Many have been hit hard by the news that schools will not return to campus for the remainder of the academic year. It’s a tough and transformative time for all, but especially for the senior class, the class of 2020. Sports360AZ wants to hear from those seniors on how they’re adjusting, what they’re feeling and how this experience can make them stronger moving forward in a segment we call “2020 Vision.”
It’s safe to say Brock Locnikar is a late bloomer.
The now former Notre Dame Prep middle linebacker didn’t have football on his radar growing up in the northeast Valley.
“So, I only started playing football when I was in eighth grade,” Locnikar said in a recent Skpye interview with Sports360AZ.com. “Before that, I fought for most of my childhood. I did MMA fighting. That was something that really brought that contact component into me.”
You could say that.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pounder registered an eye-popping 241 tackles the past two seasons, including 36.5 for loss as NDP went 24-3 the past two years.
Soon Locnikar, also a state championship wrestler, will be heading east to continue his academic and football career in the Ivy League at Harvard.
“Harvard, in my eyes, was just the perfect fit for me,” he explained. “Not only was it that athletic fit, it also had the academic components that were really desirable to me. The location in Boston was something that was really important to me, as well and the interactions I had with the coaches were amazing. So once I went there, I knew that was my place.”
Besides being a standout athlete and one of the top students in his class, Locnikar also gave back to both his school, as well as him community. His list of extra curricular activities is lengthy and includes National Honor Society, Suicide Prevention Volunteer, Andre’ House of Arizona Volunteer and many others.
“From those experiences I’ve gained the real world success,” he said. “I can be around all different types of people and understand them. I feel like that’s the biggest thing I got from community service and outreach programs like that. I feel like it’s really going to benefit me later in my life to be able to focus in and really be able to do something that could benefit other people.”
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Eric Sorenson
A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.