Carter Cupito is a rising Redhawk two-sport athlete as an 8th grader
The Minnehaha Academy boys basketball team is undefeated in the IMAC conference, and 12-4 overall, as of Feb 1. They're a team to watch with a very young point guard making a name for himself as a dual-athlete.
Eighth grader Carter Cupito is a starting point guard for the Redhawks, a rare position to be in at his age, and he's not looking for anyone to go easy on him.
"I still got to play to the standard the seniors have to play to and got to play hard," said Carter Cupito.
Carter Cupito is used to this pressure already. In the fall season, he suits up as the starting quarterback for SMB varsity football. His football coach trusted that he had the right group around him to find success.
"He's got some older kids who are here who really just took him in, basically saying, 'Carter you're the quarterback, you got to make it work,' and when you have the older kids who lean on him like that, it made the whole transition extremely smooth," said Bryan Cupito, SMB Football Head coach, and Carter's dad.
Bryan Cupito is a former 3-year starting quarterback for the Gophers in the mid 2000s.
"You know, I look up to him every day," said Carter Cupito, "We have a lot of things similar, similar interests, even our throwing mechanics look similar."
Athleticism runs in the Cupito family. Carter's older sister Ava is a junior starting guard for the Hopkins girls basketball team. This family trains together often.
"I learned her jump shot. Her jump shot is really, really good," said Carter Cupito, "She's super talented."
The two siblings like to challenge each other and make each other better with a little one-on-one.
"We score on each other all the time, talk trash, it's a good time," said Carter Cupito.
Carter Cupito is still undecided on whether he'll pursue football or basketball in college. It's a similar decision that Redhawk legend, Jalen Suggs, faced at his age.
"Trust Jalen Suggs, who came out to a football game this year, and he said he saw a lot of the great qualities in Carter that he had in himself," said Josh Thurow, Minnehaha Academy Athletic Director.
