By Ken Hansard
Most athletes understand that, in order to make goals for improving performance, they first must identify their weaknesses. Kyler Sharlow, a senior lineman for the Baxter Springs Lions football team, is very forthright with his personal assessment, “My weakness is honestly my size. I was never really the biggest lineman, but I made up for that with my speed. I’m still not the biggest, but I definitely improved my strength from working all summer long.”
Sharlow, who plays offensive tackle and defensive end, is confident that his hard work this past off-season will pay dividends in his final campaign with the Lions, “I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome of the hard work that we put in all summer long. Our record last season was 4-5. We weren’t too happy about that, but we really hope to turn things around this year.”
When asked about specific goals for the team, Sharlow said, “The goal is really to just make do with what we have. Across the board, we don’t have a lot of size. We have a lot of good players – just not much size.”
Baxter Springs will likely see a lot of young players logging time this year, and Kyler understands that, as a senior, it is his job to help them to understand the program’s culture and to provide guidance for them, “I see myself as a leader. We have a lot of young guys this year. They’re young, but they’re also tough and very coachable, so by the time these guys are seniors, they will be animals.”
Sharlow is still debating his future options but currently plans to work full-time after graduation.
