In a packed Niles North gymnasium, 12 season athlete Trevor Ponticelli stood at the free throw line with the Glenbrook North basketball team down two points iwith 19.1 seconds to go in theregional championship.
He proceed to make both free throws to tie the game. The two points were not only the last of the team’s season, but also of Ponticelli’s high school basketball career.
GBN eventually lost that game. And while the high school athletic career for every other senior on that team was over, Ponticelli was back on the court three days later for volleyball practice.
“It’s his personality and his attitude that allows him to [play multiple sports],” said David Weber, head varsity boys basketball coach. “He is someone that no matter what team he is on, he is going to be a spectacular player.”
Ponticelli will become a 12 season athlete for GBN after the volleyball season ends. He is the backup setter and right side on the varsity volleyball team. He also started as a wide receiver and a cornerback on the varsity football team and as a guard on the varsity basketball team.
Weber believes that by playing a variety of sports, Ponticelli disproved the myth that high school athletes need to concentrate on one sport to be successful.
“Most kids now feel like they have to specialize in one sport, but I think Trevor proved a lot of people wrong,” said Weber. “We had Trevor talk to our freshman this year, and tell them that they can do more than one sport and that they don’t have to live for that one specific sport. They can be a two or three sport athlete, which is very rare now.”
Of the three sports that Ponitcelli participated in, he is most decorated as a football player. He was named a captain of the team and all-conference for the wide receiver position.
Although Ponticelli was more acclaimed as a wide receiver, Bob Pieper, head varsity football coach, thinks that he had an impact on both sides of the ball. Pieper recalled a game against Niles North in which Ponticelli made an “unbelievable” catch on the sideline while on offense and returned an interception for a touchdown on defense. Pieper said that it took “great concentration and great ability” to make those plays.
While all of his coaches encourage students to participate in multiple sports, Chris Cooper, head varsity boys volleyball coach, acknowledged that Ponticelli does have a longer time transitioning to volleyball than his teammates, but he serves as good motivation for the rest of the players.
“He has been a backup right side and a backup setter for us,” said Cooper. “Those are two positions that are pretty tough to break into. He has gotten into a few matches lately, and he is just that solid kid that makes it so that nobody else can take it easy because they know that he is right there behind them.”
Although Ponticelli started for the basketball team, football team and the volleyball team as Junior, he does not mind having a more limited role on the volleyball team this year.
“I don’t start on volleyball so I try to be a good influence on the bench,” said Ponticelli. “We’ve got a great team, so we got a lot to cheer about on the bench.”
Ponticelli believes that skills he has developed in other sports have actually carried over into one another. He attributes his ability to palm a basketball to his ball handling in football, and the ability to go up for 50/50 balls in football to jumping up for a rebound in basketball or a hit in volleyball. Cooper attributes Ponticelli’s ready position in volleyball to his defensive stance in basketball.
When Ponticelli graduates, he wants to leave students with the idea that being a three sport athlete is not as hard as it seems.
“A lot of people think that it is some impossible task to do three sports,” said Ponticelli. “I always hear in every single sport I played, ‘I can’t imagine having practice every single week for the whole year.’ It’s really just an attitude, and you just have to work every day. It’s really not as hard as people think it is. I think it’s a lot of fun.”