Glenbrook South boys gymnastics coach Brandon Tucker said sophomore Dante Kelekolio does exactly what he is asked to do.
“If you tell him to do 10 drills, he goes and does exactly 10,” Tucker said. “He doesn’t try to do too much, he does exactly what you ask. From (the perspective of) a coach, that’s perfect.”
Kelekolio also listened to his coach last year when Tucker explained that a productive summer could take Kelekolio from the 2016 freshman team to the varsity in 2017.
Kelekolio trained extensively during the summer, and said a camp at Buffalo Grove Gymnastics Center was instrumental in him becoming a varsity-caliber gymnast.
“I was so excited to jump in (to working hard), doing summer camps and working my butt off,” said Kelekolio, who lives in Glenview. “I wanted (to be on varsity), I really did. I set a goal for myself and felt I had to push myself to do it. And I ended up doing it.”
Ahead of this season, Tucker gave Kelekolio the option of joining the varsity or competing on the JV. Kelekolio knew that he could be a star on JV and remain teammates with the other sophomores in the program, who are his close friends.
“Honestly, it wasn’t a tough decision,” Kelekolio said. “I knew right there, it was varsity. I couldn’t go JV knowing I had a chance to do varsity.”
Kelekolio said there were some uncomfortable moments early this season when he was still getting used to competing on the varsity and getting better acquainted with his older teammates.
“(At first), I feel like I was nervous that I was going to score badly,” said Kelekolio, who also was a member of the varsity wrestling team this year. “But now, I’m scoring solid and helping out the team. It’s just feeling great. (My teammates) are like brothers to me, we’ve gotten so close.”
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Throughout the season, Kelekolio has competed on four events.
“He adds at least a point on vault, about a point on floor exercise, .5 on parallel bars and a couple of points on high bar. He’s adding like 5 points to our varsity score,” said Tucker, who gave Kelekolio an extra event, rings, at the Central Suburban League meet on April 27 at Niles North.
Kelekolio expects to be an all-arounder next season, but said he needs to clean up his pommel horse routine before using it in competition.
Teammate Jacob Fine, a senior, said he has been impressed by Kelekolio’s improvement.
“Dante started the year by hitting the ground running and working pretty hard. He’s stepped up to a position of great responsibility,” said Fine, who lives in Glenview. “I think by senior year he can definitely be all-state (awarded to the top 5 in each event at the state meet).
Kelekolio’s work ethic has helped put him in a position to excel, and Tucker believes it also has made Kelekolio a role model for the talented freshman and JV gymnasts in the program.
“Some of my guys (sophomores) are coming up to me and asking, ‘What summer camps have you done to improve?'” Kelekolio said.
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press