Scholarship Recipient 'Epitomizes The Term Student-Athlete'

Kyle O'Connor is a special athlete in many ways. A senior captain for Newtown in football, swimming and lacrosse, broke new ground when he was recently awarded the Connecticut High School Coaches Association's (CHSCA) scholarship.

"I was very surprised when I first heard because no one from Newtown High School has been a recipient of it," said O'Connor, who was was one of four recipients at the CHSCA's banquet on May 13.

There were more than 260 applicants statewide.

"Kyle epitomizes the term student-athlete," said Newtown Athletic Director Gregg Simon. "He has the drive and desire to succeed on a very high level both in the classroom an on the athletic fields."

The 5-7, 145-pound O'Connor proves there's an exception to every rule in sports selection. Not many football and lacrosse players swim competitively but he's no fish out of water in the pool and the change of pace between that and his fall and spring sports suits him perfectly.

 "I've been swimming since second grade and I love it because it has a different mentality than football and lacrosse has," said O'Connor. "I used to do swimming and basketball while growing up but I chose it because I like swimming more."

As a member of the Nighthawk swimming team, he and his teammates broke the Newtown High School pool record in the 200-yard freestyle in his last career home meet. He swam the third leg for the 200-free relay team, which broke the school record at the Class L championships. In addition to the relay, O'Connor swam the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and third leg in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

O'Connor first chose to swim in elementary school because his friends did it and he thought it would be a lot of fun. Before joining the Nighthawks, he swam for the Newtown Torpedoes, a program of the Newtown Parks and Recreation, which helped foster his development in the pool.

On the gridiron, he had 735 all-purpose yards as a running back and punt returner and on defense, he was a safety. The conference was impressed and selected him Second Team All-SWC junior and senior years. Defensively, he was a safety.

"It was a tribute to the offensive line because we had good seasons both years and good teams produce good players," said O'Connor.

The ability to make great moves and being faster than his opponent contributed to his success running the ball.

"Some of the moves come from experience," said O'Connor. "I've been playing football in sixth grade and I started to learn them then. It helps doing swimming and lacrosse because they help with my agility and I'm able to transfer this over to football. I guess I was just born with speed."

He began playing lacrosse in seventh grade and developed into a faceoff player and defender. O'Connor also became adept at picking up ground balls and earned Second Team All-SWC in lacrosse last year.

"When I started to play lacrosse, I didn't have the stick skills, so I worked on the fundamentals," O'Connor said.

Being captain of three sports is something he relished and led all three teams by example through his work ethic and verbally by constructively instructing his teammates.

"I really loved interacting with different groups of people," O'Connor said.

Academically, he has a 4.72 GPA weighted, 3.98 not weighted.

"(Playing sports) gives me discipline because every day, my schedule is to go to school, practice, have dinner and do homework the rest of the night," says O'Connor on how he balances his academics with athletics.

Next year, he'll attend the University of Pennsylvania and wants to major in nursing because he said he is interested in helping people.

"I always knew that I'd go into a field that would be dedicated to providing care and supporting for those in need," O'Connor said in an e-mail. "Nursing will allow me to connect with these patients on a personal level that will be far greater than any other profession."

O'Connor also said he hopes to play club lacrosse at Penn but won't be playing a varsity sport for the Quakers.

"At least for the first month or two, it will be different because I'll have more free time, but the course load will be more rigorous," O'Connor said. "I'll miss having a team back me up."