Greyson Mitcham

Roman Acevedo (‘24) seconds into his match during the Hillsborough Pasco Dual. This is was his second day going against Sickles.

   Roman Acevedo (‘24)  player on the football and wrestling teams, became seen by students following the teams. Due to his limited playing time during football season, Acevedo quit football to focus on wrestling. He also has grown to love wrestling over other sports he has played.

    “ I enjoy wrestling because it makes you disciplined and humble, it’s an individual sport so you can’t blame anyone,” Acevedo said. 

  Acevedo is one of two captains for the wrestling team and his record thus far is 13-2. And when asked about the difficulties of balancing school and sports 

    “It’s difficult to balance school and sports; after three hours of practice it’s difficult to go home and do school work, especially if you have to cut,” Acevedo said

Even with all of the pressure of sports he hasn’t let his academics slip.

   Acevedo’s sports career started young, with baseball being his first love. He found sports as therapy for him, even if he didn’t have anything major happening, baseball was a reliever. Once he moved to Florida at the start of his freshman year, he found the students that played baseball to be stuck up, so instead of playing baseball he went to football. Throughout his time in high school friends encouraged him to try wrestling has the physical aptitude for it. Acevedo states that he has never just been good at sports to start, and that it comes with a lot of practice.

    “I was a scrub at any sport I started. With baseball I would spend all my free time practicing, during the school week I would spend around four to six hours a day, and on the weekends I would go to batting cages or to the field. With football and wrestling it was the same, just constant conditioning and practice got me to where I am today,” Acevedo said   For the future of Acevedo he plans to go to college and possibly join some mixed martial arts gyms, but does not plan on competing. Nevertheless when asked about his near future and what he is looking forward to this season he responds about how excited he is to go to states and go up against good competitors.