Sahuaro’s Future Star: Elijah Padgett

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James Force, Sports Recorder

The future of Sahuaro sports is looking bright with the young, college-bound, freshman phenom, Elijah Padgett. He plans on playing 3 different sports: basketball, volleyball, and track, although basketball is his favorite and main sport. He also manages to keep his honor role and plans on achieving a 4.0 by the end of the year.

When asked why he wants to play basketball he stated, “I wanna play basketball because I love the sport… I’ve always liked basketball; it’s been a part of my life since I was seven. I also just have fun playing and want to make my mom proud.” Elijah was also asked if he felt sports made him want to do better in school and he responded, “It definitely makes me wanna do better in school.  It can get hard at times, but if you stay on it you should be good.” He also said that managing his schoolwork, “is easy as long as you stay on top of it.” When asked what gives him the motivation and the drive to go and get all of his work done while playing sports, he responded, “My mom – she does everything for me, she puts up with me on a daily basis. I just feel like this is what she deserves.”

Life at Sahuaro also seems to be coming easy for him: “It’s different from middle school for sure, but if you give it a week or two it starts to feel normal… I’d say I’ve settled in pretty well.” I also questioned him about what he felt the most difficult thing about Sahuaro was so far, and he didn’t say the work or managing sports, he said, “Finding real friends that will keep you out of trouble.  A lot of people act different to fit in.” He has a pretty good grasp of his future as well, saying that if being a professional basketball player doesn’t work out, he would focus on a career as a lawyer. A word of advice Elijah would give his fellow freshmen is, “Never change who you are so some people think higher of you or just to fit in because, at the end of the day, other people’s opinions of you don’t matter.”