When interviewing players they seemed very professional and humble. The players seemed to care about what they did. I went and interviewed Luca Blundo and Kelsen Cross-Smith, they are both O-line. Blundo is also a defensive end and Cross-Smithis a linebacker. They were both asked what they liked about their positions. Blundo likes his position because he likes the fact that he can hit people in the games. Cross-Smith likes his positions because he likes to have the contact he has in the games. The reason Blundo wanted to play football is because his family has always loved football so he grew to love the sport as well. Similarly, Cross-Smith wanted to play football because he liked and played football since he was very young and his father used to be a football player.

While playing football it can put a lot of pressure on a player especially if the team isn’t doing well in that game. Blundo deals with pressure by “I breathe and pray. That’s what helps me deal with the pressure, I ask the Lord for guidance and pray that he leads me down the right path”. Cross-Smith deals with pressure during a game by visualizing the plays he’s going to do and does deep breathing to keep calm.

With a ton of pressure, criticism from teammates and coaches can be added on top of everything. Blundo deals with the criticism by taking the criticism and proving them wrong in the future. After he gets the criticism he also tries harder on every rep he does. When Cross-Smith gets criticism he tries hard to fix what he messed up on and do better on it in the future.

When having all of this bad on the mind it is hard to stay focused and have motivation. With motivation, Blundo’s motivation is his family and girlfriend. He doesn’t want to let them down so he works hard with every rep he does. Cross-Smith’s motivation comes from wanting to make his younger self proud.

When playing, players are bound to have strengths and struggles. Blundo’s strength when playing is his determination and his weakness is getting to the person he’s trying to block. Cross-Smith’s strength when playing is his experience with the game and his struggle when playing is playing with injuries.

The players all have an opinion on what makes a good player. Blundo thinks what makes a good player is being able to learn and improve. Cross-Smith thinks what makes a good player is “… made from hard work, consistency, being coachable, and work ethic”.

Advice from Blundo to other players would be to work hard, listen to coaches, and be coachable. Cross-Smith’s advice to other players is to Jump at every chance you get and work hard.

I was also able to get an interview from one of the coaches, Coach Colucci. Coach Colucci wanted to coach football because he used to play football and had good experiences playing football. Coach Colucci likes to coach because of the relationships, and players and he loves competing. He has been coaching for 11 years so he has learned strategies along the way which are: “Work hard, be in better shape than your opponent, be more physical than your opponent, and take care of the football”. When playing we won’t always do the best in games so the words of encouragement he gives the players are “If you work hard you will deserve to be successful, it’s in your hands”. 

In all PHVS has very professional and skilled players and coaches. 

For more information on PVHS sports go look at more of the articles on our website.