Q&A with Sahuarita multi-sport athlete Jayden Gonzales
SAHUARITA, Ariz. — A Q&A with Jayden Gonzales who is a 15-year-old triathlete from the Sahuarita area.
Sports: Triathlete, Cross Country, Basketball, Softball
Years in current sport: Softball 5 years, Basketball 1 year, Cross Country first year
Team/s: Walden Grove High and club softball Tucson Scramblers Softball
School: Walden Grove High School
Grade/Year: Sophomore/2026
What are your personal goals within your sport/athletic dreams?
Jayden Gonzales: My personal goals are to play at any collegiate level to assist with my educational dreams and the cost.
What is your biggest challenge in your sport, and what do you do to manage this challenge?
Gonzales: My biggest challenge is to not be so hard on myself. With every failure, I try to look for something that I learned from my personal or team losses. This helps me with not getting too upset with myself and finding a positive out of the negative is always great.
What was the best advice you were ever given?
Gonzales: The best advice I have ever been given was from my Tata Louie Gonzales. My tata has told me “Always remember to have fun, if you’re having fun – working hard comes easy!”
What do you love about your sport?
Gonzales: I love every single sport that I participate in. However, when it comes to softball, I take pride in playing as I know my mother and my aunts all played for the same team as I play for. When I put my Scrambler jersey on, I know I am continuing a family tradition.
Do you have a pregame ritual you follow?
Gonzales: Yes, I do, my pregame ritual is with my dad. We play music very loudly; this gets my blood flowing and gets me pumped up and excited to play or run.
What do you like to do outside of your sport?
Gonzales: Outside of my sports I like to spend time with my family, watch my little brother Churro wrestle and of course, visit my grandparents. I am very fortunate to have three loving grandparents that are still with me, so I treasure my moments with them.
What has being a member of a team taught you?
Gonzales: Being a member of a team has taught me discipline, commitment and work ethic.
What is the best piece of advice you received from a coach or mentor?
Gonzales: The best piece of advice I received would be from my softball coach Bruno. Bruno says “In the game you have to swing the bat, in life you have to swing the bat. Never stop swinging!”
Describe a mistake you made while competing and how you overcame it.
Gonzales: Every day we make mistakes even professional athletes make mistakes. It’s about recognizing when we make them. In the state tournament for my club softball team, I struck out in the semifinals. The first thing I did was recognize where I fell short, kept my head high and immediately talked to my coach, so I could implement some feedback.
Anything else you’d like to add:
Gonzales: My dad always tells me when I’m sleeping someone else is working hard. Someone is always working harder than you. Know you can accomplish any dream, but dreams are not given to you, you accomplish those dreams because you work for them. So, for anyone reading this, please know putting in the work is not easy but accomplishing a dream is worth the sweat, pain and tears.
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