PART 2: Spring Sports Q&A – Riverside

This is part two of a two part series featuring area seniors in spring sports. [READ PART 1]

The start of spring sports is upon us, so we took the opportunity catch up with the athletes of those teams to see what they are doing to prepare for the upcoming rivalries and to offer some perspective on the season ahead and their plans for the future.

Aaron Falk

Grade: 12

How many years have you been in Baseball? I have been playing baseball for 13 years.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Baseball? My biggest strength is hitting.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of baseball is the comradery with the team and competing with my teammates to win day-in day-out.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been getting ready for the new season by incorporating a lot of younger players (freshmen/sophomores) into our lineup because there is a lot of talent there, so this has meant moving a lot of people around and getting them comfortable in positions they aren’t used to.

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? Coronavirus has led to our coach enforcing more social distancing and making sure we wear masks when we are less than 6ft apart. We have a gym inside to practice in, but we go outside as much as possible to avoid being together in an enclosed space.

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? The season should hopefully be unchanged from Coronavirus, but there is still the lingering fear of someone catching it on the team and everything getting shut down. Ultimately, everyone – players and coaches – have to stay safe and healthy if we want to have a complete season.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Our biggest rivalry is always without a doubt Ellwood City. In all sports, Riverside strives to beat them, and there is always a sense of elevated competition when we play.

What is one skill you have learned from Baseball that you will utilize in your future and how? One skill that I learned from baseball is how to respond to failure. In baseball, there will be days where you succeed at the plate and days you fail. It’s not about the failure itself but rather the response to it that is important and defines who you are. If you have a bad game, you have to be up the next day in the cages or in the gym, doing whatever it takes to get better. This isn’t just a skill that applies to baseball, as in life failure is inevitable, and being able to know how to handle that is a vital skill.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? After graduation, I plan to go to a four-year college for computer science. Though I don’t plan to play intercollegiate sports, I may play on a club or intramural team.

Jade Farnsworth

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Track? I have been doing track for 2 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Track? That I have improved from the last time I competed in track

What is your favorite part of it? Getting to have fun and do events with my friends

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been practicing as much as we can and trying to improve and get ready for the season

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? We have to social distance a lot more and we have to wear a mask the whole time

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? I feel that it will be the same besides just having to wear a mask now

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I feel that every team is going to be difficult in certain ways

What is one skill you have learned from Track that you will utilize in your future and how? I learned how you have to have hard work and try to be the best at what you do

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I am going to be attending Geneva College to get a double major in Psychology and in Social Service and get a minor in Children, Family, and Youth Services. I am also going to be playing soccer there as well.

Aubrianté Cleckley

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Track? 6

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Track? Sprinting/ Jumping

What is your favorite part of it? Jumping

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been doing lots of conditioning that we haven’t really done in the past

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? It hasn’t really changed the way we’ve trained. We just have to practice social distancing and wear masks

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? I feel like the meets may be more spaced out and it’ll be harder do socialize within the meets

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Mohawk

What is one skill you have learned from Track that you will utilize in your future and how? Determination it’ll help a lot while trying to get through college

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I’m going to attend California University of Pennsylvania for pre-dentistry and later become a dental hygienist. I will also continue to run track

Ashley Dugas

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Track? 5 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Track? jumping

What is your favorite part of it? track meets

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? Lots of conditioning to improve our strength and speed

How has Coronavirus changed the way your group trains or practices? Our training hasn’t changed much, we just wear masks and practice social distancing during practices

How do you think this season will be different because of Coronavirus? I don’t think the season will be much different

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Mohawk and Shenango

What is one skill you have learned from Track that you will utilize in your future and how? I learned how to work with a team because in the future I will have to work with my co-workers

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I am going to Edinboro University for communication sciences and disorders to become a speech language pathologist. I am considering doing track in college.