Each athlete who competes at the high school level works hard to be at their best. But along with working on their skills, they also have to ensure that their grades are good and that they are doing their classwork to keep themselves eligible. For Sayre’s Rocky Willis, it can mean some late nights, but he knows that it is important to be able to balance sports and schoolwork.
“It just takes time,” he said. “You gotta go the extra step and stay up at night to do your activities, then come home and stay up even later and do the work.”
Willis is a junior at Sayre High School, where he plays basketball, baseball, and golf. As a mulit-sport athlete, Willis puts in a lot of work throughout the year to improve his skills in each of his sports.
“Being successful means giving up a lot of time to work on the things to get better or needs work on,” he said. My biggest motivation is just striving everyday to get better than I was before.”
Rocky has had a number of people that have been a part of his life and helped shape him into the person that he is today.
“My dad is my biggest role model because of how hard he works at everything he does,” Willis said. “Coach Fowler has had a big impact, not just making me a better athlete but also a better person in general. And my favorite teammate I enjoy working with is Wyatt Porter cause he pushes me every day to get better from our close golf matches.”
Throughout his career, Rocky has experienced a lot of memorable moments, but he says that there is one that stands out as his favorite.
“The highlight for me so far was my sophomore year when I placed in the state golf tournament,” he said. “I was a really great moment.”
When he is not competing or practicing, Rocky likes to spend some time catching up on his social media.
“My favorite account that I follow on social media is the Chicago Cubs,” he stated. “They are my favorite baseball team, and they always have a pretty cool post everyday.”
