Courtesy of Emma Williams
Basketball and field hockey player Emma Williams made a collage of herself with her numerous idols in the WNBA.For junior Emma Williams and freshman Arjun Garlapati, both dedicated and skilled student athletes, sports role models have not only inspired them to play their sport, but also enjoy and work hard in it.
Williams, who is playing for the school’s basketball and field hockey teams this year, points to NBA player Karl Anthony-Towns and WNBA players Sydney Coulson, Carla Leite and Cecilia Zandalasini as her athletic heroes. She also admires the partnership referred to as “StudBudz” between Minnesota Lynx teammates Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman. Williams said her athlete role models inspire her because they enjoy the game while still being diligent in their work.
“The main thing that [my role models] do in their sport is have fun. And I feel like that inspires me to keep working hard” Williams said. “Because when it pays off, that’s the main part of sports — to have fun and enjoy it.”
Garlapati said Bukayo Saka, a flashy forward at Arsenal, is his main athletic role model. Despite facing racial abuse throughout his career for being black, Saka pushed through and became the best player to his abilities, inspiring Garlapati to work hard through challenges and become the best version of himself as well.
In addition, Garlapati also has many high schoolers and college athletes that he looks up to in track. He stated that he was in contact with people in his league like Evan Noonan from Stratford and Landon Pretre from Wake Forest, both college freshmen who offered helpful tips and advice.
Garlapati believes that having all of these athlete role models in his life that pursue their sport in college or professional leagues push him to work harder in practices and meets, since going D1 for track is a big aspiration of his.
“Everyone has been so helpful and caring with my journey, I really want to make my friends proud,” Garlapati said.
Archie Ljepava, the head coach for varsity football and track, also believes in the importance and benefits of players having athlete role models.
One of the main reasons he became a coach was to guide his athletes on the right path to pursue greatness in their life and be a positive role model for them.
“If [student athletes] have somebody to kind of guide them and watch them and help them through those mistakes, I think that’s a win for everybody,” Ljepava said.
