Hit or Miss: Jen Blanco

For generations, the letterman jacket has been a source of pride for high school and college athletes. 

Varsity letters, of course, are awarded to those athletes who have achieved a certain level of success through hard work and dedication. If you are walking down a hallway at Braden River or Lakewood Ranch, it's easy to spot top athletes.

These days, every letterman jacket looks the same, for the most part, except for one. 

Braden River junior wrestler Chance Sharbono decided to customize his letterman jacket with safety pins, 105 to be exact. 

It’s a tradition that began with his father’s high school Bayshore High School wrestling team. Those wrestlers added a safety pin each time they pinned an opponent. When Cezar Sharbono took over the Sarasota High wrestling program in 2012, he started the pin tradition. 

Chance Sharbono has plenty of orange and black safety pins, from his two years at Sarasota High. The rest of the safety pins are burgundy, from his season at Braden River. He also has one platinum pin to mark his 100th career pin. 

“My jacket, to me, is the thing I am known for,” Chance Sharbono said. “I wanted to bring something back that not too many people do nowadays. It sets me apart from nearly everyone else.”

People constantly approach him and ask about his jacket. 

“They tend to be shocked,” Chance Sharbono said of his amount of pins. “I believe that when we show up at a tournament, the jacket tends to make those in my weight class take notice, and many are intimidated. So it gives me the psychological advantage before I step on the mat.” 

Whether his jacket played a role or not, Chance Sharbono appeared confident during the Class 2A state tournament March 4 and March 5, at Silver Spurs Arena, in Kissimmee. He went 4-1, pinning Miami Springs’ David Sanchez in the third-place match at 138 pounds to become the first Braden River wrestler to earn a medal. 

***

You know you're from Florida when you travel nearly 950 miles to a soccer tournament in Annandale, Va. and the first thing you do is play in the snow. 

Such was the case for five East County boys soccer players, including Lakewood Ranch freshmen Travis Freeman, Ryan Freeman and Josh Hays, Braden River freshman Nicholas Anderson and Cardinal Mooney freshman Brock Nelson. 

Upon arriving in Virginia March 3, the boys were greeted with a fluttering wintery mix. The players spent the rest of the evening playing in the snow, catching snowflakes on their tongues and collecting snow off cars for a snowball fight. The next day, the team took in the sights of Washington, D.C.

The boys, who play for the West Florida Flames U15 Elite boys soccer team out of Brandon, went 2-1 to finish second in their bracket of the Annandale Premier Cup March 5-6. The team was the only Florida team in the tournament. 

*** 

On the heels of its best season in school history, the Braden River football team is sending another player to the college ranks.

Linebacker Chase Balliette becomes the 10th Pirates player to earn a scholarship after signing with Augustana University Feb. 29. 

During the 2015 season, Balliette recorded 65 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions while leading Braden River to a 13-1 record and a berth in the Class 7A state semifinals.