As DVHS mens soccer advances through the North Coast section playoffs, senior Ricky Feliciano juggles the task of playing on both the varsity mens soccer and baseball teams. It has created conflict for him, but has also been a fun challenge.
“I think the transition from [soccer] to [baseball] is the most difficult part as each sport has different standards and expectations,” Feliciano said. “Also, each sport has its own aspects that differ but also correlate in a sense.” +
As striker for his club and school soccer teams and a catcher for his baseball team, Feliciano stated that friendships and his father fueled his inspiration for both sports.
“For soccer, when I started playing, it was the friendships that were my inspiration, because I never wanted to let my friends down and that kind of drove me throughout the years and kept me going,” Feliciano commented. “For baseball, my dad [inspired me], because I knew how good he was at my age and always wanted to fill his shoes,”.
With over 22 hits in baseball and 21 goals in his varsity soccer career, Feliciano still stresses the importance of persistence and a positive attitude in each of the teams that he participates in.
“During the duration of this season, my favorite moment has to be how throughout the season, the ups and downs, having fun during practice and really taking advantage of [the season]. Also, having the coaches that we have makes the season more enjoyable,” Feliciano explained.
Feliciano emphasized the importance of preparation for his team against difficult opponents such as San Ramon Valley, De La Salle, and others. These key preparations have created a 16-3-2 record as well as being undefeated 9-0 in the EBAL regular season.
“Since we had a bye [ Feb. 11], we made sure to stay fit and have an intensive practice early on in the week rather than near gameday. We’ve also been taking care of ourselves individually with recovery tactics and icing,” Feliciano said. ”Finally, we’ve made sure to know all of the plays and prepare the best we can through the mental side.”
These mental preparations helped Feliciano receive the nomination for the Mercury News’ Boys Athlete of the Week from Jan. 20-25, when he was able to score two goals to aid Dougherty’s victory against Granada earlier that week. Before receiving this accomplishment, Feliciano earlier, was doubting his willingness to play soccer after his junior season.
“One unique thing about my soccer journey was that the summer after my junior year, I was debating whether or not to play and didn’t play for several months, and then I came back and I was actually doing better than last year,” in terms of goals and points per game, Feliciano said.
Overall, Feliciano noted the satisfaction of playing two sports at Dougherty and seeing both of his teams evolve over the years.
“My favorite part here is seeing the effects of all the work that we’ve put in last year and seeing it translate to on field results, which helps us gain more respect,” Feliciano concluded.
