Late To The Game: East students try sports later in highschool

Since eight grade, junior Morgan Turpin has wanted to be a cheerleader. Long hours spent stretching and flipping in weekly tumbling classes for most of her life had her feeling pretty confident in her abilities. Going into freshman year, she was thrilled to show off her backflip in high school cheer — until she realized that tryouts had been in the spring. She’d missed them.

That’s OK, she thought, she’d just wait until sophomore year. But with the beginning of COVID as the next tryouts rolled around, she decided against taking on a new sport in the midst of a pandemic. Now, going into the spring of her senior year, Turpin knew it was now or never. 

“This year was my last chance,” Turpin said. “Whatever happened, I just knew that I would have looked back and regretted not trying out if I never did.”

Tumbling isn’t Turpin’s only trade — she doubles as the varsity lacrosse captain. 

With daily practices, Friday night games and little league on Sundays, Turpin’s life has come to revolve around lacrosse. The week of cheer tryouts was her first time ever putting something before lacrosse — even missing a practice. 

“Even when I did competitive dance, I would dance, then go to practice, then come back for awards, but I just couldn’t make it work that week,”’ Turpin said. 

Trying out with more experienced girls strained Turpin. Some of the other girls had already spent three years on the team — their kicks were higher and their smiles stretched wide and unwavering across their faces. While they already knew the drill, she had just two weeks to learn the fight song, perfect her jumps and stick her back tucks.

In the end, cramming an entire year’s worth of training into two weeks didn’t pay off, as Turpin found out the morning after that she didn’t make the team.

“Even though I didn’t make it, the best part was the exhilaration that I get doing a backflip for the first time in two years,” Turpin said. “I missed the adrenaline rush that I used to get from tumbling.”

Just like Turpin, Matt Martucci knew he wasn’t going to continue his career in basketball when going into his junior year. Martucci still wanted to do a sport at East, and was looking for the right fit.

Knowing that it was going to be harder to make the basketball team his junior year and that there would be even more competition for a spot on varsity, he chose to pursue lacrosse instead. 

Martucci first came up with the idea to try out when he was talking to his friends who were already on the team. 

“I started throwing a ball around with people over the summer,” Martucci said. “I realized that I did really like it.” 

Martucci knew that with a team full of kids who had played since they were little, he wasn’t going to be the best by any means. His aim for the season was to have at least one goal in a game. 

“I think lacrosse is perfect because there isn’t any pressure on me,” Martucci said. “I just go out there and have fun. I’ve even already made four goals this season.”

Switching to lacrosse made Martucci wish he’d started playing at a much younger age. 

Similar to his classmates, senior Jack Muller shifted to a new sport. Muller had been on the baseball team as a freshman and sophomore. But his junior year, he decided to partake in the disc and javelin throwing section of track.

“The techniques behind baseball and javelin throwing are very similar, so when a player transfers they already have the muscle memory,” track coach Emily Fossoh said. 

Every week, Muller will have two days of practice dedicated to javelin throwing and two days to disc, with meets on Fridays — a routine far less jam-packed than his baseball schedule.

Muller used his pitching skills to apply to throwing, qualifying for state in javelin throwing during his first year on the team.

“For some athletes, they can walk in freshman year and make it to state, and for others it takes all four years,” Fossoh said. “For Jack, he had high enough skills to score that kept progressing.” 

While Muller said his first season was good, he hopes to continue that stigma and keep going for his last season. At their first meet this year, Muller had a length of 159 feet, while his first score last year was 132 feet.

“I had a really good season last year, and this year I just hope to keep doing better and get at least a higher score of 20 yards,” Muller said. 

Turpin, Martucci and Muller are reminders that it’s never too late to try a new sport at East.