every day after school,” Blake said.
This year he is trying hockey, playing right wing on the Brophy club team. “I decided to do hockey instead of cross country this year,” he said.
Teammate Christopher Clark ‘19 has been on the team since junior year, and was glad to see Blake expanding his horizons.
“He’s an all star tennis player, but I’m proud that he kind of branched out and started to play hockey. He’s been a really great addition to the team,” Clark said.
While he is new to the Brophy hockey team, he hopes to excel, even with it being relatively new to him.
Clark affirmed the challenge, “It was difficult to join the team because he had never skated before, but he had all of his friends, and we were all on the team to support him,” he said.
“In the beginning we would go and free skate, and he picked it up really quickly, and is now on the starting line for offense,” Clark said.
He said that Blake has become an integral part of the team and an important member of the hockey community.
Currently, Blake does not see himself continuing tennis after graduation, but hopes to join an intramural hockey league at some point.
