Story by Derek Shao and Om Khandekar
The term “quitting” is oftentimes considered a taboo word in the world of sports. No one wants to be called a quitter. However, Sophomore Mikey Sakellar is technically a quitter. A quitter, who is actually winning in his mind.
Standing at 6’1 and weighing 148 pounds, Sakellar is the epitome of a three sport athlete. He excels in cross country, wrestling and track, and has quite the distinguished career under his belt. In addition to various first place finishes at the county level in both wrestling and track, Sakellar has also placed 18th in the nation for the 800 meter dash. Despite his habitual success, Sakellar has recently taken the unorthodox route when it comes to pursuing his athletic aspirations. In the middle of his freshman year, Sakellar decided not to compete for a school team. The decision meant that he would not being able to compete against other schools in the Central Coast Section. Despite this, Sakellar is satisfied with his club teams, which he believes will help him develop as a better athlete.
Sakellar’s journey into club sports stemmed from an inspiration to remain at his peak physical level. While he was in elementary school, Sakellar was overweight and had a carefree attitude when it came to the discipline required to workout, the exact opposite of a dedicated club athlete. It took a while, but a distant relative inspired him to change his lifestyle.
“When I was in fourth grade, my cousin was really good at track so she took me in and trained me,” Sakellar said. “She basically forced me to do it.”
His cousin gave him workout routines and pushed him to carry out increasingly difficult workouts. Try as he might, Sakellar couldn’t go back to his previous lifestyle and he ended up incorporating and loving this daily exertion in his routine. Because Sakellar didn’t have many friends at the time because he was new to the Cupertino area, working out with his cousin provided a welcome relief from boredom and loneliness.
From here on out, working out was more than just a hobby for him. As he got to middle school, he was determined to succeed in his sports and in his personal ambitions. During his time as a wrestler for KMS, he committed himself to the program.
“He’s really quiet and nice and hard working. Definitely someone that could be looked up to,” said Freshman Satoshi Ueda.
“My key to success is that I hate losing,” Sakellar said. “Because I feel awkward talking to people after I lose so even if I want to slow down, I convince myself not to because this [winning] feeling is more comfortable than that awkward feeling.”
This hatred of losing and and appreciation of exercise gives him a drive to be the best he possibly can. To Sakellar, the practices at MVHS aren’t the best for him in terms of succeeding in his passion.
“Mikey has a very intense work ethic. When I would work out with him, he would push me to be the best I could be,” sophomore Nathan Hui said, who has known Sakellar since 4th grade and is his occasional workout partner.
Sakellar says that club teams push him further than school teams possibly can. In order to fulfill his potential, he needs to be in a team that will really challenge him.
“I found it really difficult to quit because my teammates were really nice and cool.” Sakellar said.
Although he doesn’t plan his life around his performances and successes, Sakellar doesn’t want to have his life consumed by the school track team and still not be the greatest he could be.
“In terms of athletics, I don’t really have any goals.” Sakellar said, “I don’t see myself doing track in the future. For now, my only goal is to stay fit and swag on.”
