More Than A Athlete, John Nishimoto

SEATTLE- Senior John Nishimoto is tennis player who plays for the O’Dea fighting Irish tennis team and has been a key player for them since his sophomore year.

Although he started playing tennis a little later in his life, he uses past experiences from different sports he played as a kid to help him win all his tennis matches.

At a young age he played a wide variety of sports that would eventually help him in his high school career.

“The first sports I played as a kid were soccer, baseball, and basketball, then in middle school I played those but then I added track and volleyball into the mix,” said Nishimoto.

From the sports that he played from a young age he learned to control himself, keep a level head, and how to adapt to his opponents.

What we can learn from Nishimoto is that he loves sports and is not afraid to try sports that he might not be comfortable with.

The sport that Nishimoto felt was most beneficial for him in his athletic career is baseball.

“I think baseball was the most beneficial if I am being honest. It helped with my reactions, eye hand coordination, quick thinking, and knowing what to do and when to do it. Baseball is a pretty unique sport, and I would say since I played so much of it I used the experiences from the sport to aid me in future sports.”

Since his freshman year he played freshman football, tennis since his sophomore year, and wrestling his junior year.

Entering O’Dea Nishimoto didn’t expect to be playing wrestling.

“I choose to do wrestling because everyone said I have the right build and that I would be good at it, which I did pretty good for my first year.”

He started playing tennis just to substitute baseball because at that point he already stopped playing baseball.

“I chose to do tennis because I wanted to try the sport myself even though I knew nothing about it and since I had dropped baseball as a sport, tennis was the sport that I really liked playing in contrast to baseball where I didn’t really like playing.”

Now as his time at O’Dea comes to an end, he will look back at his time with happiness. Playing different types of sports not only makes you unique but makes you a beast.