AUSTIN, Texas — In middle school, Oliver Yu broke his collarbone. After that, his parents didn’t want him to play football in high school. He still wanted to be around the game, so Yu decided to become a student trainer and be on the sidelines. While doing that as a sophomore, his desire to be on the field started to come back.
“I was around the team and realized I still loved the game,” Yu said.
He wanted to play, and the coaching staff wanted him to play.
“Every day I’d say ‘I need you back here playing football,’” Westwood coach Anthony Wood said.
So coach Wood and Yu then went to work on his parents.
“We just kind of ganged up on him and had to convince his parents. Once we got over that hurdle it was just watching him excel,” said Wood.
Yu quickly got back into form as a junior and became one of the Warriors starting receivers this season. He leads the team in touchdown catches.
‘I came back and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made,” said Yu.
Even with putting some of his focus on football, it hasn’t stopped Yu from excelling in the classroom. He holds a 5.57 GPA on a weighted 5.0 scale. He also scored a 1540 on his SAT test, with a perfect 800 on the math portion.
“Growing up I’ve always prioritized academics as something that needed to be great and up to a certain standard. I’m able to do well in academics and in football and it’s a tribute to how my parents raised me,” said Yu.
In addition to sports and school, Yu has volunteered in the community and took mission trips to help build churches when he was young. Oliver Yu, is our November Scholar Athlete of the Month.
SPECTRUM NEWS SCHOLAR ATHLETE PROGRAM
The Spectrum News Scholar Athlete Program recognizes exceptional public high school student athletes with academic scholarship awards of $1,000 each for use towards college expenses. Nominees must be high school seniors enrolled at public and private high schools within the Spectrum News viewing area in Texas in order to be considered.
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