Heiry Pena & Ashley Sanchez
November 8, 2023
Numbers 55, 6, and 70. These are important football numbers for Port Chester High School this school year as these 3 numbers are the 3 captains’ jersey numbers. These remarkable football players: Alejandro “Puchi” Velasquez, Jaden Barbour, and Jonathan DelCid are this year’s Port Chester High School football captains. The Port Light conducted an interview with the three of them on a variety of topics such as their upcoming future plans and football.
What colleges are you considering? Do you have a major in mind?
Velasquez: “I’m considering UAlbany, John Jay, and University of Rochester. I’m not really looking for anything specifically, I don’t want to be too far from home so Instate is fine. Criminal Justice. I’m studying that ‘cause I plan on going into some sort of law enforcement or something along those lines. As of right now, it’s gonna steer me into a general direction and give me a general path of where I want to go.”
DelCid: “I got Bentley and Western Connecticut State: both schools I want to play football in, Tufts, and also the University of New Haven. I want to do accounting. I like numbers. I’m pretty good at math. I like analyzing numbers and stuff.”
Barbour: “I plan on going to Westchester Community College. Still deciding what I want to major in. I’m leaning towards the business side for sure.”
What sparked your interest within your considered major?
Velasquez: “It’s just something I’ve had interest in since I was a little kid.”
DelCid: “My father was a salesman and he had his own business to sign cars. That aspect of it made me very interested. At first, I was interested in marketing because with great marketing skills you can sell anything, my dad was a good marketing salesman.”
Barbour: “Mainly just the money, definitely money, that’s for sure. I want to figure out what it is to be successful in life.”
What’s one of your goals?
Velasquez: “Try to get a scholarship to a good college so I can go to college and so my parents don’t have to pay a lot of money.”
DelCid: “After I graduate college, I want to start up a business with my brother or work with him somehow.”
Barbour: “Be successful, live in a big house eventually, and have my parents live in a better house.”
What classes do you enjoy the most?
Velasquez: “The classes that I can be awake in are English and history classes.”
“Because I’m good at them.”
“Forensics was one of the classes I enjoyed most, because it is one of my biggest interests career wise and I generally enjoyed the class environment.”
“I enjoy the ability to speak freely and discuss my opinion within classes which is why I enjoy English class. ”
DelCid: “I really liked history my Sophomore year because of my history teacher. He was really nice and energetic and I like teachers that are usually energetic and engaging with their students. I also like my AP Calc BC class because it challenges me and I like the teacher, Mr. Raskin, because he’s understanding and helps me out a lot.”
Barbour: “I enjoy gym class and I also like art class. Arts have been growing on me because the projects are becoming easier. […] Drawing…I suck at that.”
“1 I like to lift weights and 2 Coach Crane pretty much taught me everything I know about lifting.”
What hobbies do you enjoy?
Velasquez: “I do other sports like wrestling, track and field. I’ve been playing spiderman, pretty much just spiderman. I sleep, eat, do my homework, I watch YouTube and play video games together with friends like minecraft. I don’t really have time for much outside of these things because I usually get home late from sports.“
DelCid: “I enjoy going to the gym, working on cars, and hanging out with my family and friends. Usually just talking and catching up. I like to talk a lot with my friends because I feel the more we talk and share ideas, the closer we get.”
Barbour: “I enjoy playing sports, going to the gym, hanging out with my friends, and playing video games. For sports I play Football and wrestling. For video games, I play UFC 4, ESPN 24 (basically FIFA), Madden, and NBA 2k24.”
What is your position on the Football team?
Velasquez: “I play right tackle for offense and defensive tackle on defense.”
DelCid: “I play Runnerback and outside linebacker.”
Barbour: “I play center and linebacker.”
What do you like about football?
Velasquez: “Things I like about football are the feeling of camaraderie
with my team, a sense of family, appreciation, and I enjoy playing the sport.”
DelCid: “I like how it teaches you valuable life lessons, football is very similar to life I think because sometimes in football and in life things will go bad, certain situations will go bad, and not go the way you want it to, but I think what defines you as a person is how you come back from it and how you respond when things don’t go your way.”
Barbour: “There’s a lot I like making tackles, I like making boxes, I like the feeling of winning and celebrating with your teammates, also the dinners of course, but the main important thing is just family, our team really is a family.”
