Two-Sport Trojan Hopes to Graduate with High School Diploma and Associate’s Degree
“Does school come easy to me? I don’t know. My mom says I don’t study enough. And I guess she’s right – I could study more,” Kaleb Sadler, a football and baseball player at Hamilton County High School in Jasper, Florida, said sheepishly. Everyone can always do a little more and there are always a few more precious moments available in each day that people let go to waste. However, it’s hard to argue with the results Sadler has gotten in the classroom. He has a 4.33 weighted grade point average and he currently sits at third in the Class of 2015. In addition, Sadler is a pretty good football and baseball player who is thoroughly enjoying the recent resurgence of the Hamilton County athletic program.
It’s not easy balancing schoolwork and two sports that pretty much take up the entire year, but Kaleb has figured out a way to make it work. What is even more impressive is his schoolwork includes much more than his class load at Hamilton County High; he is also taking classes at North Florida Community College in Madison and hopes to graduate from NFCC with his associate’s degree at the same time he graduates from high school. “There’s not really a rush to graduate with my associate’s degree. But it will save my mom a lot of money and that’s pretty important,” he said.
In addition to his classes at Hamilton County, which include calculus, he is also taking four classes at NFCC. Sadler plans to take three more college classes in the spring and leave high school with two full years of college under his belt. “I think it would be a big accomplishment to get that done,” he said.
It is a big accomplishment – and an enormous challenge to boot. But Kaleb has never shied away from hard work. A long time ago, his mother told him he had to make good grades in order to play sports. “She told me a million times – no school, no ball. I had to stay on top of my grades or I couldn’t do anything else,” he said.
Kaleb took care of his end of the deal, and now he is getting ready for his senior year as a two-sport athlete with a chance to play at least one in college. The 6’1”, 200-pounder is an offensive lineman and linebacker, and he can’t wait for the season to begin (at the time of this writing, the school year had not even begun, much less football season). A year ago, the Trojans won the district championship, and Kaleb is ready to pick up where they left off in 2013.
“The night we won district, the whole community was out there on the field with us. It was great to see how everyone was impacted by that title. Used to, there may be 50 people in the stands at a football game. Now there are 400 or more. It really brought the community together,” he said.
While Kaleb is a pure talent on the gridiron, the sport that had his heart first is baseball. He’s a first baseman/pitcher who bats right and throws left. He’s hit 86 mph on the radar gun and has a chance to play in college if he so desires. Last year, the Trojans lost the district title in the finals but advanced to the playoffs before losing in the first round. Kaleb finished the season batting .402. “I’d love to play at the next level but I want to see if it’s the right fit,” he said.
The same work ethic that has made Kaleb one of Hamilton County’s best students also makes him a valuable teammate. He works hard and does his best every time he steps on the field. He is coachable and he trusts the game plan his coaches put together. “I always try to do what is expected of me, whether it’s in practice, in the weight room, running sprints, or anywhere else. That’s what I need to do to get better and help the team win games,” he said.
Favorites:
- Sport to watch on TV: Football, both college and pro
- Teams: Florida State Seminoles and Seattle Seahawks
- Subject: Reading or language arts
- Best movie of the last year: Transformers: Age of Extinction
- Superhero: Thor
- Person to meet: Jameis Winston
- Place to travel: Hawaii
Academic Athlete/South Georgia/September 2014
Kaleb Sadler
Hamilton County High School
Jasper, Florida
Robert Preston Jr.
