Casey Jordan
CMM225
9/19/2025
Anthony Lacaprucia had to go through a steep challenge in his journey with sports in order to break through to his full potential. Through his journey, he learned how to be better on and off the field. He credits his relationship with sports with helping him learn discipline, accountability, and communication skills.
When Lacaprucias’ Junior year of high school soccer tryouts rolled around, he approached it no different than the previous two years as he had been playing soccer his whole life, and solidified himself as a member of the varsity team. However, this year everything would change and Lacaprucia would be cut from making the team.
Feelings of defeat and wanting to quit consumed anthony, however he knew he coulndt abandon his life long goal of playing sports in college.
Lacaprucia knew his sports journey couldn’t end there, and sent an email in the direction of his schools football coach the same day. Anthony decided to try his hand at kicking for the football team, which is a vastly different world then soccer.
by recognizing he needed to pivot, and adapting quickly, Anthony was able to open a new avenue for himself. This is a skill that current teammate Bodie Johnson admires, who works closely as a long snapper with lacaprucia; “Hes very inquisitive…and open to finding solutions to succeed”.
Anthony quickly realized that football wasn’t a place to be free from challenges, he struggled early in his senior season, leaving 7 points on the field for his team. By taking the hardship as fuel, Anthony once again came out stronger, scoring 8 in his next game.
His resilience and hard work gave him the opportunity to achieve one of his biggest goals. And he continued kicking at the collegiate level for the University of New England in 2024.
Lacaprucia discovered when he arrived at UNE that he needed to develop a level of confidence he hadnt previously reached; “Developing my confidence was a need…When I first came in I didnt have much confidence, and if you go onto the field thinking youre going to miss the kick then you most likely will”.
The culture of the UNE football team was also a huge help for learning valuable life lessons. He credits football for helping him immensely with improving his time management skills. Forcing him to develop a discipline schedule to get his schoolwork done.
Anthony also believes his communication skills have improved since arriving at UNE; “Although it was uncomfortable at first. Getting out of my comfort zone in college and having to put myself out there has helped me a lot”
Fast forward to 2025, in Lacaprucias’ first-ever start as a college kicker, he earned recognition as the special teams player of the week in UNE’s conference by making 8/8 extra points. Which is another boost of confidence and step in the right direction for the Sophomore, “Its been outside reinforcement, and validates the thought in my mind that I can do it”.
Anthonys sports journey has developed into something he never would have imagined. However, he looked at obstacles as a reason to adapt and find new ways to succeed. This has fostered resilience and discipline in Anthony. While also being conscious of the lessons of accountability and communication during his opportunity to be a part of the University of New England Football program
In the Future, Anthony hopes to keep being involved in football by being a kicking coach. As he believes kicking is one of the most impactful positions in sports for learning life skills, as it requires an immense amount of mental strength. He would like to help future kickers with their mentality, just like his kicking coach has helped him. “I have had a great kicking coach that helped me become a better person and I hope to give back to other kids those same skills.”
REPORTING QUESTIONS
Anthony Questions
- If you never got cut from the soccer team, do you think you would have developed as much of a well-rounded skill set as you have found today?
- What skill has improved the most along your sports journey?
- What do you attribute your improvement in communication skills to the most?
- What has being awarded special teams player of the week meant to you as you continue your sports journey?
- What has football done for your overall confidence level?
- Do you believe that you would be as disciplined as you are today if you continued with soccer?
- Do you believe you have been shaped more by the culture of football or by facing challenges and overcoming them?
- How did not playing your freshman year push you?
- Would you like to still be involved in sports in the future?
REFLECTION
My reflection on part two of this project is very positive. I enjoyed the process of reading Anthony’s essay and trying to take away the most important aspects from it, and crafting it into my own story. I thought it was cool to be a reporter also, by asking him questions to get more information on parts I wanted to highlight of his story. I also asked people close to him for quotes to reinforce my work. I tried to craft my story using tactics that we used in our journalism class last semester. I wanted to let the quotes do the talking and try to have the audience make what they want of the story. I did this by putting my quotes at the end of paragraphs so they get the last word. I also tried my best not to reveal the story too early, but still hook the reader with the lead. However, I ran into a small problem as I wanted to use the quote from Bodie before I introduced Anthony. Bodie is a current teammate of Anthony’s at UNE, and I used his quote before introducing that Anthony played college football. This may be a small issue or one that could be overlooked. But maybe I could have worked around it better. Which is something I will consider in the future.
