High school students who play sports have always had busy schedules. But for Hannah Onet, it’s three times as busy. This past fall, the 14-year-old SBHS freshman was on the swim team, the girls JV volleyball team and the golf team.
“I managed to keep my grades up during this time but there were some days were it was stressful,” said Onet.
Onet has been competing in sports since she was just five years old. Her first sport love is swimming, considering she comes from a background of swimmers. Her mother, Ana Onet qualified nationally in the 100 butterfly in all of Europe and her father, Chris Onet qualified to play water polo at the national level. Onet started swimming at just a couple of months old, with her mother as her coach. Her mom has been her coach all her life and has taught her everything she knows about the sport.
“I have no complications having my mom as a coach, in fact I think it’s pretty cool. It is also nice that she understands me and this can be benificial to the way she coaches me,” said Onet.
Golf is another key sport the freshman has been playing. She began golf when she was five years old and her first competitions started when she was nine years-old. Onet took to golf naturally, however it wasn’t the same for her parents.
“It was tough when she started golf because me and my husband have not played before and that’s a totally different mindset for golf especially coming from a background of swimming and water polo,” said Ana Onet.
This fall she was one one of only two girls who joined the South Broward golf team. The team’s coach, Ms. Amy Mujica noticed that Onet took criticism well and applied it immediately.
“There wasn’t much for me to do since she has a lot of experience and trying to keep a level head I think is what all competitors have to do in times of stress,” said Coach Mujica.
In middle school, Onet discovered a passion for volleyball. She is perfectly designed for blocking and attacking. Not only is she physically gifted, but she makes a good teammate.
“Whenever there were partner activities it would always be us together and we would laugh a lot and get along. I had a great experience playing with her,” said Sabrina Posada, a fellow freshman from the JV girls volleyball team.
As well as being a stand-out athlete, Onet is a great student. She is in the Cambridge program with a heavy load of honors classes, including AICE Thinking skills, AICE General paper, Chemistry Honors, and Geometry. It’s a grueling schedule. As soon as the bell rings, she goes straight to practice and then heads home to complete her homework and assignments.
She has won more than 40 medals and awards in swimming and golf. It’s hard to pick, but she feels the most pride with her golf accomplishment this year.
“My biggest accomplishment so far was when I made it to districts as a freshmen in golf,” said Onet.
This season she qualified for districts and placed 6th in all of south Florida.
In the spring, she plans on playing on the water polo team and running track.
“I hope to build muscle and endurance while doing track and I think water polo is a really fun sport to play,” said Onet.
