Preps special
One on one: Ray Sousa
By JAMAL THALJI
Published September 3, 2004
Ray Sousa is getting his act together. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior was ineligible his sophomore and junior years at Ridgewood. But he has worked hard to get eligible, moved into the Gulf zone and will play outside linebacker/running back for the Bucs. Now he goes one-on-one with staff writer Jamal Thalji.
JT: How did you get your eligibility back?
RS: I went to night school every night for a year.
JT: How tough was that?
RS: Oh, very tough. It wasn't that tough to do night school but it was tough to have to go there all the time.
JT: How happy are you to be playing high school, to be starting your senior year, after missing two years?
RS: I just had to work hard and come out here and do what I had to do to get it. I'm pretty proud of myself, I guess. I played PPAL, but I always wanted to play high school but I wasn't eligible so I could only play PPAL. I just love it. Football is my game. I love the contact, playing as a team, winning games, the challenge of making a team win games.
JT: What else do you want to do?
RS: I want to run track, hopefully. I run a 4.4(-second) 40(-yard dash.)
JT: You run a 4.4? Doesn't everybody say they run a 4.4 40?
RS: I swear to God I do.
JT: What else do you do?
RS: I coach down at PPAL with the little kids.
JT: You coach? Are you easier to coach because you've been a coach?
RS: Yeah.
JT: How hard is it?
RS: Yeah, it's pretty hard to be a coach, because you have to get people to listen to you. The hardest thing to get them to understand is to be a team. They just want to be starters and play as themselves, not as a team.
JT: How old are they? What team do you coach?
RS: They're 13. It's the New Port Richey Junior Varsity Bucs.
JT: They're 13 and ready for prime time already? Does that amaze you?
RS: No. I was like that too when I was little.
[Last modified September 1, 2004, 08:23:24]
Baseball
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