The Daily Olivian is starting a new feature called “student athlete of the week” in which we do a profile of a random student athlete at OA. The first of these is on Ethan Eckstrom, a senior at OA and a captain on the basketball team.
Ethan has helped lead Oliver Ames to a 7-5 start this season as the starting center and an important piece to the team, averaging 11.9 points per game, 12th best in the hock. He is a versatile player who has height, strength, and a great basketball IQ.
Fellow senior and teammate, Michael Greene, has some positive things to say about Eckstrom. “Ethan has been a crucial part of our season so far. He’s consistently averaging double digit points and rebounds which is extremely big for us. We play with a small lineup usually and his rebounding helps us out a lot. He also has an incredible defensive presence that makes it hard for other teams to get to the hoop, which has been really important to our success so far.”
Ethan is definitely co-captain for a reason. He is not afraid of the big moment as he was part of an impressive comeback against Attleboro, which he said was “my favorite moment of the season. We were coming out of halftime at Attleboro down 19 and fought back to get it to 4. That showed we had heart and a will to win despite adversity.” Although they didn’t end up winning, it made Eckstrom even more pumped up for their next tough game where he will be in the spotlight.
“I’m looking forward to playing Mansfield at home so we can get them back after we lost at their place a few weeks ago.”
Ethan isn’t just a great basketball player, he is so much more than that. He is an important member of the football team and has even created his own company, “Eckstrom Home Designs”. I don’t know too many high schoolers that have created a successful home design business- that’s IMPRESSIVE.
He has worked hard to market and expand his business, saying “I started it freshman year and have grown it considerably to take on a good amount of work. I do residential and I’m just starting to get into commercial.”
He also told me he is planning on continuing his work and passion in college. He will be majoring in construction management and is leaning towards Umass Amherst but is yet to make a decision. However, one thing is for certain- Ethan is a unique, well rounded kid with a very bright future both in sports and life in general.