Other Sports i’m good at
Maciej Michalik- Boxing
by Holli L. Gil
Maciej Michalik found a passion for boxing at the early age of 9. In his home town of Sanok, Poland, Michalik’s uncle was one of the top boxers during the ’60s and ’70s, and Michalik said he wanted to follow in his uncle’s footsteps.
“One day he took me to the gym to work out, and they said, “This kid has skills,'” Michalik said.
From that day on, Michalik said he was at the gym training and learning from his uncle nonstop for three years.
“The best part of boxing for me is that I can take out my aggression,” Michalik said.
At the age of 12, Michalik found another passion-ice hockey. He took the skills he had learned from boxing and put them to use on the ice rink. These skills came in handy for Michalik, he said, and from his intense body checks to his ferocious slap-shot, he was right at home on the ice. He continued to box in the hockey off-season but found his true passion was out on the ice, he said. Michalik was recruited at the age of 17 to come to the United States and play hockey in Connecticut for the Junior Whalers.
After graduating high school in Bristol, Conn., Michalik traveled to Texas to play for the Titans and then was traded to the San Diego Surfs. While in California, he played with Greg Finatti who later would become his teammate at Utah State. At the age of 20, Michalik traveled to Puget Sound, Wash., to play hockey when he got a call from Finatti to come play for USU.
Michalik is now is a 6-foot-3, 240-pound defender for the Aggies, but he hasn’t put the boxing gloves down yet. He still boxes during his free time, and during the summers he travels back to the East Coast to box at the Mixed Martial Arts Clinic.
Nnamdi Gwacham- Track & Field
by Holli L. Gil
Nnamdi Gwacham plays football for USU in the fall and is on the track and field team during the spring.
Juggling football, track and his education has become a great balancing act that Gwacham said he has learned to perform year round.
“It’s very demanding, and it takes a lot of effort and motivation,” Gwacham said.
Gwacham attended Ayala High School in Chino Hills, Calif., where he was involved in track his sophomore year and football his junior year. He found his niche in track in the jumping events. He did the long jump, triple jump and the high jump, he said. He also went to state both his junior and senior years of high school.
When asked what it is like to be involved in two sports and attend college, he said, “When you love it, you don’t worry about it, you just go.”
Gwacham is a 6-foot-3 wide receiver for USU’s football team and is now getting ready for the track season. For having so much on his plate, Gwacham said he keeps it all together.
“Prioritize and time management is how I keep it all balanced,” Gwacham said. “If you think you’re stressed, you are.”
Spencer Johnson- Basketball & Tennis
by G. Christopher Terry
The USU football team’s starting left tackle Spencer Johnson is getting his education thanks to his football skills, but he comes from a basketball family.
Basketball was Johnson’s and all of his siblings’ first sport. According to Johnson, his little brother is the star of the family, having sprouted to 6-foot-8.
“I won’t play him anymore,” Johnson said.
Growing up in California, Johnson said he always played hoops with his best friend, Allan Mohan, who is now a linebacker at Sacramento State University. Mohan, a money shooter, played power forward, and Johnson played center.
Johnson said he was not a creative ball-handler.
“Get me the ball in the post and I’m pretty good,” Johnson said. “I was a rebound guy, then kick it out to Allan.”
For Johnson, the tipping point came when he was in his sophomore year of high school, when he started to fill out and attain the physique that has made him a Division I-A left tackle as a redshirt freshman. The big five-deuce started all 12 games at tackle for the Aggies this year.
“I was good at basketball until my sophomore year, then I started getting bigger,” Johnson said. “I was tall and skinny before then.”
A three-sport athlete in basketball, football and track and field, where he threw the discus and shot, Johnson quit the basketball team to play tennis his senior year.
Tennis?
“It helps out a lot with footwork,” the 6-foot-5, 283-pound, Johnson said.
The tennis coach at Antelope Valley High was also one of Johnson’s favorite teachers, Mr. McCrumb. When McCrumb mentioned to Johnson that he might not have enough players for the upcoming season and was looking at forfeiting all of the matches, Johnson said he didn’t hesitate.
“I said, ‘Don’t even worry about that. We’ll convince enough kids to come out and compete,'” Johnson said.
Danielle Taylor- Basketball
by G. Christopher Terry
Danielle Taylor, sophomore middle blocker from Springville, Utah, was named second-team all-WAC this year, racking up 1.12 blocks per game for the third-place Aggies.
But the volleyball standout also played basketball at Springville High School through her junior year.
The 6-foot-1 Taylor said she enjoyed shooting the ball and played center.
“I was kind of small for that, but I was the tallest girl on the team,” she said.
Basketball, however, could never compete with the fun of playing volleyball for Taylor. Ultimately, she said she gave up hoops because volleyball was consuming so much of her time. Taylor also played club volleyball all through high school.
“I just played basketball for fun,” Taylor said. “I didn’t like it as much as volleyball.”
Taylor said she is confident she could have taken it to the next level with basketball if she had been so inclined.
“I think if I would have stuck with it I could have gone further,” she said. “I wasn’t a bad basketball player. I just like volleyball better.”
For Taylor, the biggest drawback to playing basketball was diving into the scrums beneath the basket and trading elbows with the other post players.
“I didn’t like when girls were pushing me around,” Taylor said.
Now Taylor does her damage for the Aggies with a net between her and the other team’s players. With Taylor in the fold for two more years, the future looks bright for USU’s reigning WAC Coach of the Year Grayson DuBose.