Being a football team captain can seem intimidating but not if you are truly passionate about football.

Senior Eulises Serriteno, captain of the football team, has to keep the team on top of things in the field and off the field.  

“I make sure that the team is motivated during the game, I take care of players off the field and I am someone who my teammates can talk to, someone for emotional support,” Serriteno said. 

Serriteno doesn’t believe that being a team captain is stressful because it feels like it is meant for him.

“It is not stressful, it feels natural. It should be something I’m doing, something that I was meant to do,” Serriteno said. 

Serriteno has played football for quite some time.

“I started playing in the beginning of fifth grade, I’ve been playing for eight years,” Serriteno said. 

He was influenced by his third grade best friend to play football, but he wasn’t able to until he got to fifth grade.

“Back in third grade one of my best friends told me to join but my parents didn’t want me to join. In fifth grade, I tried it out and stuck with it,” Serriteno said. 

Serriteno had to endure a lot of physical pain during his seventh and eighth-grade practices. 

“In middle school in eighth grade, I was in a different team, in Bana Knights. Seventh and eighth-grade practice was harder than varsity. They would yell a lot, made you run a lot, the conditioning was insane, there were crazy workouts, they just expected perfection,” Serriteno said.

Serriteno’s first time playing for the school was pretty successful.

“My first time playing as freshman year was JV, it was successful, we won against Wheaton Academy, I played alright,” Serriteno said.

In his long journey of playing football, Serriteno has never gotten seriously injured.

“I never really had serious injuries, only bruises, headaches or basic stuff,” Serriteno said. 

Having family members who have the same passion for football as Serriteno was helpful.

“My older cousin played in high school, my other older cousin played but he stopped in high school, my younger cousin played for two years then stopped and I’ve been trying to get him back,” Serriteno said. 

When Serriteno was asked if he was going to keep playing football after high school he sounded unsure of whether or not he was going to. 

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Yes, because I like to play but no because my body hurts… right now I’m not too sure,” Serriteno said. 

Since Serriteno’s high school career is over, he has words of advice for the remaining and future players. 

“Don’t quit, don’t let nothing stop you, don’t be scared to play, take care of your body, have a heart for playing football, be able to handle adversity, play hard and make sure you’re a team player,” Serriteno said.