By Connor Toomey, '11

Nik Taz the Mega Athlete

Lost And Found

A new addition to the football team mid season has brought them the golden leg that they have been missing so far.  Nik Tasiopoulos, a former pin room super star, has switched from the weight room to the gridiron and is showing one of his many talents.  Taz, a three sport varsity athlete, can handle anything.  From the ice to the diamond he is  one of the top players for both teams.  Now adding the football team to his resume seems like no problem at all for this athlete.  When Coach Ben Rulli asked Nik to be the kicker for the team, he took it as a challenge that he wanted to conquer. 

GOLDEN LEG

It all started as just a simple joke.  Punting in the gym, trying to kick the ball over the batting cage,  it was all fun and games until Nik realized that it wasn’t taking him any effort at all to get the ball over the net which could be about a 30 or 40 yard field goal.  After realizing this, he felt that maybe                               he could kick a field goal. As I knelt down waiting for the snap, I couldn’t keep from laughing and so was everyone else.  As he ran up and kicked the ball, we were all in awe as the ball went soaring over the net.  When coach Ben Rulli caught word about Taz’s impressive leg, he decided to come out and watch.  He was so impressed that he invited Nik out to the real gridiron to try a kick on actual field goal posts.  Shortly after a few kicks at the beginning of practice, it was official.  Nik Taz became a varsity football player.

True Sport?

 Even though hockey is Taz’s number one sport, he feels that with his kicking skills there is no reason why he couldn’t pursue football in college.  Nik has talked to many of the football players on last year’s Proctor team, that have moved on to play in college and all of them have told him that he can kick just about the same distance as the kickers on their teams.  This has given Nik the mind set that he can do anything.

     Since the day Nik started kicking, he has been almost obsessed with it.  He absolutely loves football now.  Everyday he can’t wait to get to practice and work on kicking field goals and his longer kicks.  Every practice, Ben tells him he can leave after about twenty minutes of kicking, but Taz elects to stay and help about with passing plays or being the teams commentator of practice with Ben.

Hockey and Baseball

    Nik came from Thayer Academy to Proctor Academy to play hockey.  As soon as he hit the ice, he made a big impact for the team.  Putting up a whopping 57 point, with 32 goals and 27 assists.  With his extremely fascinating  puck skills, he has been getting a lot of attention with college scouts.

    Nik has also been a standout on the baseball diamond as well.  He was starting second baseman last year, and really enjoyed the season.  He referred to himself as Dustin, as in Dustin Pedroia from the Boston Red Sox.  This three sport varsity athlete knows what it takes to be successful in all aspects of life.

Student Athlete

When it come to Nik Tasiopoulos, student comes first.  He takes pride with being on heads list every term of his Proctor career.  “Having a ninety average every term takes a lot of time and effort.” says Nik.  Between sports and academic’s, Nik will have no problem excelling in the college of his choice.