By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE
Photos courtesy of John Romei.
John Romei splits his time between baseball and show choir. Left: Romei shows off his dance moves in an Oak Mountain Show Choir performance. He said his favorite part of show choir is the dancing and choreography.
Most students choose one activity in high school and stick with it, but Oak Mountain High School sophomore John Romei is doing both of his favorite things.
Romei is a pitcher on the junior varsity baseball team and is also a member of the Oak Mountain Show Choir. Some days, both are on his schedule, making for long days and late nights.
“They overlap a lot,” Romei said. “Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have baseball from 2-5 p.m., then go to show choir from 6-9 p.m. It’s a lot of dedication, but if you put all your effort into it, it’s worth it.”
He hopes to get some baseball scholarship offers in the next couple of years, but if not, Romei said he plans to pursue a career in logistics.
“I’ve taken a class on it in career prep where we had to find a job interest, and that’s what I found,” he said.
While Romei has played baseball since around age 6, he began concert choir in seventh grade then moved into show choir. It starts in August, during which there is an extensive two-week period, including a three-day period where the students learn all the choreography for their songs.
The show choir season begins in late January or early February. This year it did not start until April because of COVID-19. OMHS hosted its own show for the first time this April. The two-day event brought in groups from Auburn, South Alabama and Mississippi.
“It was fun,” Romei said. “We normally perform and leave, and this was the first concert we could stay and watch other groups since it was outside.”
While he wasn’t able to perform on the last day due to a baseball game, that was also the day he and his teammates won the junior varsity tournament against Vestavia in April, so he said it was still a win.
Photos courtesy of John Romei.
Romei walks off the field after pitching an inning for the Oak Mountain varsity baseball team.
Romei said there is only one other student at OMHS that is in show choir and plays baseball, and he is a year younger.
His favorite parts of show choir are the choreography and dancing. This year’s theme was “Wonders Around the World.” Inspired by Epcot, the group sang songs including “Come Sail Away,” “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” and “Rio Grande.”
Michael Zauchin, choral director at OMHS, describes Romei as an exceptional young man who strives for excellence in everything he does, and that he is humble about the gifts he possesses.
“It is exciting to see him grow and excel both on the stage and the field,” Zauchin said. “As a teacher, I feel it is important to push my students towards excellence and for them to realize their true potential regardless of any circumstance. The drive that is exhibited by John and will serve him well in whatever vocation he chooses beyond high school.”
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Photos courtesy of John Romei.
ei and his coaches and teammates on the Oak Mountain Junior Varsity baseball team. Romei was a sophomore pitcher on this year’s team.
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Photos courtesy of John Romei.
Romei poses with the Oak Mountain Show Choir, and said his favorite part of it is the dancing and choreography.
He added that John sets the bar high for himself, and in turn, expects the same from his teammates.
Boomer Murchison has coached Romei for two years and said not only is he an incredible person, but has some serious potential on the baseball field.
“John has shown an incredible love for the game of baseball, and that is not only it,” Murchison said. “He also has a profound love for singing and performs for the show choir as well. I did not know a whole lot about show choir before starting my coaching career at OMHS, but now I do, thanks to John.”
Murchison added that Romei shows so much dedication to be able to balance these to extracurricular events at the same time.
“He finds ways to perform at both, and does it exceptionally well. John comes off shy at first, but is a very polite kid with so much internal drive, and that is exactly what he does on the baseball field, just competes. I like to call him a ‘bulldog’ on the mound. He just gets out there and does what he is supposed to.”
He will be the hardest working on the field and the most driven for success, Murchison said.
“He gives it all he has,” he said. “He knows how to win, not just on the baseball field and on the performing stage, but in life. He is a winner. It has been a pleasure being John’s head baseball coach the last two years, and I look forward to coaching him on varsity for two more years.”
While he enjoys doing both, Romei said it’s really not for everyone, but encourages others to do it if they want to. As for his future, Romei said he plans on doing both for next two years.
“If you could handle both school, work, baseball or any other spring sports, do it,” he said.
