Three-sport athlete Kris Mott was selected as this year
’s Morgan Hill Times Athlete of the Year for his dedication and
commitment.
When he was not anchoring the Live Oak soccer team’s defense, he competed on the cross country and track and field teams. He credits his success to his teammates and people who encourage him.
“It is all about having a proper mindset,” Mott said. “A lot of that comes from good coaches and teammates I have had and motivation around me. I do a lot of training on my own, but a big part is the people around me.”
As a member of this year’s undefeated soccer team, Mott was a big part of allowing just two goals in league. Mott was named to the first All-TCAL defensive team for the second time in his high school career. Live Oak went to the playoffs three of four years Mott was playing for the team.
During three of the four years Mott competed for the cross country team, he made the CCS finals. This year he represented Live Oak in the track and field finals as an alternate. Mott recorded the best time in the past 12 year of any other Live Oak athlete in the 800-meter race. He recorded a time of 1:59.03 in the CCS semifinals and then lowered his own time .02 in the finals even though he was racing on short notice and wasn’t as prepared as he would have like to have been. He was awarded a scholarship for his efforts in cross country and track.
Mott started off playing soccer when he was 7 years old and has played in numerous soccer leagues such as the Premiere League and in Olympic Development soccer, but said he doesn’t have any preference to sports he plays.
“If you asked me which sport I like more, I probably couldn’t tell you,” Mott said. “I like them in different ways. In football you have to memorize all the plays. Soccer is a real mental thing. In soccer and field hockey you have to adjust to different situations and know what to do. With running, you have to condition yourself physically. It is more of a gutsy thing where you have to dig deep and deal with pain. People say you are crazy because you like to run, but it gives you a good self satisfaction.”
Mott said the best part of playing sports, especially distance running, was seeing his own personal development. But in some respects soccer and distance running are both the same, Mott said.
“A lot of it at the basic level is the same,” Mott said. “Cross country and track really are team sports because you need people to motivate you and keep you going so you don’t slack off yourself. It is a lot of different types of running. Soccer is more of going hard then stopping and recovering. You really have to train differently physically.”
It is never easy to take a stand for what you believe is right, but Mott has just done that. Mott helped the Christian Club to become more active and served as president of the club.
“We’ve been trying to get it off the ground for long time,” Mott said. “It is really important to me to share what I believe. In the past couple years it has been hard to find the time for people to get together. The club has been around, but it has never really been active. We took a major step this year. It was cool to be able to teach people and learn more about the Bible.”
Sometimes going against the flow can be tough. But it is a little easier leaning on the Good Shepherd, Mott said.
“Nothing is ever going to change my faith,” Mott said. “People often want to know what I think on a certain issue. It is sometimes hard to for people to understand, but I do the best I can to explain it to them.”
Mott has been involved in other aspects of school as well. He served with the ASB for three years and was the president of the junior class.
“You got to know where to cut things out,” Mott said. “If you are going to get everything done, it is going to be a 24-hour job. You have to have your priorities straight, knowing what will affect you the most and do the first things first.”
Mott plans on attending San Jose State in the fall. He said he may compete in cross country or soccer, but he plans to concentrate on the books.
“It is a full time job,” Mott said. “I primarily want to focus on school.”
