BOZEMAN — Excelling at both a musical instrument and a sport is extremely difficult because, well they both require the commitment of a tremendous amount of time.
But for Bozeman High junior Pierce Summerhill, he's been playing soccer since the age of 2 and first picked up an acoustic guitar at the age of 6 and didn't look back.
He's currently a defender on an 8-1 Hawks team that is leading the Eastern AA and in the classroom is a talented guitarist and part of a program that was made possible by the donation of a few dozen guitars from the Gibson Montana facility.
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"This soccer season we're just trying to do what we do," said Summerhill of the success his team has enjoyed so far. "We know that we have a really good mix of guys, we have a really strong team chemistry and we know that when we play really well we are the best. And so we're just trying to stay at consistently being the best and do our jobs well."
And as far as being able to study the instrument he loves as part of his curriculum?
"It's great, it's super awesome. I think it's a super cool thing that we get to have as part of our education here," said Summerhill. "It's also super fun to see the different ideas that are coming in, the different people and styles of playing that we see and how everyone's at a different stage of development. There's a lot of different types of music that we get to see in this class."
And as if being an athlete and musician wasn't enough, Summerhill is also an active part of Bozeman's speech and debate team and got the opportunity to travel to Africa last summer.
"We've had the chance as a team to bring a small group of students over to Tanzania to help teach kids there debate, research and public speaking skills," explained Summerhill. "And hopefully empower Tanzanian learners through the method of debating.
Summerhill certainly has a full plate, and he has a method to balancing it all.
"It's all about figuring out your priorities, figuring out your scheduling," he said. "I've obviously had to sacrifice part of music for soccer, I've had to sacrifice soccer for performances and missing practices. It's about the best way you can make sacrifices to get the most out of what you love."
