Junior TJ MacMillan, a dual-sport athlete, plays both varsity football and boys volleyball. He is a wide receiver and cornerback for football, and plays defensive specialist, or libero, for volleyball.

Football runs in the family for MacMillan, as his dad and stepdad both played the sport in high school. This got him interested in the sport, prompting him to ask his mother to sign him up for Milwaukie Youth Football.

MacMillan began playing football as a freshman for La Salle, and said that he didn’t have the greatest of starts.

“I started off being afraid of contact and not being able to catch that well,” MacMillan said, adding  “I’ve developed into being able to make hits and being able to catch.”

Macmillan noted that this has been his favorite part about football — recognizing his progress and “seeing [himself] become who [he] wants to be on the field.”

However, he said that he isn’t yet where he wants to be on the football field, saying that he hopes to have more playing time next year in his senior season. 

“I want to really prove myself on the field,” MacMillan said.

Despite the fun that he has had playing football, MacMillan said that volleyball has “probably been [his] favorite sport experience at La Salle,” partially due to the fact that the sport is so new to him.

MacMillan didn’t play volleyball prior to coming to La Salle, and said he “didn’t know anything about [the sport].” Senior Jayden Gilbert and junior Zephir Wilson, who both attended MacMillan’s middle school, St. Ignatius, were pivotal to convincing him to join the team in his freshman year.

“They were just like, ‘hey, come out and play a little bit, have some fun,’” MacMillan said. Since he didn’t have a spring sport to play, MacMillan decided to try out for the team.

“I ended up getting pretty good at it,” MacMillan said, adding that he has been able to become “a key player on the team”.

His favorite memories on the volleyball team are placing third in state last season and the great team chemistry that the team developed along the way. He credited head coach Denis Zhukov for being very supportive of him throughout his experience on the team.

Throughout his career playing sports at La Salle, MacMillan believes his biggest challenges to be the mental side of the game, particularly “getting in his own head.”

MacMillan will occasionally get upset at himself for one small mistake, which then causes him to be out of focus for the rest of the practice. He praises football head coach Dustin Janz for working with him on the mental side of the game, “holding me accountable for stuff that I struggle with,” he said. 

Outside of athletics, MacMillan has enjoyed his experience at La Salle, citing how he has been able to stay close with friends from middle school such as Wilson and junior Neil Kress, but also branch out and meet a lot of new people.

When he isn’t playing sports, MacMillan enjoys hanging out with his friends as well as building Legos and playing video games — “anything that lets [him] put [his] mind to a creative use,” he said.