SH students make time for outside activities

By Shae Dolisi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students often think that one of the downfalls of high school sports is that they must give up participating in some of their favorite sports or hobbies because they are not offered at the school they attend. However, if they are truly passionate, there are several ways that students may participate in school activities while also keeping their other passions alive. Some Sacred Heart students find ways to dedicate time outside of school for just that.

Freshman Willa Fritz spends her free time shooting archery; she does it through a 4-H shooting sports club and independently. Fritz has been shooting since she was nine years old when her aunt gave her a bow for her birthday. Fritz became interested in learning more about the sport after receiving this gift. Her family found out that 4-H offered archery competitions, and that’s when her archery career officially began.

The local 4-H organization puts on competitions for their members. Fritz practices by placing targets in her yard and shooting at them, and she spends all year practicing three times a week for one hour. Fritz often competes during summer, the busiest time to compete, but also does a few competitions during the winter. “I like archery because it works my brain and helps me focus,” Fritz said.

This year Fritz attended her fourth year of state archery competitions on January 28, September 16 and 17. She has earned a gold medal for 11 of the 12 state competitions she’s attended. Fritz hopes to eventually attend the national archery competition. “To go to state, all it takes is to show up and compete with your bow,” Fritz said. “The competition is essentially a lot like the county competitions, just bigger and with stricter rules.”

At competition each participant shoots five times for twelve rounds on the same target. Fritz is currently waiting to hear the official word on whether her recent score of 596/600 at the state competition beat the state record for her age group.

Junior Tate Wilcox participated in wrestling for 13 years before he transferred to Sacred Heart as a sophomore. “I miss wrestling, and I want to try to do it again when my knee is healed,” Wilcox said. Unfortunately, Wilcox tore his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in the final regular season football game against Nebraska City Lourdes this year, taking him out of the upcoming basketball and track seasons.

“Wrestling is a sport I have done my whole life,” Wilcox said. “It helped me become a better person, so I wanted to do it again to improve my performance in other sports as well.” Wilcox had surgery on November 9 and his recovery time will be about nine months, but he is hoping for it to be sooner. He plans on doing wrestling independently, but only in the summer because of the other sports he plays. Wilcox can continue to wrestle by signing up for wrestling tournaments online through www.trackwrestling.com.  Wilcox wants to try to do a couple meets a month, but that depends on his schedule and how he recovers from his injury.

Freshman Allarie Wilson plays travel softball in Lincoln for Nebraska Wave. At state softball this summer, she was playing for the Falls City Travelers team as a pitcher and her team happened to play Nebraska Wave. The coach of the opposing team asked if she would think about joining their organization, and Wilson decided to join the team.

Wilson travels to Lincoln three to four times a week and spends 12 to 15 hours practicing. She hopes to go to college for softball but isn’t looking at a specific one yet. Wilson has already had several colleges express interest in having her join their team. “Softball has always been my favorite sport ever since I started playing,” Wilson said. “I also feel like I do very well under pressure during games.”

Junior Quincy Koelliker plays baseball for Blue Storm in Falls City during the summer. He practices twice a week and attends games once a week. The practices start at the beginning of June and games are played in July. Koelliker plays a variety of positions in baseball including pitcher, right field, short stop and second base. “Baseball is my favorite sport, and I’ve been good at it since I was young,” Koelliker said.  “It’s really fun, and I get to see people I don’t usually see or go to school with.”

Koelliker wants to potentially play baseball in college and already has a few in mind. “My most memorable moments in baseball are driving up with my friends to games,” Koelliker said.

Even though most Sacred Heart students are busy and involved in several school sports, clubs, organizations and activities, there are still a variety of ways for them to stay involved in activities that aren’t provided by school.