The Kent Reporter athletes of the week for the week of Sept. 27 are from Kentwood; Diya Thomas (Jr.) soccer, Ethan Heidal (Jr.) football.<\/p>\n
What do you value in your sport or about your team?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas: <\/strong>I value a willingness to work hard and play with a winning mindset. Our recent success this year has come from each and every player being scrappy and fighting for every ball. <\/p>\n Heidal<\/strong>: Football is a stress reliever for me and I’ve learned a lot from my coaches and appreciate the support I get from them and my teammates.<\/p>\n What have you learned from your sport that you can take with you throughout your life\/future?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas: <\/strong>You don’t have to be the smartest, strongest, or most technical on the field. While all of these things are great, never taking a play off will make you stand out so much more throughout life. <\/p>\n Heidal<\/strong>: Football has taught me that even though mistakes might be made, it’s important to learn and grow from them for next time.<\/p>\n What do you do when you aren’t motivated and what helps you stay motivated? <\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas: <\/strong>When I’m not motivated, I pray, give it to God and surround myself with people who will never fail to hype me up. <\/p>\n Heidal: <\/strong>I force myself to go to the gym and field. I stay motivated by remembering previous years and where football can take me.<\/p>\n Do you have a favorite pre-game meal?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas: <\/strong>A banana! <\/p>\n Heidal: <\/strong> My grandma’s chicken wings.<\/p>\n What advice would you give to a teammate that is struggling?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas: <\/strong>Forget about it and make it up on the next play. <\/p>\n Heidal: <\/strong> For the younger guys, you’re not instantly going to be good. I’ve spent a lot of time grinding by myself and countless hours studying the game.<\/p>\n From the sidelines:<\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas: <\/strong>Diya Thomas plays with such a passion for this game, that is seen thru her tireless work to get the ball and keep the for her with her teammates. Showcasing the example of a next level elite soccer player can be, which drives her teammates to do the same. Scoring goals is just one piece that makes up Diya, not only a good soccer player but a great person that her teammates want to be around to share these life experiences with. Smiles, sisterhood, and scoring makes Diya a very special individual. We are fortunate to be part of her life.<\/p>\n Heidal: <\/strong>Ethan exceptionally plays with relentless determination and consistently excels on both sides of the ball. Having overcome significant adversity, he sets a high standard of humility and teamwork, inspiring those around him with his outstanding level of play. Wearing #55, he holds the highest honor for linemen in our program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kentwoods Ethan Heidal (football) and Diya Thomas (soccer) take home this weeks honors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":538,"featured_media":70864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-70863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70863"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=70863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}