Aaron Horvat, former Regis star helps lead Rockhurst to a solid season. 

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

The relationship between BAC’s Editor-in-Chief, Arzelle Lewis, and Aaron Horvat of Rockhurst University, is long-standing but steadily changing as the roles of both men continues to evolve.  The two met during the winter of 2008 when Arzelle took the PE position at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School.  Aaron was the school’s basketball star which happened to be the reason Arzelle took major interest in the young star.  In Arzelle’s words, “Aaron has an old-school attitude in an era where the roles of athletes in today’s society has changed vastly.  Aaron continues to work hard and stay focused on the things that have gotten him where he is today.”

For Aaron Horvat, lacrosse is much more than being on a team and playing the sport. For Aaron, lacrosse involves hard practices, sweat dripping exercises, and the shedding of tears from failing when the only goal is to succeed. Athletes like Aaron are making the constant sacrifices no one else wants to make, from staying in when everyone goes out to choosing the healthy snack while everyone else is eating junk food. As years pass, these sacrifices become more and more difficult to make and you might find yourself questioning what the other side might feel like, the thought of giving it all up.

“My advice to the athlete ready to give up – don’t do it, you will regret doing it in the end.”

When you find yourself questioning where your passion went for your sport and whether or not it is truly a good fit for you anymore, take a moment and reflect on the reason why you fell in love with it in the first place.  For Aaron, it was all about the moments on the field with his teammates and the challenge of accomplishing greatness together.  The principal of working together should underpin how you operate in sports.  Aaron epitomizes this concept by being the ultimate team player despite the countless setbacks and failures everybody experiences. “When I play lacrosse I feel like my problems no longer exist anymore.”

Lacrosse teams are allowed a maximum of six players (plus a goalie) on one half of the field at any one time. That is, when in their offensive zone, a men’s field lacrosse tem must keep three players (plus a goalie) behind the midfield line.  This so-called field split forces more specialization in playing positions on the field.  Aaron plays the “attack” role on the Rockhurst Lacrosse team and is one of their primary feeders and scores.  Aaron also played a similar role in the sport of basketball which is where he honed his passing skills and abilities.  Aaron is the perfect example of how one skill can be transferred from one sport to another.

“Passing the rock is super important in both basketball and lacrosse!  I love passing to open teammates for easy scores.  Something I learned playing basketball early in my sports adolescents.”  Aaron is also a stellar student in the classroom and earns his keep in school by passing extremely difficult course Rockhurst University.  Many professors have told me that when their students get to college, they lug in their classrooms a sense of academic entitlement.  They somehow seem to believe that their papers should be graded by the amount of work they put in, not how well they mastered their materials.  This isn’t the case with Aaron Horvat.  Aaron understand that his quality of work and effort in the classroom will combine to produce high level academic performances.

Unsurprisingly, most of Aaron’s success comes down to his parents.  John and Christy Horvat are not only the role models in Aaron’s life, they are also the foundation for his determination and will to be great on and off the field.  “My parents have taught me my virtues from day one, and if it weren’t for the moral values they instilled in me, I wouldn’t be here today. “