Classroom Champions: Belton’s Gino Zecca

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) - Gino Zecca has been around the Belton football program for awhile now…after coming up for the playoffs as a freshman, the now senior running back has been a staple on the varsity squad for three seasons. And now he finally feels like a leader on this team.

“Being a sophomore and young guy on varsity, kind of watching how the older guys did it….It’s been great watching the younger guys grow," said Zecca.

But Zecca has excelled on the field as well. This year he has posted career highs in rushing yards and touchdowns. But of course like with all of our classroom champions, academics come first.

“To play football I had to get my grades done,” said Zecca.

“So I always approached it like that. I always take care of my business first and then obviously have time to play afterwards.”

“The best thing it means for a coach is that we don’t have to worry about him,” said Belton Head Coach Brett Sniffin.

“So Gino takes care of himself. The second best thing is that Gino’s actually tutoring other players on the team. And he cares about his teammates. If they are struggling to understand a concept in math for instance, he’s there to help them and he’s done a great job at that. ”

And Zecca is taking care of business in the classroom. Zecca is ranked in the top 10 of his class in Belton. He plans to go to Texas A&M and study kinesiology, with hopes of one day having a career in sports medicine.

“Both my parents have been involved in the medical field and so I’ve always been around it….So it kind of sparked my interest in it,“ said Zecca.

“Everybody wants to be like their parents when they grow up. Or at least I do. So that’s where I’m starting.”

Congratulations to your Classroom Champion, Gino Zecca.

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