What got you interested in football?
Velasquez: “What got me interested in football was because when I was younger a lot of people told me that I should play it and as I learned more about the sport I just wanted to play it more.”
DelCid: “My brother is my best friend, he’s like another me.”
“He’s the reason I played football.”
“He’s my role model.”
“When he first started playing he would tell me about practice and all those stories and brotherhood having your friends back.”
“It got me interested.”
Barbour: “My dad definitely made me play football. He put me in a flag football league 5-6 years old. I was having so much fun and I played tackle football the year after and I played until I started for my school in 7th grade.”
Did you ever consider quitting?
Velasquez: “In the beginning yeah because it was my first time trying it I thought I don’t like it, I was tired, sore, and then my mom said you already signed up you’re not gonna quit, I feel like my mom pushing me to do sports plays a factor into why I love sports as well because she’s also a factor there supporting me.”
DelCid: “No, I know that that’s what makes you tough. I never actually considered it deeply.”
Barbour: “Sophomore year I was thinking about quitting, our team was just really bad that year and I’m a competitive person I don’t like to lose we made so many mistakes that year players and coaches did, I’m so glad last year and even now we are a better team.”
“I just pushed through it man up about it, if I told myself to quit I probably wouldn’t be playing and I’m not a quitter I see myself as a tough person and I went through the hardships thinking It will just work out in the end and it definitely did because last year we lost a lot of good players because they graduated but we are holding our own this year I’m very proud of ourselves for that.”
Are you considering pursuing a career in it or just for recreational purposes?
Velasquez: “Well I do love sports, it’s not something I see myself doing in the future, I do have a lot of opportunities but it’s not something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, it’s just for recreational purposes.”
Delcid: “Maybe, I want to get to college and once I get to college and play college football. I wanna see where I am and how I am, if I get to college and I see myself performing well then I will.”
“I may consider trying to go professional, but as of right now no because at the end of the day football is a dangerous sport and Safety is my number one thing. I want to be able to spend time with my kids and get older.”
Barbour: “No, I never considered a career in football, just for the fun of it.” “If you asked me freshman year I would’ve said yes I guess I just lost the drive out of it it just doesn’t mean as much anymore.”
Do you think it’s something you’d continue to do in college?
Velasquez: “Yeah if the opportunity presents itself to play D1, and if it doesn’t then just as a club because I still find joy in it.”
DelCid: “Yeah, because I want to play with my brother.”
Barbour: “To be honest no, I think the main focus for me in college is to get a job because I still don’t have a job yet and I want to get one.”
How do you feel about the upcoming playoffs game you have?
Velasquez: “I’m a little nervous about the playoffs we are going up against a team that we already played and lost to them even then it’s not gonna stop us from trying our hardest, we’ve been trying new things and new plays at practice so I think we really have a chance on pulling it off.”
DelCid: “ I feel pretty confident especially cause we just got a win football is really about momentum. I think our team has the momentum going right now and the way we’ve been practicing we’ve been carrying this momentum we are going to have a hell of a game.”
“I think our coaches are setting up with good adjustments.”
“At the end of the day they aren’t playing it and it really comes down to us.”
Barbour: “I’m feeling good, really good also it sucks cause it’s in the morning now but it is what it is, last time we played badly this time we are gonna turn it around and win to prove because they don’t believe in us.”
How did you feel about the overall season this year?
Velasquez: “I think we had a very good season. We had a lot of good kids on the team and well I thought we could play better and play to a higher expectation. Some games I still had fun this season and I wouldn’t change anything that happened.”
Delcid: “I felt good about it because even though our record wasn’t what I Wanted, I still made a lot of memory and set a good example for those young guys, it’s important to me the type of legacy I leave here, I set a good example for the team I think will stick with them for the rest of their high school career.”
Barbour: “I feel great about it, I’m very proud of everyone in our team for doing their assignments and having good character overall just doing their thing it definitely wasn’t gonna be a easy season because we lost players that had talent last year years to come after I graduate I hope Port Chester still has that same pride and talent.”
How did you feel about the team this year?
Velasquez: “This is honestly probably one of the best teams I’ve played on in terms of character. We have a lot of people on the team who are really good people, people who know what it takes to win and are very determined.”
