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FEATURED ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: T.J. Hagymasi, Cloverdale
T.J. Hagymasi is a senior at Cloverdale who participates in football and previously played baseball and basketball.
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Banner Graphic: Summarize your Cloverdale football career.
T.J. Hagymasi: “My freshman year we came in and I was small. The seniors were pretty big and I just played on the JV. My sophomore year I suffered a knee injury, and I wasn’t able to play in any games. My junior year I was healthy again and I started every game, got all-county and all-conference. I got all-county my senior year and we had a really good season.”
BG: Your position on the offensive line is not a glamorous one where you score touchdowns. What gives you satisfaction?
TH: “It’s a whole team thing, so if anybody succeeds we all celebrate it.”
BG: How important have sports been to you, and what do you think you have learned from them?
TH: “Sports have been the best thing for me. I love them all around. They have helped with cliche things like time management and teamwork, but that’s really true. It’s a community thing at Cloverdale.”
BG: What else do you do at school that is not sports
TH: “I’m a member of the PIE [Prevention/Intervention/Education] Coalition. We do a lot of things to help prevent drug abuse. I am also involved in Teen Court, where we look at real cases involving teenagers. The judge will make a ruling for them and they go to Teen Court. There is a tougher penalty and a lighter penalty, and we have to pick which one the person deserves. I think it helps. It’s definitely different people every time, and it helps them. It’s not very serious cases.”
BG: What do you do outside of school?
TH: “I like to hang out with my friends. We spend the night at each other’s houses and play video games or go outside and play basketball. I am a big fan of ‘One Tree Hill’; people think it’s a girls’ show, but it’s not. I really like it. I don’t have a set kind of music that I listen to. It just depends on my mood. It can be rap, hip-hop or country. I like superhero movies, things like Iron Man and Spiderman.”
BG: What is something you’ve never done before that you’d like to do someday?
TH: “I go by ‘T.J.’, but my real name is ‘Tivadar Joseph’. It’s Hungarian, and my grandfather lived there before coming to America. I’ve always wanted to go to Hungary someday and visit. We have some family over there that we’ve never met, and I’d like to learn more about their culture.”
BG: Do you have any pets?
TH: “I have an English Bulldog named Zuka. She’s a little ham. We got her in the summer, and she’s already about 50 pounds. She likes to lay around and sleep a lot.”
BG: If you were to describe your personality in one word, what would that word be and why ?
TH: “Quiet. Once I get into the feel of things I open up, but at first I’m quiet in new situations. I have changed the way I’ve been and I’ve tried to meet as many new people as possible. When I go off to college, I want to have new opportunities and connect with people.
BG: What is your greatest fear?
TH: “Failure, particularly in sports. Nobody wants to fail, but I feel that sports is a lot of a mental thing and failure really hurts an athlete. It’s hard to bounce back from sometimes.”
BG: What are your plans for after high school?
TH: “I have signed to play football at Franklin, and I am going into athletic training.”
BG: How has your overall experience been at Cloverdale?
TH: “Cloverdale is definitely a good school. We get a bad rap. We have good teachers, and our sports have been getting better and better. It’s had its ups and downs, but more ups than downs. My knee surgery was a low point, but I loved it even more after I came back.
BG: After college, do you see yourself living around Cloverdale somewhere or going far away?
TH: “I love the town of Cloverdale, but I know there’s more out there. Wherever my job can take me is where I’ll be. That’s one big reason I want to go into athletic training, because it can take me to many different places.”