Student Athlete of the Week Taylor Rodanski

Being a strong leader means more to Taylor Rodanski than to--- most other seniors.

In truth, Rodanski made leadership one of his top priorities before his final season with the Niwot High School boys basketball team began earlier this month. He was inspired by last year's seniors and wanted to pass their wisdom down to his younger teammates.

"In my junior year, we had two seniors (Jackson Carano and Brighton Langenegger) who were really big leaders on the court," Rodanski said. "They inspired our senior class now to not only be the best they can be, but they showed us how to be leaders and what we want to be for the young generation of Niwot basketball players. It was really inspiring to see that from older classmen and now being that older classman, and wanting to show younger people what I've learned."

Although Niwot doesn't have many underclassmen on its varsity roster this season, Rodanski takes pride in setting the example.

"My role on the court is not only to be a leader but somebody that others can look up to," Rodanski said.

Rodanski's effort shines the most on defense. There, he is often tasked with keeping the opposing team's strongest scorer quiet. It is rarely an easy challenge, but Rodanski is willing to step up.

"My presence on the court is really for my defensive hustle," Rodanski said. "I'm always ready to go to the next play. I'm always ready to give my all on defense and really do anything I can to stop the opponents from scoring. I'm normally guarding the other team's best player. I normally do whatever I can to keep them under however many points."

Through Niwot's first four games, Rodanski has also found some success offensively. The primary forward's best performance came against Thornton High School on Dec. 7 when he tallied 11 points and two assists.

More importantly, Niwot beat the Trojans, 57-53, and Rodanski's confidence grew.

"It was a wake-up call to me that showed me, 'Hey, I can do this. This is what I want to do,'" Rodanski said. "Going into the next practice, I went in thinking we're gonna win. This is our season. This is our year. It made me want to be even better than I already wanted to be because I saw my potential that I could do this every game, and I could be this big leader and a big team player."

Rodanski added that he has enjoyed playing for Head Coach Walker Bounds, a 2016 Niwot graduate who took the Cougars' helm prior to last season.

"He believes in us more than anyone else," Rodanski said of Bounds. "We want to win for him, almost. We go out there for him because he loves it, and he loves us. We want to do our best for him."

After high school, Rodanski plans on attending Front Range Community College for his first two years of post-secondary education. While he is looking forward to the next chapter of his life, he will miss hooping for the Cougars.

"I'm excited to move on and go to college, but I'm also nervous to leave behind the team and the coaches," Rodanski said. "They've really taught me a lot already in these two years, but I'm excited for what the future holds."