By Emily Berkimer
Being a part of Hamilton Athletics is about learning lessons, and becoming a family. Here at Hamilton, we value our students and players more than anything, we want them to learn life lessons they will remember for the rest of their lives. We always try to make a positive impact on everyone we encounter. I asked a couple of athletes their stance on what their favorite, most important, or most memorable lesson they have learned while being a part of Hamilton athletics. Here is what they had to say.
Starting off I asked Joselyn Pakvan, she is a sophomore who has been on varsity girl’s soccer since she was a freshman, got pulled up to varsity for girls’ basketball districts also as a freshman, and is currently at Oakland University competing at state representing the Hamilton girls diving program. She said that, “The most important lesson I’ve learned is, hard work will pay off. If you want something you have to work for it.” Seems that this is the lesson Joselyn chose, you can tell by just watching her play her sports she works so hard and you can observe that she will always put her all into her sport and will always simply be a hard worker.
For my second interviewee, I chose varsity volleyball player Makenzie Brinks. The most memorable lesson Hamilton athletics has taught her, “Is the importance of teamwork, and that if you want to win a game it has to be a team effort and not done individually.” As you watch Makenzie play volleyball, you can see her positive attitude on the court and how she will always bring her team together. No matter if it’s a good or bad game, Makenzie will always uplift her teammates and make sure everyone is working as a team because being a team is the key to being successful.
For the last interview I did, I chose Ben Boehm. He played 3 full varsity seasons for Hamilton Football and joined the track team just last year and led the Hamilton Track and Field team to a conference title as a junior. He tied the school record for the 100 meters at 10.8 seconds. He said, “The greatest lesson I have learned from Hamilton Athletics is to always be content with yourself and to put your teammates first. No matter how good you are at something. There is nothing more important than the person standing next to you.” Ben is a stellar athlete but he will still always put his teammates first because he knows that his teammates and friends are the most important thing. Ben really understands the importance of being a family here with the Hamilton Athletics programs.