Jay Nemeroff and Katherine Falzareno (pictured above) have both been very active high school athletes at Georgetown High School.
Jay played four years of football, three years of wrestling, and two seasons of lacrosse. Katherine did four years of soccer, two seasons of basketball, and three years of lacrosse.
“My dad played baseball in high school and rugby in college,” explained Jay. “He encouraged me at a young age to get involved in sports.”
Katherine’s mother saw the social advantages of sports. “My mom thought that being in sports would be an easy way for me to meet friends,” said Katherine.
Katherine made friends and those friendships continued even into her high school summers. “Team members usually went together to soccer, basketball, or lacrosse camps.”
Jay spent his high school summers working at Camp Rotary in Boxford. “That kept me from going to any of the football workouts but I stayed in shape at camp.”
Neither found it easy being a student and an athlete in high school. “It was tough sometimes especially during wrestling season because practices were later,” said Jay. “You really had to have time management to get schoolwork done.”
Katherine also struggled getting schoolwork completed when practices/games were in the evening. “I realized that it was important for me to get work done in school before practice. I sometimes did work during lunch.”
Jay was comfortable relying on his good memory when it came to academic assignments and sports schedules. “I’m not a big fan of writing things down,” he explained. He did admit to me that even though he always knew when the bus would leave to go to an away game he wasn’t always aware of the Royals’ opponent until someone on the bus told him.
Katherine believed that there was a pattern to schedules and assignments. “It is kind of like second nature to remember what needs doing because I’ve been doing it for so long. I did have my own assignment book that I used at times.”
Jay begins at the University of Vermont in the fall and will be majoring in psychology. Besides the academic opportunities, Jay added that the good skiing at UVM was an influence. “Skiing wasn’t the deciding factor, I don’t want my parents to get mad at me, but it definitely helped my decision.”
Katherine opted for a small college (Division 3), in a warmer climate, where she could continue with sports – Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. “I have been in contact with the soccer and lacrosse coaches there. They know I’m interested. I hope to play both sports. I like the structure that sports give me so I hope to continue playing in college.”
Jay did not plan to try out for any Vermont college teams but expected to stay active. “It will be kind of weird having a lot of free time. I expect to get involved in intramurals. I’ll have to come up with my own structure now.”
(Prepared for The Town Common and likely to appear in that weekly publication in late June or early July.)
McClelland Miscellanea 