A Star in Both Football and Fùtbol, Will Nicolozakes Continues to Excel at John Glenn

NEW CONCORD, OH

It’s highly encouraged today for high school athletes to participate in many sports throughout the course of a school year. But what about taking on two sports in one season? That’s what this John Glenn senior is excelling at for both soccer and football, this fall.

Many high school athletes in today’s game play sports year-round, typically one per season. But for Will Nicolozakes at John Glenn, he’s able to kick soccer balls and footballs all fall long.

“I wanted to kind of challenge myself. I always thought, like, as I always grew up around watching football and always like a bunch of family members, always asking me, hey, you can do that, you can do that” said Nicolozakes. “And I kind of just wanted to give it a try, thought it’d be fun, and it turned out pretty well.”

Even though the desire to play football was always there for Will, a little encouragement from a teacher turned coach went a long way to him becoming a dual athlete in the same season.

“So I had Coach Edwards as a history teacher and we were out, one day just on the field, and we had a football out there. Someone just asked me to go try it, and I gave it a go and told him how far I kicked it. He told me to come to practice the next week.”

And then everything just kicked off from there for Will, as his schedule became even more chaotic. But it’s something that he’s able to manage on a regular basis.

“Yeah, so I practice a couple of times, football. We try to shot for once a week and then twice if we’re lucky, but usually once a week” Nicolozakes continued. “During Fridays I come down for practice for soccer, and then I’ve got to hop on the bus and go to a football game.”

“You ever hopped on the wrong bus before?”

“Fortunately not. Fortunately not.”

Nicolozakes added, “He, Coach Hess is really about the community and getting involved. And he encouraged me a lot to go do and pursue and just take advantage of life.”

“You know, I didn’t think too much about it, more than encourage him. I think now in this time, it’s very important that we encourage kids to do things, especially when they want to be very active” said William Hess, boys soccer head coach at John Glenn. “It’s okay to be active, right? As long as it can fit within the schedule and you don’t lose a beat, and he hasn’t done anything but keep a beat.”

Muskies football head coach Matt Edwards said, “If we get him here once or twice a week to work on that particular part of our game with kickoffs or PATs. And then during the summer time, you know, he’s here a little bit more because he’s obviously got more free time. But, he’s a soccer player first and foremost. You know, we work around the schedule as much as we can. If we get him here once a week, you know, just kick a little bit and, and obviously shows up on Friday nights.”

“When you have success. How can you keep pushing for more? And Will is one of those individuals that, he’s not satisfied, you know, with just being good, he wants to just keep getting better” continued Hess.

“He’s just got a special demeanor about him. He’s a fun kid to be around. He’s always in a in a good mood, and you know, one of the other things that really helps him in terms of football is he’s a very confident kid.” said Edwards.

He’s a special person and athlete, to say the least. And that goes for Will as both a player in football and fùtbol.