Getting To Know Your February
ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
By: Debora Timms
ANDREW SMETANA
Sport(s): Baseball, Football and Diving
School: Thomas Jefferson High School
Class Of: 2021
GPA: 3.6
Family: Mother – Kristine; Father – Chris; Brother – Alexander (20)
Hometown: Richmond
Current City: Richmond
Favorites:
Color – Red
Movie – Bullitt
Baseball Team – New York Yankees
Food – I don’t know, I basically eat everything in sight
School Subject – Definitely history
Personal Motto – It’s hard to beat someone that never gives up.
You play a few different sports. Which one is your favorite?
Definitely baseball.
How long have you been playing?
I’ve been playing baseball since I was two years old.
What position do you play?
I play middle infield and pitcher.
What do you like most about baseball?
I just like the intensity of the game, especially when you get toward the end of the game and it’s tied in the ninth inning. Then it’s that make or break situation where you either strike out or hit a home run or make a game winning play. It’s just bang, bang plays like that.
Another thing that I like about baseball is the family you have in the team. I’ve really seen that with the last couple teams I’ve played for. For instance, I played on a team called the Tennessee Bombsquad when I was about 13. I’m 16 now, and we’ve kept touch. We all have each other’s phone numbers and we still talk and text everyday. Now we’re trying to get back and play together again.
Do you plan on going to college?
I’m looking into different colleges. Right now I’m looking into Flagler, Wheaton College in Massachusetts, Colby, Bryant – I think I’d either like to be a businessman or a lawyer.
Are you planning to continue playing baseball in college?
Definitely. I want to try to be a dual sport athlete in college, so diving and baseball.
Do you have any sporting accomplishments you’d like to share?
I was a USSSA All-American for baseball two years ago.
What has been your proudest sporting moment?
Just getting back onto the field after being hit in the head with a bat when I was ten.
Tell me about what happened.
It happened at a tryout for a baseball team. The coach told me to go underneath the cage to pick up the balls. Speed and intensity are what gets a coach’s attention, so of course I tried to be the first one to go pick up the balls really fast. I guess the coach threw one more ball and the kid swung and he clocked me right in the head. They said if it was like two inches up, I would have died. So that’s why getting back out on the field was my proudest moment.
What are you most grateful for?
My parents’ sacrifices for me to make sure that I have a good life and to make sure that I have everything I need to play sports, go to school, at home.
How do you balance your sports and your academics?
I try to make sure that I can balance sports and schoolwork by making sure that I do most of my work while I’m in school. If I don’t have to go home and do my work, then I can just go home and relax or go to the gym and workout. With baseball and diving, I dive every Sunday, baseball is Monday and Wednesday and I do other stuff on the weekend for baseball. My time is pretty crunched up, so that’s why I crucially try to get all my schoolwork done at school.
What community service work do you do?
I helped out with the Bahama Hurricane Relief Drive. We helped raise money a bunch of money for that. I also work with the American Chemical Society with my mom. I help her with her events and stuff. They go to the Science Museum, they do Earth Day stuff. Basically, they do fun little chemistry things with kids. It’s cool.
I’m also in some clubs too. FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and DECA. DECA is kind of a business group and FBLA is community service.
Who or what inspires you?
José Altuve, because everyone’s always told him that he’s too small to play baseball and he’ll never be there. He’s one of the best players in baseball right now. I’m not the biggest guy, so that really gives me hope.
Is there anything else that we didn’t talk about that you’d like to tell me?
I play instruments too. I play guitar and piano.
