{"id":3210,"date":"2017-02-09T14:53:27","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T14:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/?p=3210"},"modified":"2017-03-22T14:41:17","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T14:41:17","slug":"nate-balthazard-to-bring-passion-perseverance-to-sacred-heart-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/2017\/02\/09\/nate-balthazard-to-bring-passion-perseverance-to-sacred-heart-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Balthazard to Bring Passion, Perseverance to Sacred Heart Football"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nate<\/a>
Nate Balthazard, photo by Dennis Crommett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blog Post by Matthew Liebowitz<\/em><\/p>\n

It takes three words for Coach Jacob Rivers to sum up Nate Balthazard, to accurately encapsulate the Williston Northampton football player\u2019s guts, grit, and gridiron glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, for those who attended Nate\u2019s February 6 signing ceremony, during which he formally committed to play football for Sacred Heart University in the fall, three words don\u2019t tell the entire story.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll find people faster, or stronger, but you won\u2019t find anyone who wants it more,\u201d Rivers said.<\/p>\n

Nate played slot receiver for the Wildcats this season; prior to coming to Williston for his post-graduate year, he played for the Red Raiders of Barnstable High School on Cape Cod.<\/p>\n

Rivers continued with his praise of Nate\u2019s mental acuity, a skill that will serve him well when he joins the Division I Sacred Heart Pioneers under the tutelage of Head Coach Mark Nofri.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe diagnoses things quickly,\u201d said Rivers, who speaks from experience; he played slot receiver at Trinity from 2011 to 2015. \u201cIn the middle of the play you need to take in a lot of information and be able to know what to do in a split second. He\u2019s very good at that. It\u2019s instinctual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accolades are nothing new for Nate. He received the 2015 Michael A. Houston Memorial Award from Barnstable High School, and was a 2014 and 2015 Old Colony League All Star at wide receiver. At Williston he was\u00a0an All-Erikson League selection for football.<\/p>\n

Tommy Beaton, Williston\u2019s head coach, doubled down on the praise, citing Nate\u2019s impressive work ethic coupled with his natural talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never had a doubt he\u2019d play [in college],\u201d said Beaton. \u201cHe made an impact on day one.\u201d Beaton said an imperative this season was simply to \u201ctry to find a way to give him the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from his coaches, there are three role models\u2014a cheering section, more appropriately\u2014with whom Nate is delighted to share this moment.<\/p>\n

Speaking of his father, Roy, and his mother, Karen, Nate said, \u201cThey are the first people I share the good times with. They are all extremely hard working and I model my behavior after them.\u201d He thanked them as well for the \u201cplethora of time and money\u201d they put into his athletic career and for the continued encouragement through tough times.<\/p>\n

The appreciation goes both ways. Nate\u2019s father, Roy, traveled from Barnstable to wherever the Wildcats played this season. \u201cI didn\u2019t miss a game,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw every one.\u201d He is planning a similar attendance schedule when Nate suits up for Sacred Heart.<\/p>\n

Roy noted and appreciated the camaraderie and leadership skills his son took on at Williston this year, and again spoke highly of Nate\u2019s perseverance and tenacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe set his goals and did whatever it took to get there,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n

Though the ink is dry and the recruitment process is over, Nate is not taking it easy. He\u2019s currently in Athletic Performance \u201cto get bigger, faster, and stronger,\u201d and in the spring will hit the track\u2014again with Coach Rivers\u2014to improve his sprinting form. From there it\u2019s a summer of Sacred Heart-planned workouts until training camp officially starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog Post by Matthew Liebowitz It takes three words for Coach Jacob Rivers to sum up Nate Balthazard, to accurately encapsulate the Williston Northampton football player\u2019s guts, grit, and gridiron glory. \u201cHe\u2019s a warrior.\u201d However, for those who attended Nate\u2019s February 6 signing ceremony, during which he formally committed to play football for Sacred Heart … Continue reading Nate Balthazard to Bring Passion, Perseverance to Sacred Heart Football<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-signings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3210"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3255,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3210\/revisions\/3255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}