Matt Petherick views Jack Beauchesne as a throwback to an earlier generation -- a time when student-athletes were able to juggle an arduous academic workload while partaking in multiple sports. In today's society, and especially at the private school level, that sort of balancing act seldom exists anymore. Academic standards have become more stringent and time-consuming, resulting in less time being spent on numerous extracurricular activities.
But Beauchesne has shown to be a different breed. Somehow, someway, the Milton Academy senior has been able to successfully accomplish the near impossible. Beauchesne is playing three varsity level sports, while still maintaining a high GPA. Beauchesne is a member of the Mustangs soccer, basketball and baseball programs. Before transferring to Milton a year ago from Chelmsford High School, Beauchesne was doing the exact same thing there.
"When Jack told me he played three sports (at Chelmsford), I was not surprised as he is a big, athletic kid (standing 6-foot-2, 170 pounds),'' said Petherick, Milton's head baseball coach. "The three-sport athlete has, unfortunately, been lost as athletes tend to specialize on one sport pretty early these days. To me, Jack is like a Norman Rockwell painting character in that he just goes out and plays that season's sport and does so at a high level. He is able to do all of these things well because he is a rangy, very athletic young man who works hard and keeps himself in spectacular shape. I'm guessing that being busy all the time helps him balance his academics better also, as he has minimal downtime and a rigorous schedule forces him to stay disciplined. His parents are also fantastic people and have clearly done a great job raising a conscientious student-athlete."
At Chelmsford, Beauchesne excelled in soccer, basketball and baseball while taking honors classes. But it was not long after his junior year at Chelmsford when Beauchesne started to think about reclassifying, based on the fact that he was young for his grade level and believed an extra year would allow him to enhance his academic and athletic progress.
