By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
For a high school athlete, continuing to participate in one’s sport in college is about as good as it gets. Doing it on scholarship is even better.
Samantha Bodden and Aaron Barrera experienced that feeling Wednesday when the two Brownsville Veterans Memorial seniors signed college scholarship agreements to compete in their sports at the next level during the 2018-19 school year.
Barrera will play NCAA Division III football at Hiram (Ohio) College and Bodden will join older sister Kathryn (“Kat”) on the women’s soccer team at Huston-Tillotson University, an NAIA school in Austin.
Signing ceremonies for the two standout athletes were held Wednesday afternoon at the Brownsville Veterans library with family, friends, teammates, coaches, teachers and Brownsville ISD officials in attendance.
It was a celebratory occasion for everyone.
“I didn’t realize how hard it would be to play college football until I got into high school, so this day feels pretty good,” said Barrera, a 5-foot-11, 255-pound center for the District 32-5A champion Chargers in the fall of 2017. “Someone asked me (when I was younger) if I wanted to play college football, and since that day, it’s been exactly what I wanted to do.
“This (signing) is something very exciting,” added Barrera, who played one season on the varsity for the Chargers as a transfer and earned all-district and All-Metro honors. “Also, this all feels kind of surreal.”
David Cantu, Brownsville Veterans athletic coordinator/football coach, said Barrera played junior varsity football for the Chargers as a junior as per transfer rules, and added once he was eligible for the varsity as a senior, the standout center made an immediate impact.
“It didn’t take us long to see how intelligent Aaron was and that he was going to really help us out because we ask our centers to make a lot of reads and checks,” Cantu said. “He never had any problems doing that.
“Aaron’s positive nature always has stood out to me,” Cantu added. “He never seems to have a bad day. He always has a positivity about himself with a very calming-type personality.
“He was a person who (in football) never complained about the situation no matter what it was, even when he broke his hand (in a pre-game drill) right before the Donna High game. He just gave me a reassuring look that everything was going to be OK.”
Barrera, a top student who earned first-team all-state academic honors, plans to pursue a degree in physics at Hiram College, while Bodden plans to major in criminal justice at Huston-Tillotson.
Lady Chargers coach Luis Troncoso described Bodden as “a difference-maker for us.”
A recipient of all-district and All-Metro honors, Bodden scored 50 goals as a senior in helping her team get to the playoffs from 32-5A while finishing her four-year varsity career with 94 goals in all.
“Sam was out there leading the team and she demonstrated her leadership in different ways,” Troncoso said. “She was maybe not that person that was yelling all the time, but she would go out there and perform and lead the girls by example while talking to them at times so we could achieve our goals.
“This is a special day for Sam, her family, her teammates and our program,” the coach added. “These signings are becoming a constant event, which speaks well about the good things we’re doing here at our school in general plus in our soccer program. It’s just a very special day for the Bodden family.”
The star soccer scorer said she spent a restless night on Tuesday with some tossing and turning in bed as she anxiously contemplated the coming day’s signing ceremony.
“I’m very excited and very nervous,” said Bodden, who also plays for the Dynamo Academy club team in McAllen. “It’s a big step I’m taking right now. It’s exciting to go up there (to Austin) and play in college.
“It’s been a lot of work that all pays off at the end of the day,” she added. “I’ve been playing soccer since I was age 6 and it’s all beginning to pay off now. It’s crazy knowing that I get to play again with my sister ‘Kat’ (a 2017 Brownsville Veterans graduate). She’s been playing in the midfield and I expect to play at forward.
“It should be a lot of fun plus a lot of hard work, too.”