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Recently I sat down to have an interview with two sport athlete and Captain of the football team Tommy DeLello. We talked about everything from the differences between his two sports to the challenges of balancing the workload being a STUDENT-athlete entails. If you have a minute, it's definitely worth the read. (Fantastic Interview skills if I don’t say so myself). Enjoy.

 

You play football and baseball at CHS; can you describe the difference between the two?

 

I’d say the spring season in general is a lot shorter compared to the fall. Most fall sports and specifically football get those extra couple weeks in August and the baseball season has a lot of games and not a lot of practices as opposed to football where the typical week is just that one game on Friday Night. Overall, comparing the two is kinda like “apples and oranges” but I love em’ both.

 

You started out your high school career playing three sports, what went into the decision to stop playing hockey?

 

I love hockey; the team, the players, the coaches, and coach Schuman has had a great influence on my life. He’s obviously a great coach and their record reflects on the program he’s built but to put it out there I’m not a great hockey player (laughs). I just thought that two sports was enough and I wanted to focus more on my school work because of how important junior year is, so my thinking was that I could prioritize two sports over three. In this past winter I really put time into football and baseball as well. I think that was more helpful than trying to divvy up time between the three.

 

So I have to ask given your stature, if you were to go back in time would you still choose hockey over another sport such as basketball?

 

(Laughs) You know I always get the question (being 6’5 ) “Oh so are you a big basketball guy?”. I like playing basketball and have a good relationship with Coach Gordy who's the leader of the Canton Character Crew which is a group I’m also very involved with. But I always get this question and to be honest I just don’t have much skill with a basketball. I guess if I had to go back I would’ve given basketball a try. I enjoyed everything I did with hockey but I never gave basketball a chance besides “Rec. League” on team red with (now CHS basketball player) Austin Maffie. It was a dynamic duo.

 

What can you say about the honor of being named one of the captains of the football team?

 

I think it's a great honor. We have a great team this year and I don’t think we will run into any issues which is great because as a captain you definitely have to take some of the blame for what goes on, but at the same time you also get credit when things go well. So, I think I’m in a great position to take the team we have with a lot of talent and really show it on the field. Canton High football has a rich history and I would love to go out on top along with the other captains and seniors and really leave our mark.

 

You also recently attended the “Captains Conference” at Taunton High school, can you describe what you learned or anything you can apply to CHS?

 

It was great experience for me. I got to meet a lot of people with a lot of different styles of leading. It featured all of the fall captains from every Hockomock school (11) and basically gave us workshops that gave us an outlook on what type of leader we are or should be and how we can lead when coaches aren’t around.

 

Changing gears for a minute, can you describe the challenge of balancing playing two sports, working out in the off-season, while also taking a rigorous schedule in school?

 

It’s tough I’m not gonna lie to you, especially at this point when I feel like we are all just waiting for summer vacation (laughs). But it’s all stuff I really enjoy doing. Sometimes I get spread a little thin, but I’m willing to sacrifice the time to do the things I love.

 

One final question. Next year is your senior year; what can we expect from Tommy DeLello (and his athletic teams) ?

 

Many know that the football team had a bit of a down year this year after coming off a great season before that (2015) we laid it all out there but next year I’m expecting a few more wins in the record. We compete in one of the toughest leagues in the state but we have a great group of core seniors that have been together since 7th and 8th grade and we are doing everything we can to get back in the playoffs and bring home a Hock title to Canton where it belongs. And it seems crazy to say this but for my last high school athletic season ever (baseball) we are looking to pick up right where we left off after a good ending to this year after a slow start to the season. We are only graduating four guys and our whole rotation is coming back. I think Canton baseball will be back.