Summer Sports Spotlight

Carter Goldston

For the debut installment of our new summer series, we spoke with Carter Goldston, a senior at Purcell High School.

Carter plays football and baseball for the Dragons and has an older brother that cheers on the spirit squad.

Carter’s conversation is below. For those interested in featuring your student in the spotlight, please send a picture of the student with a short description stating why they should be featured to purcellregister@gmail.com.

Q: What is one of your favorite memories playing sports in high school?

A:“My sophomore year I was a part of the 700-win club for Purcell football. We played against Crooked Oak and before that game coach Gray and all the coaches got us together towards the end of the season and they were like, ‘Y’all can submit yourselves as part of Purcell school history right here if y’all can just put your heads down and win this game,” and we went out there and won by a lot. But it was a fun game and a fun moment to kind of insert yourself into part of Purcell history.”

“For baseball, it would have to be my sophomore year when our baseball team made it to the Regional final against OCS and we fell one game short of going to the State tournament that year.”

Q: What is something a coach has told you that you’ve remembered or that has stuck with you?

A: “It’s not about who you’re facing on the field. Football isn’t an individual sport, it’s more of a team sport so you have to rely on and trust your teammates to do their job while you do your job, if that makes sense. It’s more of a family concept instead of just being a bunch of individuals out there.”

Q: Do you have any strange superstitions that you believe in as an athlete?

A: “Before every game, I like to say a quick prayer to make sure no one has injuries and that I’m able to play to the best of my abilities and have a great game. That’s what I do every game, I guess you could call that a superstition.”

Q: A lot of people are inspired by another athlete and may kind of structure their game around how that person plays. Do you model your game around any athlete, past or present? If not, who would you say your game is most comparable to?

A: “I would say for football, I can model my game around Coach Kurt Gray because he was an All-State center back when he played and he was about my size, he was like a 5’ 9”, pretty slim guy to be playing center. He retired this year but he kind of helped me hold my own against guys that were twice my size and weight.”

Q: How do you set yourself apart from other student-athletes? What makes your game special or different?

A: “I take pride in my work ethic. And I always try to be that guy when others get down to have a positive attitude and be uplifting.”

Q: When you have a bad game or practice, what do you do to take your mind off of that performance and reset? Do you have any hobbies that you lean on off-the-field?

A: “I would say lifting weights and then coming home after getting a good lift in and playing video games till God-knows how late with my buddies. Right now, we’re on an MLB: The Show kick and then we will play some Call of Duty.”

Q: Obviously, a lot of students look forward to the summer to get away from school. Do you have any plans or are you doing anything this summer? If so, what are they?

A: “I don’t think my family has any vacations planned this summer. When I don’t have any sports or anything, I guess I can enjoy my mini-vacation when I go to Falls Creek. That’s really the only vacation I technically have.”

Q: Do you see yourself pursuing your sport out of high school? If not, what are your plans for the future?

A: “I hope to play college baseball and pursue a degree in physical therapy once I graduate from Purcell,” adding, “I play catcher and this past season I played a little bit of first base.”

Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?

A:“It’s the corny thing everybody always says, ‘Time flies.’ But now that I’m an upcoming senior, I feel like I’ve taken for granted my first three years so I really just want to buckle down and really enjoy the process of what senior year holds.”

Q: What’s one of the biggest challenges you run into as a high school student-athlete?

A: “All the hours you spend playing the sport and how it takes a toll on your body. But then again, you’re young, so your body bounces back well. My freshman year I was playing football and baseball and I was just a role guy. I didn’t really play much. I was just one of those guys who held pads during football and got hit by the upperclassmen and now I’m the upperclassman hitting all the younger guys. So I feel like it’s the toll that sports takes on your body. You have to be able to rehab and make sure your body is in good condition for practice and games and everything.”

Q: Do you see yourself stepping up as a mentor to the younger guys this year since you were once an underclassman in their shoes?

A: “Totally. I had a couple of those as an underclassman. A couple of guys took me under their wing, so I kind of want to be that for the younger guys, to be like that big brother to them on the field and off the field. If they ever need anything like that, they can always reach out to me and I’ll try to help them in any way I can.”

Q: When you step onto the field/court/pitch whatever it may be, what’s your biggest motivating factor? What’s your why?

A: “My dad just walked by and said, ‘You play to win games,’” he joked. “I would say I play to prove to myself that things can get accomplished and that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to but also to show my parents this is what I can do. All of the hard work and all the years you spent with me when I was little is actually paying off in high school where I’m getting to show everyone in town if they come to watch a Friday night light game that I’m able to play and use my athletic ability to better the team. And the same thing goes for baseball, too.”