DelCid: “I agree with Puchi, some of them might not be the best but I’d rather take good guys than jerks that are good, football creates lifelong friendships so yk being on the same field as 10 other guys that care for you because they’ll really be there for you.”
Barbour: “I’m very proud of most people on the team. It was their first year of playing football ever so I’m very proud of their hard work and I’m sure that as the years go on they’re gonna be a beast eventually and I’m all for it.” “I completely agree with Puchi and DelCid. Our team is full of determination, hard work and very respectful people on and off the field, I wouldn’t want to play with any other team.”
How do you feel about your fellow captains?
Velasquez: “Captains are two people that I’ve been playing with since middle school, really good friends of mine and we all want to see the team succeed and we all know what we need to do to get there.”
DelCid: “I feel good that they are like my best friends. I’ve been playing football with them since we started, it feels good being able to go out and play with them on the field.”
Barbour: “They are very good captains, Jon is like the vocal person of the team he is always making sure everyone is not slacking, always working hard and I really respect that, and Puchi is motivating us the entire time always getting us pumped up and acknowledging players for their hard work.”
How do you feel about it being your final year as a football player in PCHS?
Velasquez: “Don’t remind me. It sucks, I didn’t think I’d miss the team or anything like that but now that I’m a senior standing in this position I know I’m gonna miss what I had here.”
DelCid: “I feel pretty sad there’s really no other thing like high school football once you get to college it really feels like more like a business than a team, I got really close to all my coaches, its sad that I’m leaving my brotherhood but it’s also exciting that I’ll be able to experience something different.”
Barbour: “It’s scary very scary to imagine that I’m not gonna play football again after this season. It’s scary. I’m gonna feel a bunch of emotions when I play my last game, happy and sad, everything is gonna come out.”
Any advice for PCHS students?
Velasquez: “Enjoy it while it lasts. You don’t expect it to go by so quickly, but it does. Don’t be scared to try new things. Don’t be scared to join a club or a sport as soon as you can because if you wait until your last year, you’re gonna regret it.”
DelCid: “Make sure to always manage all your work because I don’t think high school is hard I think it’s whether you can manage that work, it’s very important its vital to stay on track of all those things because if you let your work pile up, it becomes a very difficult task so it’s a lot easier when you’re staying on top of everything as you go on.”
Barbour: “I would say get your grades together you won’t go anywhere in this school if you don’t have good grades, and have good character your high school life will go good if you just don’t do stupid stuff just don’t get in trouble.”
Any advice for PCHS athletes?
Velasquez: “Try keeping a balance between school work and sports. You can’t get too caught up in either of them because you’re gonna end up burning out before the end of the year. If you truly love the sport then don’t be scared to pursue it and follow your dreams.”
DelCid: “I would say it’s important to work on your craft outside of practice, I think as an athlete if you wanna take that step to the next level, as an athlete you should be doing a lot of work on your own.”
“I think showing up to your practices and your games are the bare minimum and if you want to take the next level you have to work on it on your own.”
Barbour: “Do the sport that you love, don’t do a sport just because you want to or you’re forced to make sure you do what you want to do also speak to your teammates to have a stronger bond, the stronger your bond is the more you’ll win games and have more motivation.”
Legacy
Velasquez: “The legacy I hope to leave behind is a team that could win games on character alone and what I mean by this is not just good players but good people too, I want to leave that example here for my team and school, I want to leave this example because just being good at the game isn’t enough, it’s the personality that makes the player.”
DelCid: “I just want all the younger guys to take leadership after me and look up to me when I graduate.”
Barbour: “The type of legacy I want to leave the team with is everyone to acknowledge my hard work and everyone leads in the positive spirit and Hope that I’m the best captain I could be and after the season we hold that same brotherhood.”
Conclusion
Although Alejandro Velasquez, Jonathan DelCid, and Jaden Barbour have different goals for when their senior year is over, they all came together through the sport of football. Each of their responses gives insight into their interests outside of football and how much they enjoy playing the sport. Through the advice that they each give on sports, they encourage others to not be scared to give sports a try because you never know what could happen. For them, the decision to play football has created memories they’ll always remember. These seniors will leave behind a sense of motivation as well as inspiration for their teammates’ football team and those who are interested in doing sports.