Tonight will be a special one for many as it’s Senior Night for the Class of 2020’s JROTC, band, Raiderettes, color guard, cheerleaders and football. The Rider Chronicle is having a series of Q/As with the leaders of each organization this week. 

Rider football’s defensive lineman Ian Storey sat down with The Rider Chronicle to discuss what playing football means to him and what his plans are after he graduates. 

Q: How long have you been in football and why have you stayed this long?

A: Roughly 11 years now, there’s a certain camaraderie being out there with those guys and understanding. It’s kind of brutal, every player hitting each other and you’re kind of just being rude and being nasty, but at the same time you guys respect each other, you respect each others’ work from what you do.  

Q: What makes football special to you? 

A: It’s something that I’m good at and I feel like there’s a lot of things, especially in school and just in life period that I don’t feel like I don’t succeed in, but that’s somewhere I feel like I can fit in and do my best. 

Q: What do you want to accomplish your senior year?

A: I want to figure out what I want to do after high school. I want to be able to go into a college or military or whatever, set up a career and actually have a good life.  

Q: What’s your favorite memory of playing football at Rider?

A: Probably summer workouts, it’s kind of here you see the guys for the last time, the seniors that are heading off, that’s the last summer you get with them. It’s just a lot of team building and funny things that go down because it’s not so serious since it’s not in the season, and it’s more of just a good time to go out. 

Q: What will you miss about Rider once you leave?

A: Probably the teachers. I really like the teachers here. They’re very respectful, they’re understanding and they try their best, most of them, to kind of help you succeed and get to where you want to be.

Q: What have you learned about being on the football team? 

A: I’ve learned that life is not about here and now. It’s about what’s going to happen in the future and preparing yourself for that and being the most ready for it. 

Q: How have you changed since your freshman year and why? 

A: Since freshman year, I’ve become more patient and understanding of the people around me. I’m not so headstrong and deliberate. I don’t just try and jump on everybody’s case; I try to give them a second to explain why they’re acting the way they’re acting and then feed out of that and try to give them a better way out of that. 

Q: What do you want to do after high school? Why? 

A: Either enlist in the military and do what the rest of my family’s done and serve, or go to college and be a sports psychologist. 

Q: Last message to your team. What do you want them to know? 

A: It doesn’t end here. It doesn’t end in high school. Just remember that every day could be your last day, so try to make the best of every situation you have.