By Kaleb Lucero ’18
THE ROUNDUP
Graduating athletes cite trust, camaraderie, health and nutrition as important lessons from participation in sports.
“I have learned how important team chemistry is,” said Jacob Talamante ’16, an outfielder for the baseball team. “No matter how much talent a team has, it will always need to have chemistry.”
He said that the team chemistry helped him become a better teammate, and Alex Paul ’16, a four year varsity lacrosse player, also said that it helped him grow as a team player on and off the field.
“I’m always watching my teammates’ backs and they’re watching mine,” Paul said.
He said that a team cannot function without this sort of trust between the players.
Manuel Cano ’16, a football and lacrosse player, said that participating in sports also helps with health and especially with being aware of nutrition.
Cano said that when he isn’t participating in sports, he has a worse diet since he can’t see the effects of poor foods on his performance. However, when he is playing, he said that he tries to be mindful of his nutrition and tries to eat what would best help him on the field.
Talamante also said that taking care of your body is important to doing well in sports.
“In order to perform at the highest level you have got to stay healthy,” he said. “I owe it to myself and my team to make sure that I’m taking care of myself.”
Although he said it was a pain to go through those processes to stay in good shape, Talamante also said that he was able to feel it the next day, and that it was an important step to being able to perform on the field.
Cano said that without sports, he might get distracted by things like TV or video games and quickly fall out of shape.
Paul said he loved lacrosse from the first time he played it.
“It’s one of few things that I truly enjoy doing day in and day out,” he said.
Paul said that the lessons he learned playing lacrosse would carry over to college and later life, and Talamante also said that some of things he has learned are easily applicable to other aspects of life.
“I definitely think the lessons that I’ve learned along the way, from every team I’ve played on, will stick with me for the rest of my life,” Talamante said.