Throughout the course of sports history, thousands of professional athletes have inspired people of all genders and ages. Regardless of their sport and how they made a name for themselves, many countless fans and aspiring athletes admire these individuals, including many of the student-athletes at Arcadia High School. Our own student-athletes often think about their favorite athletes before an important game or whenever they need motivation, so let’s see what some of them have to say about this subject!

Freshman Joyce Pang, who is a member of Cross Country, JV Soccer, and Track, stated that there were multiple athletes whom she called her role models. But, one particular individual  Joyce has continually been very fond of is American soccer player Alex Morgan. Joyce has always been a fan of her since Morgan “joined club soccer a lot later than most players and did not have much talent or speed when she began.” However, “despite the disadvantages that she started out with, Morgan is now one of the top scorers for the United States Women’s National Team and was even voted as the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2018!”

Joshua Mar, who is a talented sophomore on CoEd Swim, states that one of his favorite swimmers is Nathan Adrian, a five time Olympic gold medalist. Adrian is someone whom Josh looks up to “because he is incredibly hard-working, works towards his goals, and continues to create newer goals once he has accomplished his old ones.” And, when Adrian does not meet his goals completely, he “gets back into the pool and goes back to training to ensure that it will be met,” which is something that Josh tries to remember whenever he is not reaching his target.

Matthew Feng, a junior on Boys Varsity Tennis, has been a lifelong fan of Dominic Thiem. Thiem is an Austrian professional tennis player with many awards and accomplishments that line his career, including 11 singles titles from the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour. One of the reasons why Thiem is Matthew’s favorite tennis player is because he has an “aggressive one-handed backhand that is matched with a balanced and speedy performance.”

Professional athletes have to handle a lot of things for their jobs; they have the important job of not only performing well during games but also shaping the way that many young athletes may view their sport in the future.