Dylan Tully
Contributing Writer
Springfield College is always thought of as an athletic campus, with an emphasis on physical fitness and staying healthy. Athletes come and go, whether at the varsity or intramural levels, with somewhat regularity, as there is usually something for each and every student to do to keep busy.
Many play a sport in their leisure or for intramurals to keep themselves busy when their schoolwork lets up. The ambitious ones continue to chase their dreams or play the sport they love at the varsity level, while some even dare to play two sports. Kyle DiFranco has bested everyone by playing three sports here as a member of the Pride.
DiFranco is a senior at Springfield, and he has competed in three sports thus far. He has played baseball, hockey and golf, and done all three quite well throughout his college years.
When he first came to SC, he saw himself as a two-sport athlete, as he planned on trying out for the baseball and hockey teams, his two favorite sports growing up. His older brother had always told him that he should play golf, but he had to try out for, and make the baseball team, so that was not an option for DiFranco during his freshman year. He did not start playing golf until the next year, where he was playing hockey, baseball and golf all in the same year.
DiFranco’s playing career did not start and end with those three sports though. Growing up he played soccer, although he admits that baseball is his favorite sport to play. One would think that with so many different sports in his life that DiFranco would have had many private lessons or coaches growing up, but that was not the case.
“I mostly learned each sport on my own,” said DiFranco. “My dad taught me a lot about baseball, and I went to learn to skate for hockey and fell in love with the game from there. As far as golf goes, my brother taught me the game. I started when I was 12. I just went to the range and learned the game from there. I never had a lesson or a coach.”
DiFranco is in season for golf right now, and they recently performed well as a team and won the NECC Championship. DiFranco, the competitor that he is, was not completely satisfied with his own performance, but was happy that the team came away victorious.
“The team played great. We really played great,” said DiFranco. “Everyone came together and put up solid rounds. I thought I could have performed better. I made a few mistakes that cost me strokes, but the rounds were good enough to get us the championship.”
Unfortunately, for DiFranco and the hockey team, a shoulder injury will keep him from playing hockey this year, but he has set some goals for himself as golf season ends and baseball season starts.
“Now that golf is almost over, I just want to finish this season strong,” said DiFranco. “For baseball I want to finally have a full, healthy season and win our conference and move onto regionals. But most importantly, I want to have fun playing and hang with the guys.”
It is especially refreshing that all of the sports and the competitiveness has not gotten old or boring to DiFranco. He remains goal-oriented and hungry to make himself a better teammate and competitor, no matter what the sport is. One would automatically wonder how DiFranco is feeling as his careers come to a close during his senior season at Springfield, yet DiFranco is not worrying much about the end, but more about the fun.
“I just want to continue to have fun and play sports while I still can,” said DiFranco.