Junior Gavin Kawaguchi is a two-sport student-athlete and an AP/Honors student throughout his high school years.
For the past eight years, Gavin has been training as a martial artist, incorporating a mix of taekwondo, jujitsu, and self-defense training on his own time. Gavin shares, “My favorite memory was meeting my now best friend and testing for my 2nd degree black belt,” showing that some achievements can carry on for years, whether you know it in the moment or not.
When asked if there was anything he could tell someone interested in these specialties, he said, “Give it time to grow on you; it might be a little boring or hard at first, but over time, you learn to love what it teaches you.” Not only does student-athlete Gavin spend his free time on martial arts, but he’s also been playing volleyball here at Sahuaro for 2 years and has played the sport for 5 years. His favorite memory so far was making it to State last year with his old team. This year, he intends to do the same, while recruiting new players to join his team, but also growing with his past-teammates.
Gavin recently finished his first year managing girls’ volleyball at Sahuaro, where he continued developing his skills as an offensive hitter and defensive back-row player. Not only did he use that time to help the JV girls’ volleyball team, but he also got to do it alongside his varsity coach, and continued to learn new skills that he can take into his season.
Being a student-athlete can come with a lot of responsibility. Trying to find time to do homework from 6 classes every day, doing well on assignments and tests, while also working on improving your skills for your sport, can be difficult. This often leads to students choosing one over the other to focus on, which can hurt the work they’ve put in thus far. Gavin shared, “I balanced them by focusing on my school work first.” He also admits that although he does his best to do so, “Sometimes I just want to do sports instead.” But with how far Gavin has come, you too can put effort into both and excel exceedingly in both.
His last words to student-athletes who are struggling are “Yes, playing your sport is important, but not being able to play it sucks, so try not to fall behind and keep up with the work.” You don’t have to pick being a student and an athlete; instead, transcend in both.
Gavin Kawaguchi is a hard-working student-athlete who chose Sahuaro as his place to shine. Even though he is aware of the hardships he does and will endure, his positivity and commitment to both school and sports are truly impeccable.
