Ever since sophomore Mason White was eight years old, his life had been consumed by two sports: baseball and football. White’s parents put him into T-ball when he was five and he immediately loved the game. Flag football followed when White was eight until he ultimately made the switch to tackle in eighth grade. Coming into high school, White wasn’t sure what sport he would choose. Luckily, McCallum made it possible for him to play both.

“I knew I wanted to play baseball at McCallum because it’s always been my sport, and I heard a lot of good things about the baseball program,” White said. “I wasn’t 100% sure if I wanted to play football going into my freshman year, but a bunch of my friends were playing, and along with baseball heard good things, so I was like ‘why not’ and I ended up loving it.”

In order to be able to play both sports, White has to split up his time between the two semesters. In the fall semester, White is double-blocked in football until the spring semester comes along, when he makes the switch to baseball. This allows him to give his undivided attention and time at school to each specific sport.

“When one sport is in season, I give it my full attention, and I do workouts for the other sport on my own time outside of school,” he said. “This way, I keep improving in both without getting overwhelmed.”

Thomas Gammerdinger, the head coach of the football team and McCallum’s athletic director, also acknowledges the ability that students at McCallum have to be dual-sport athletes.

“The cool thing about McCallum is that you can play multiple sports, and I think it’s great,” Gammerdinger said. “If you went to a place like Westlake, and your senior year, if you decided to play football, the first thing is they would laugh at you in the face, and secondly, you’d never play.”

In White’s freshman year, he played quarterback for the junior varsity team and then made the switch to cornerback his sophomore year, earning him the starting spot on varsity.

“For football, I always played quarterback because I could throw the ball pretty well from baseball, and I played that freshman year,” White said. “But this year, Coach G said I should try playing some defensive positions, and I ended up really liking cornerback.”

To ensure that White is able to adjust to a more defensive position, Gammerdinger provided more discrete training on secondary play.

Within the first five games this season, White had three interceptions, two defensive touchdowns and only one allowed completion.  

“He does a great job for us,” Gammerdinger said. “I think his best quality, obviously, he’s a good athlete, but he plays his best when the moment is the most important. Some people get a little nervous, and they see a challenge out there and they shy away from it. Whenever he’s out there, the bigger the moment, the bigger the spotlight is, the better he plays.”

One of the ways that Gammerdinger and the head baseball coach, Trey Honeycutt, ensure that White is able to successfully participate in both sports is by meeting, along with White, before the school year starts to go over a plan of action.

“We usually just get on the same plan for the kid, just what is best, where he needs to be, and when,” Gammerdinger said. “Coach Honeycutt and I get along pretty well in that we have the same philosophy in terms of weight room and stuff like that.”

White emphasizes that both of his coaches’ encouragement and flexibility help him to keep giving his best in both sports.

“Both my coaches are very supportive of me playing both football and baseball,” White said. “At one point, they even coached the other sport, which helps them understand the demands and challenges of each sport.”

Honeycutt also points out there are both advantages and disadvantages to playing two different varsity-level sports.

“Playing multiple sports helps Mason stay on top of his grades,” Honeycutt said. “It also helps him develop a different mental and physical toughness that can help him in baseball. I would say the only downside is that he does not receive the extra reps during the off-season baseball period to help him prepare for the spring season.”

Entering his freshman year, White earned the starting shortstop position for the varsity baseball team. Honeycutt highlights how this is a very difficult position for anyone to play, especially a freshman. White has played shortstop since he first started playing baseball, which allowed him to easily adjust to playing at the varsity level.

“He had to learn a lot in his first year to compete with some older players on his team and his opponents,” Honeycutt said. 

While White doesn’t interact much with the baseball team and Honeycutt during football season, Honeycutt is still able to watch how he performs during the first semester.

“Seeing him do great things in football has me excited to see a level of confidence and growth within him,” Honeycutt said. “He will bring that confidence and experience with him to baseball in the spring. I am hoping to see Mason continue working hard for his team and to bring his success, experience, and confidence from football to baseball in the spring.”

Reflecting on his time playing baseball and football, White’s favorite parts go hand-in-hand: being able to play alongside his teammates while having fun.

“My favorite part about playing football is definitely the excitement of Friday Night Lights and playing with all my boys,” White said. “My favorite part about baseball is making plays, both hitting and fielding, impacting the game. I also really enjoy being with my teammates in the dugout or on the field.”

One of White’s teammates, junior Tommy McIntyre, is a fellow football and baseball dual-sport athlete, which allows the two to become very close.

“I would describe Mason as someone who is always trying to get better and is willing to take ridicule to get better,” McIntyre said.

Looking towards the future, White hopes to be able to play baseball at the highest level that he can.

“[Baseball is] the sport I’m most focused on for college,” he said. “However, if I have the opportunity to play both football and baseball in college, that would be awesome.”