This week’s Olympia Athlete of the Week is Adam Swartzendruber. Adam is from Minier and will be a senior at Olympia High School this upcoming school year. Ever since his freshman year at Olympia, Adam has been an athlete for the Spartans. Adam has been a basketball and baseball player for Olympia starting his freshman year and just last football season, in his junior year, Adam also started playing football for the Spartans. 

In his freshman year, Adam played basketball and baseball for both program’s junior varsity teams. Even just as a freshman, Adam had the attention of his coaches and would quickly make the jump up to varsity, at least in basketball. In Adam’s sophomore year, he still played for the junior varsity team, but was also on the varsity basketball team, one of the few sophomores to earn a spot on the team. Adam even saw a little playing time as a sophomore on the varsity basketball team, a big accomplishment for any underclassmen. In the spring of his sophomore year, COVID unfortunately took away his opportunity to earn yet another varsity letter for the baseball team. 

Coming into his junior year, not knowing exactly what sports would look like during the COVID Pandemic, all Adam wanted to do was compete. After talking with Olympia’s football coach, Eric Lyons, Adam decided that he wanted to try football too. His junior year of sports began with basketball though, due to COVID guidelines pushing football to the spring. Adam was a valuable player for the Spartans basketball team this past winter. His biggest strengths were his aggressive defense and strong rebounding, something the Spartans were grateful to have. In the spring, Adam played in his first football season, where he played running back for the Spartans’ junior varsity team and was a backup running back on the varsity team. Adam will be expected to fill a bigger role for the football team in his senior year, and Coach Lyons expects him to do so with ease. In Adams junior year of baseball, he played a very important role for the Spartans. Adam was able to play a lot of different positions for Olympia, including being able to pitch when needed. This versatility and Adam’s solid season at the plate earned him All-Conference Honorable Mention in the Illini Prairie Conference. 

Adam has been a very valuable athlete in Olympia sports so far and his coaches do not expect anything less from him in his senior year at Olympia. Not only is Adam a three-sport athlete, but he also excels in the classroom and is a leader in the school’s FFA program. Adam is coming into his senior year excited and ready to compete for the Spartans.