It’s natural to recognize and applaud the athletes that participate in major sports. Typically, the most recognized athletes at any level are ones that participate in major sports, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that…however, it’s still important to give credit where credit is due. I, for one, had never heard of skeet shooting, and have never been well-versed on equestrian. At face level, these both seemed like rather easy activities that were done for some light-hearted fun. Upon speaking with Levi Neuhaus ’21 and Nicole Borst ’20 (two INCREDIBLE athletes), I was proven to be very, very wrong.

According to Neuhaus ‘21, Skeet Shooting is “an Olympic sport, but it doesn’t get much recognition, not many know about it around here, but it’s a pretty common thing outside the bubble of East.” In fact, in order to participate in a Skeet Shooting team, Levi has to drive to Ada, where he is a member of the Orange Crushers Skeet Shooting team. He has made it to nationals multiple times, and their team has won back-to-back national championships. Considering the fact that a national championship is typically considered a significant achievement, it’s odd that not many people seem to know about Levi’s achievement. Luckily, Levi doesn’t skeet shoot for the recognition. For Neuhaus, it’s just “really nice being able to get away from the stresses of day-to-day life and enjoy nature.”

Nicole Borst doesn’t skeet shoot, but her sport, equestrian, also requires a unique skill set. “I am a hunter-jumper, which is a part of equestrian. Equestrian is like track: there are a lot of different events.” The skills required for being a hunter-jumper, though, seem especially challenging. “You have to be able to communicate well with your horse. It’s really easy to fall off, so you also have to have a really good balance. One time, I fell off and almost broke my back on a concrete wall.” Clearly, Nicole’s sport is especially grueling, and it takes extreme precision and talent, but being recognized for her incredible achievements is not a concern for her. “I just ride for fun, she says.

Though we aren’t that big of a school, a lot of cool and unique things that individuals do tend to be drowned out by constant conversation of the staple aspects of EGR. Because of this, it’s important to give students who do unique activities, like Levi and Nicole, the chance to talk about them, because there are so many cool things that students here do that no one gets to hear about.