By LARRY GAGE
Special to the PRESS
Former Port Isabel Tarpon student/athlete Joseph Ian Torres has made it through his first semester at the University of Houston, and is home for the holidays. Torres recently sat down with the Press and talked about athletic and academic life at the next level.
“It took me a while to adjust,” Torres told the Press. “It didn’t help that there was a hurricane (Harvey) in that area. There was a lot of flooding, but on campus the power remained on and the internet was up,” he said.
Classes were suspended at UH for about a week and a half, Torres said, because commuting students could not get to the campus. Torres, who lives in on-campus housing, made good use of the time. “I got ahead in all my work.”
Scheduling and time management are the keys to success at the college level, and Torres said he learned a lot this first semester about how to balance academics and athletics.
“It’s an evolving process,” Torres said. “There’s never a time when you’ll get the perfect schedule. Your schedule is always going to conflict with something. My coaches and advisers for academics … they help me out, changing things around, (so that I can) show up to practice or weights and not miss class.”
Torres graduated from Port Isabel High School last spring. He was All-District 16-4A Div. II as a football lineman for his senior season of 2016. He also was the gold medalist in the shot put at last spring’s district meet, and placed 7th at the state meet May.
As a Houston Cougar Torres will be competing in the hammer throw in addition to the shot put, and he talked about the importance of weight training.
Want the whole story? Pick up a copy of the Port Isabel-South Padre Press, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
Comments