AOTY: Jason Kim
May 20, 2015
Throughout the years, Diamond Bar High School has featured countless athletes who have greatly excelled at his or her respective sport. However, the mastery of a single sport isn’t enough for senior Jason Kim, who in his four years as a Brahma has taken part in four different sport teams at DBHS.
Spending time on the junior varsity basketball team, junior varsity golf team, varsity track team, and varsity football team, Kim has been selected as the Bull’s Eye Athlete of the Year for his versatility in a wide variety of sports.
Kim began at an early age, after being inspired by his father to be more active in school sports.
As a freshman, he started playing football for the first time at school, joining the junior varsity team. After much practice and personal improvement, Kim made it onto the school’s varsity team as a sophomore, where he would continue playing for the next three years.
“It was hard to play twice a week but it got me better for junior and senior year,” Kim said. “Sophomore year was an experience that made me the defensive player I was.”
For the past two years, Kim has also been selected for second team All-League. Although Kim was disappointed he only made second team this year, he had a good season with 48 tackles and six sacks, the most for any defensive lineman.
“My most memorable moment was getting two and a half sacks during the Branding Iron game [this year] and hearing my name on the intercom. I also had three fumble recoveries and four swatted passes,” he said.
Also in his freshman year, Kim became a member of the junior varsity golf team, which won the league in 2012. Despite the team’s success, Kim decided against rejoining the team the following season in order to improve and get stronger for his next football season.
Along with golf and football, Kim also played basketball as a freshman. However, he had to quit after two years due to time commitment issues after he joined USB.
Kim participated in three years of track, after becoming part of the varsity track team as a sophomore. This year, Kim, as a shot put and discus thrower, has placed first in every meet except one, in which he placed second.
“In the new league it has been very tough, especially for the throwers, but I think he still did a great job competing,” said head track coach Joseph Beaudion.
Kim received offers to play football at Chapman University and Claremont McKenna College. However, he will be attending USC, where he will major in economics and minor in accounting, rather than pursuing an athletic career.
“I couldn’t turn it down. It was the hardest decision because I could have played collegiate football in college. My parents were lenient enough to let me do different activities, so it’s nice to feel like I did enough in school and got to be involved outside of the classroom,” Kim said.
