Ellwood Fall Sport Senior Q&A: Part 2

High school sports are back in full swing.

Football and Cheerleading are among the popular sports for students at Lincoln.

We caught up with the athletes of those teams to see what they are doing to prepare for the upcoming rivalries, to offer some perspective on the season ahead and their plans for the future.

This is part two of a two part series featuring Lincoln High School seniors in fall sports.

Sammy Dicaprio

How many years have you been in Football? I have been playing football since 8th Grade.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Football? I believe my biggest strength is being a leader and encouraging others on the team.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is being on the field with my friends on Friday nights and battling for my team.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been working harder than ever all summer in the weight room and on the field.

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? It has affected the way we have been training because we have had to try and eliminate high little things like high fives or fist bumps and constantly wiping down are gear. But it has affected our normal routines and it has been hard to adapt to.

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? I think the season will be very different because every day you step on the field you have to treat it like it could be your last time because it could be. All it takes is one case of Covid and your season could be over. Also having no fans is a big change and it’s a disappointing. for the seniors because this is their last chance to play in front of their hometown and just not having their family and friends there for them.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? As always, I feel our biggest rival is riverside however we are playing ourselves every week so we just have to work as a team and play our hardest.

What is one skill you have learned from Football that you will utilize in your future and how? Football has taught me to never give up no matter how hard things get. We struggled last year but everyone had each other’s backs and we never quit. We always kept fighting.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? My plans after high school are to go to a university and Major in Nursing. I plan to play either baseball or football. But I will let god lead me in the right direction.

Anthony Teolis

How many years have you been in Football? I have been playing football for 5 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Football? I believe my biggest strength in football is my ability to learn new plays

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is the competitive nature of the sport and playing with my teammates

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? Me and my teammates have been getting ready for the new season by working hard and adapting to all the new changes

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? The coronavirus hasn’t changed the way we train that much. The only real difference has been the late start of our season due to the two weeks delay we had

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? The main difference of this season caused by the coronavirus is the restriction of not having fans in the stands

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? The biggest rivalry is definitely Riverside they have always been a good opponent and I look forward to playing them again

What is one skill you have learned from Football that you will utilize in your future and how? The main skill I have learned from football is working with others and I will use this in my future job

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? My plans after graduation are to attend a four-year university and I do not plan to continue playing sports after high school

Ryan Gibbons

How many years have you been in Football? This will be my 11th year.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Football? I feel my biggest strength is being able to use my knowledge of the game to help my teammates.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is being able to go out and compete with my brothers every Friday night.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been working hard on and off the field ever since we got the green light to start practicing again.

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? We have been working even harder because we lost a whole month of practice and conditioning.

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? The game day atmosphere will definitely feel different without having spectators.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Without a doubt, Riverside.

What is one skill you have learned from Football that you will utilize in your future and how? I have learned the true power of teamwork and I will be able to utilize this throughout my life.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan on attending a 4-year university to study engineering and to play either football or baseball.

Cheerleading

Lexie Bukowski

How many years have you been in Cheerleading? I have been cheering for 10 years.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in cheerleading? Being a strong base when stunting.

What is your favorite part of it? I love stunting!

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been practicing a couple days a week.

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? We have to wear masks when being close together. We also have to wipe off our cheer shoes after practice.

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? As of right now spectators are not allowed into the stadium during games so it will be different not having a crowd to cheer to.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season in competitions or otherwise? Our biggest competitor is Riverside.

What is one skill you have learned from Cheerleading that you will utilize in your future and how? One skill I learned is to always be over prepared than under prepared and to always be at least 15 minutes early to any event you go to. I will definitely use this when I’m in college.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to cheer after high school? My plans right now are to go into a nursing program and I don’t plan to cheer after college.

Abbi Dambach

How many years have you been in Cheerleading? I have been cheering for 7 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in cheerleading? My biggest strength is stunting

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of cheering is being under the lights on Friday

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been getting used to new things like masks and distancing. We have also been doing a lot of stunting

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? It has definitely changed with us not being able to be close to each other and not being able to do as much as we normally do

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? I don’t think we are going to be able to have spectators, which is disappointing because we won’t have anyone to cheer to or a crowd to get pumped up for the game

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season in competitions or otherwise? Our biggest rivalry is and will always be riverside

What is one skill you have learned from Cheerleading that you will utilize in your future and how? One thing I learned is to never be late or not show up because a lot of people are depending on you to be there

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to cheer after high school? After graduation I plan on going to school to be a physical therapy assistant and I do not plan on cheering