Hawks without a jersey; Competitive sport of motorcross

Not everybody who’s an athlete wears a hawks jersey. Motocross has interested students from the Hawk’s Nest, a sport demanding a lot of time to train and prepare for races.
Junior Jake Rassa has raced motocross for many years. Rassa began at a young age, and as he grew up, the sport became natural to him and suddenly he had a huge interest in racing. Rassa adds that loving a sport like motocross has its challenges, and“every race brings new challenges because not one race is the same as another.”
To compete within a race Rassa says, “you must be on top of everything” to allow for good placing, once mistake can ruin your whole race. Rassa said that “fitness and even mental stability” are huge aspects within this sport.
The sport has also affected Rassa in negative ways. “Injuries are always there, it’s not a matter if it will happen, it’s when will it happen.” Over the years Rassa has experienced many injuries such as broken fingers, a broken collarbone, a broken heel and ankle.
Most recently Rassa got his worst injury yet, breaking 4 ribs with a ruptured spleen. Rassa says this was by far his worst injury yet because he could have “bled out internally with nothing to do to help it.” Rassa adds that luckily the bleeding clotted a few weeks later. Rassa has began his long road of recovery. Despite the challenges that come with racing Rassa says that it is all worth it, especially coming home with a big win.

A long time friend of Rassa, junior, Garrett Hoffman, has also raced for many years. His love for the sport led him to be homeschooled mid-way through his 8th grade year. Hoffman says he chose to begin racing motocross because he “liked a challenge.”
Hoffman now trains daily to keep in shape for his races. Hoffman includes that keeping up his fitness is one of the hardest aspects of the sport, “if it was easy everybody would be doing it.”
Currently Hoffman is now living in Clermont, Florida at a training facility. Hoffman plans on staying at the facility for about a year to continue to improve his riding. Afterwards he plans to continue to race for 3 to 4 years and finish out his amateur career and is hopeful to then make his pro debut. Garrett Hoffman