Jack of all trades
Jack Ciocca had one of the most impressive sporting years in Saint Francis school history.
It started in the fall when the Grade 10 student started at safety and captained the Phoenix junior football team to a Niagara Catholic Athletic Association championship.
When the football season ended, the 15-year-old St. Catharines resident turned to the hardcourt and the Niagara United travel player became a starter on the senior boys basketball team that captured an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA gold medal.
In the spring, Ciocca turned his attention to the water and fields. He was part of a coxed quad that won gold at the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association championships and he also rowed in a double. At the same time, he placed third in the junior boy triple jump at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships and qualified for the OFSAA South Regionals where he placed seventh.
It made for a busy year for Ciocca and no time was more busier than the spring. Every day after school he had rowing practice. He would then rush home, eat dinner and then head to Niagara United basketball practice. When he returned home from basketball at 8 or 9 p.m., he would head to the track to practice triple jump.
He got through the days by remembering the words of his basketball coach, Jono Marcheterre.
“He always told me that it is always about the next play or the next shot and that is what it is with me. Once I am done, it is on to the next thing and the next thing.”
Despite his busy schedule, Ciocca has managed to maintain a 93 per cent average with a course load that included advanced Grade 11 classes.
“I fast tracked but it didn’t hurt my average at all,” he said.
He keeps on top of his academics by using his classroom time wisely.
“When I am in class, I am listening and attentive because that is my time to learn. When I am at home, I do spend some time studying but most of it is in class. A lot kids will finish a lesson and go on their phones but I have that hour and 15 minutes and I use it.”
Given all his accomplishments, it was hard for Ciocca to pick a highlight but he narrowed it down to the OFSAA basketball and Schoolboy golds.
“I can’t really choose between the two of them. OFSAA was a lot because I have known about this program since I was in Grade 6. I had been to the games, I have known Mr. (Pat) Sullivan and it has been a massive part of my life,” he said. “Being able to do what I had seen other people do definitely was important in my life.”
Schoolboy was equally important.
“It was massive for me because I look down the walls at the school and it has all the plaques. Now being able to join it and be a part of Saint Francis rowing means a lot.”
Of all the sports, football was the most fun.
“It was all of my friends that I love. We all got together and said, ‘Let’s go out and have some fun’ and we ended up winning.”
Ciocca won’t get much of a break this summer because he has already started training every day from 5 to 8 a.m. with the St. Catharines Rowing Club. He qualified for the club’s eight by recording the fastest erg time — a personal best of 6:57 — and he also seat raced and made it into the top four.
“Those are the two boats that they are pushing but deeper into the season we are getting into smaller boats and I might be able to get into a single, double or pair.”
Ciocca knows there will come a time when he needs to pick one sport to pursue at a higher level and he is leaning towards rowing. He knows it is probably his best chance at obtaining an athletic scholarship.
“The problem started last year when basketball and rowing were colliding and it has gotten worse ever since then. I have had conversations with both coaches and I do lean towards rowing a little more just because of my accomplishments and the road I can take with rowing is much more open than the route I have for basketball,” he said. “But I enjoy basketball and it will be hard to go away from it because that was my childhood.”
