Soccer and baseball seasons don’t overlap for Southeast Lauderdale senior Will Wood when it comes to actual games, but he’s still practically a two-sport athlete in the winter.

Since Southeast Lauderdale has baseball as an option for its fourth block, Wood is at baseball practice every day once school starts in the fall. The school doesn’t offer soccer as a fourth-block class, so he can’t start working with a soccer ball until October, and Wood often comes to soccer practices fresh off baseball.

It didn’t hamper his production, though, as Wood finished the season with 30 goals and nine assists as the team’s starting center midfielder. Head coach LeAnn Vick said Wood is able to excel due to his natural soccer abilities and his work ethic, which is even more impressive to her given the amount of time Wood dedicates to baseball year-round.

“He practices baseball every day and then comes to soccer, so a lot of the time his legs are already tired, and he’s still out here doing soccer,” Vick said.

And no, Wood said he doesn’t get tired no matter how heavy his workload is on any given day.

“I think it comes from wanting to get better every day and wanting to win that day,” Wood said. “I don’t get tired much. If I do I’ll just drink a little water or something, but when I get to soccer it’s a fresh start for me.”

The hard work isn’t limited to the practice field, either.

“He’s always working, he’s always in a weight room, he’s always practicing,” Vick said. “He just gives 100% every time. What I love most is watching him score goals because he’s going to find a way to get it in there, and he’s going to be in the right place. Watching how he positions his body to make that happen is amazing to me.”

As an infielder, Wood is moving his legs constantly in baseball practice, but he said there isn’t as much running as people might think when combining baseball and soccer — though there’s still plenty of it.

“There’s a lot of movement (in soccer) but also a lot of down time,” Wood said. “If the ball’s on one side of the field and I’m not involved in a play directly, then I can get a short breather and get back to running.”

Wood played soccer as a child but gave up the sport before starting to play again in the seventh grade. Baseball might be his first love, but Wood said he never considered giving up soccer once he joined the team at Southeast Lauderdale.

“I just really like soccer,” Wood said. “Being able to run each and every day and play with my teammates is something I really enjoy. They help me a lot. I also enjoy the coaches here. We always have fun and make the most of each practice, and that helps me stay connected to the game.”

As the team’s center midfielder, Wood is relied upon both for his offense and defense.

“I mostly stay to the center attacking position where I go up a bunch and also fall back, but I don’t fall all the way back,” Wood said. “I fall back enough to help, but then I’ll go back up to help. That’s my main goal every game.”

One of the unique things about Wood is his ability to keep track of goals and assists during the game, to the point where he’s actually corrected Vick a few times.

“He loves keeping up with his own stats,” Vick said. “There are some time where I’ll mess up and he says, ‘No, actually, I had two assists,’ so he keeps up with all of that information.”

His stat-keeping ability only lasts for a short time after the game is over, Wood said.

“Each game I go over in my head (and remember) if I had an assist or a goal or how my passes were or if I played well or poorly — just stuff like that,” Wood explained. “I can remember the stats after each game, but I couldn’t right now.”

Wood is committed to play baseball at East Mississippi Community College, but Vick said he’s good enough to play soccer at the collegiate level if he ever decided he wanted to do both — and she’s proud of not just Wood, but all of her  multi-sport athletes.

“We have a lot of kids at our school who have claimed baseball as their main sport,” Vick said. “Baseball is what their dads and granddads played, and it’s just the thing to do here. I personally love baseball, and it has been a favorite sport of mine for most of my life, so I get it. And knowing that, it means a lot to me as a coach to see them work as hard as they do for their ‘second sport.’

“Most of them are playing soccer because it is fun, and it keeps them in shape. However, at no point do I feel like I am getting the short end of a stick with these kids. They work hard every day, even if they’ve already worked hard at another practice. These athletes have a drive to be good at whatever they are doing. They also bring the camaraderie and accountability for each other from those other sports. I love it. I also love that when my season ends, I can keep supporting them in their other seasons and cheering them on as a spectator. It’s a lot less stressful to be on that side of things.”