Hanover Central High School

Story by Jayden Bartoszek Milo Schlesinger is both an offensive and defensive lineman on the football team. Before sophomore year, he had only ever played soccer once in 5th grade, but he did not let this stop him from joining and contributing to a very successful team. He has faced adversity but never allowed it to ruin his love for sports or stop him from striving to be the best player he can become. Milo had a plethora of reasons to start his football career. He previously only had experience playing soccer, and at first just wanted to get in shape with a few of his friends that also joined the team. After he started playing, he could not help but to start to really enjoy the sport and all it has to offer. Milo doesn’t just play one sport, he has also done track, and he has even wrestled. At first he joined these for fun but eventually, just like with football, he fell in love with the sports. Wrestling is usually something that you have to start young to have a passion for, but Milo developed this passion in a much shorter time. Last year he couldn’t wrestle, but he is very eager to get back to the fun times with friends, teammates and competitions. At the end of his junior season Milo had to fight through adversity when he suffered a slight tear in his ACL. An injury of this magnitude often requires a long grueling recovery process, but Milo wanted to do all he could to get back in the game, so he did all his recovery work carefully, being sure to not miss anything that would speed up his recovery. During this time he even joined the track team for shotput and discus to occupy his mind and avoid letting the injury get to him. To Milo, football is more than just a game, it’s a lifestyle. It gives him something to do that is both fun and makes him happy. No matter how well he plays, he is always looking for things he can improve on and work harder at. Things like teamwork and working through adversity have taught him important lessons that translate from the field to life flawlessly. He is graduating early, so he won’t be able to compete much in either sport before he leaves, but he still wants to go to the practices because of all his athletic career has done for him. We wish nothing but the best for Milo in the future, and we’re positive he will do great things.