By Paislee Terry
The expected first word for a baby is usually “mama” or “dada.” For senior Cooper Bratton, his first word predicted his future.
“My first word was ball, so it was kind of like destiny,” Bratton said.
His life has revolved around sports with him being one of a few three-sport athletes at Delta High School. He plays varsity football, basketball and golf.
Bratton has to manage his time with school, training and playing. Having almost no time in the evenings, he still manages to keep good grades.
Bratton says he tries to do as much as he can whenever he has a chance in school to keep up his grades.
His commitment to his grades aligns with the observations of those who see firsthand, like athletic director Tilmon Clark.
“I don’t know the exact grades (of three-sport athletes), but they are usually very good because they have that discipline and the ability to manage their time,” athletic director Tilmon Clark said.
Tilmon encourages athletes to play more than one sport.
“I think you only have so long to play sports, and you only have so long to hang out with your friends in high school,” Tilmon said. “When that time is done, then you get in the real world and all your friends are going a million miles an hour. You may never see them.”
Tilmon believes that you have to be committed and well disciplined to be a multi-sport athlete, and it’s not easy but not impossible. He thinks that you need to understand your body and know your mental health limits.
Sophomore Aven Thomas plays baseball, basketball and football. While already taking on a heavy load, he is training and starting the process to add one more.
Thomas wants to add track to his agenda.
This could be an issue due to track and baseball both being in the spring season, but he still wants to put in the effort.
“I’m actually starting to try to do track this year, too,” Thomas said. “I also asked Mr. Wilburn, the baseball coach, and I’ll have to miss some baseball for track and so it’s basically all about the communication. If I communicate with them, I’ll be good.”
Another student, senior Chloe Newsome, is a three-sport athlete.
Newsome does soccer in the fall, cheer in the fall into the winter, and track and field in the spring.
Of all these sports, she said her favorite is cheer.
“Just because I’ve been doing that for so long,” Newsome said.
Newsome also keeps good grades and stays involved in the school along with the other multi-sport athletes.
In college she plans to cheer or run but doesn’t think she will do all three.
She is an accomplished athlete, winning state for cheer twice, but is still realistic about what she can do.
“I just set goals within my ability, so like soccer, I only did it for two years, so I had different goals than I did for cheer,” Newsome said.
As an athlete it can be easy to get injured and that likelihood increases more and more with every sport.
“I do a lot of getting in the hot tub and taking ice baths and icing anything when it hurts,” Newsome said.
