Playing defense in football, a special teams touchdown, headline Sump's 4-sport career
Clarinda senior William Sump played five sports during his high school career, four of them during his senior year.
Sump also competed in wrestling, golf, tennis and baseball during his time in high school.
Clarinda senior William Sump has played football, wrestling, golf, tennis and baseball during his high school career.
This feature on Sump continues our series of area four-sport athletes with this being the six of eight stories over a span of four weeks.
Football is Sump’s favorite where he’s been part of a lineman group that has led the Cardinals to the playoffs each year Sump has been in school. He said playing defense, though, has been his favorite but his top memory was scoring a touchdown on a special teams play this past season.
Clarinda senior William Sump (51) closes in on Pella Christian's ball carrier during last season's playoff game. Sump said football has been his favorite during his four-sport high school career.
“It was on a punt play, and I figured I would run down there and hit the kid that got the ball,” Sump said. “I wasn’t the first person to get down there and then, I think it was Sam Kline, absolutely trucked the kid and the ball is in the air, and it was like slow motion. I grabbed the ball and jumped over the kid and ran as fast as I could. It felt like it took me five minutes to get to the end zone, but it was a good time.”
Sump said playing on defense he’s gone up against a lot of opponents that are bigger and stronger than him, which has taught him good technique, something he’s relied on for several years.
“I have played defensive line for as long as I can remember,” Sump said. “Defense has been my thing. You run 10 yards and you hit somebody and that’s about it.”
Sump was part of a Cardinal team that won the district championship this past fall and while that was a highlight, Sump said losing the first-round playoff game is a game he would like to have back.
“When you say, ‘do it better’ I look at the first-round playoff game,” Sump said, “and we could have done a lot better there. But I like looking at the good parts.”
Sump said his father Dave helped him quite a bit in figuring out the sport when he was getting started with football. He added current head football coach Conner Hanafan, as well as several other coaches over the years, have been a big help for him in his football career.
Clarinda's Will Sump earns back points during a wrestling match earlier this season. Wrestling is one of five sports Sump has been a part of during his high school career.
Sump also played baseball all the way through high school. He wrestled his freshman and sophomore season and picked it back up this year after not going out as a junior. In the spring, Sump is back into golf after also playing that as a freshman. He went out for tennis during his sophomore and junior years.
“I like golf, so I played that freshman year,” Sump said. “But I wanted to try something new, so I did tennis. I kind of liked it so I did it again, but now I’m getting pretty good at golf so I figured I would do that again. I wasn’t the biggest fan of wrestling, but I figured I would regret it if I didn’t do it my senior year and I’m glad I did it. It wasn’t the greatest season for me but I’m glad for the experience.”
He said golf has been his second favorite sport and hopes for a good finish there this spring.
Sump said playing multiple sports has taught him leadership and that showing up is quite important.
“You have people that count on you and you can’t just decide that you want to be there one day and not the next,” Sump said. “You have to be there every day and give it all you got, because if you don’t, what’s the point of being there.”
Sump said he’s involved in an internship at Agrivision currently and he said that will lead him into a tech program with the goal of becoming a Diesel Technician.
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4-Sport Senior William Sump, Clarinda, has played football, wrestling, golf, tennis and baseball during his high school career.
