by Jim Fenton (Enterprise)
Link to Story
BROCKTON – He went from being a three-sport athlete at Holbrook High School to taking part in no sports during the 2016-17 academic year. Bobby Belezos was enrolled at Stonehill College but was not on any teams, and he missed being involved in athletics.
"It was crazy,″ said Belezos. "I grew up playing sports every day. That's what I did. No matter what the weather was, I would always play sports. Then to stop pretty much completely was pretty hard.″
Belezos, who left Stonehill after one year, moved to Massasoit Community College where he is back playing not one, but two sports for the Warriors.
The shooting guard joined the men's basketball team in the second semester, moved into the starting lineup and has helped the Warriors reach the national tournament for the first team in school history.
And since January, Belezos has been working out with coach Tom Frizzell's baseball team, for whom he will be a pitcher and outfielder once the basketball season ends.
The Massasoit basketball team (20-6) plays Nassau Community College in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., on Thursday at 5 p.m., to open the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 3 tourney after winning the Region 21 title.
Belezos was a quarterback and wide receiver for the Holbrook-Avon football team in addition to playing basketball and baseball for Holbrook.He has always been active in multiple sports and is glad to be back on the court and looking forward to baseball in the spring.
"I enjoy playing sports,″ said Belezos, a 2016 Holbrook High graduate. "The best time I had was junior year in high school when I was playing football and a town league for basketball and then weekends I'd play baseball all at once. That was great playing multiple sports.″
With Massasoit losing a couple of players over the semester break, it needed some help and Belezos was able to start in beginning with a Jan. 13 win at Gateway Community College.He provided outside shooting and started nine of 14 games since joining the Warriors, averaging 10.4 points on 51 percent shooting.
"He's a tough kid,″ said coach Jim Stapleton. "He's a steady shooter. He's helped a lot. We needed Bobby to step up.″
Belezos thought he'd be getting minutes off the bench to add some offense to the second unit, but his shooting earned him a starting role.
"Honestly, I thought I was going to come off the bench,″ he said. "But coach liked me as a shooter.″
Belezos has been doing double duty for about two months, practicing with the baseball team indoors, then joining the basketball squad later in the day for either games or practices.
The Warriors baseball team began its season Saturday night in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where it is playing seven games this week. When the basketball team opens the NJCAA tourney Thursday, the baseball team will be finishing up its trip to South Carolina. He will be with the baseball team for its New England opener March 25, a doubleheader against New Hampshire Technical Institute.
"I wanted to play sports again,″ said Belezos. "This has been great.″
Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.
