Warsaw Senior Overcomes Obstacles
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
On the football field, he excels with good technique, speed and quickness.
On the basketball court, as the starting point guard, he shoots 50 percent from the field and averages four assists and four rebounds per game.
In life, however, it's a pair of broad shoulders that have helped 5-foot-11, 220-pound Warsaw Community High School senior Shaun Cabrera.
While he appears to do things effortlessly in athletics, life hasn't been as easy.
Don't tell Cabrera that, though, he doesn't come across as the kind of guy who wants a sympathy vote.
"It's happened, it's in the past," Cabrera said of some of the trials he's gone through. "Everything happens for a reason. There's a lot of people that have it worse than I do. Things could always be a lot worse."
This coming from a high school kid who "never had a relationship with" his father.
From a 17-year-old who said he didn't know what was going to happen to him and his brother, WCHS sophomore Andrew Spears, when his mother, Rebeca Spears, was diagnosed with Stage 3 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in February of 2004.
From a teenager whose older brother, Carlos Cabrera, was involved in a December 2004 automobile accident near Atwood that left him paralyzed from the waste down.
And then there was Shaun Cabrera himself, who garnered attention from Division I college football coaches after a junior year that saw him break the school record for tackles for a loss but missed the majority of his senior season with a knee injury.
"Things could be worse," said Cabrera. "There's people that have things worse than I do. I'm lucky because my brother and mom are still alive."
During a 15-minute interview Tuesday afternoon in the Tiger Den, sitting in a balcony overlooking the court on which he has been a varsity starter for two years, Cabrera answered questions with a smile.
It's hard to talk to him and not like him. His smile is contagious, and he comes across as a teenager who is just fun to be around.
Cabrera smiles because, yes, things could be worse.
His mom's cancer is in remission.
His brother Carlos is in a wheel chair but attends games - both home and on the road.
His mother, grandmother and younger brother Andrew attend games as well. Andrew went so far as walking away from the junior varsity team to help his mother get Carlos to the games.
"My brother (Carlos) didn't want him to quit, he doesn't believe in the word quit, but my mom needed help," said Cabrera. "It means so much to have my family there, especially the road games. It's hard to bring Carlos along, but they get there, and it means so much that there are people there cheering for me. I know that there's people that have my back."
Because Cabrera, who will play football in the fall for 2004 and 2005 NAIA national runner-up St. Francis, had his teammates' backs, the Tigers won the program's first sectional title since 2000 and will play in the Class 4A Marion Regional Saturday.
The Tigers (11-11) will play Muncie Central (17-5) at 10 a.m. at Bill Green Athletic Arena, while Fort Wayne Snider (16-7) and McCutcheon (17-6) play in the second semifinal at noon. The winners will play in the championship game at 8 p.m., with a berth in the northern semistate on the line.
"Everything happened to Shaun in a two-year time period," said Warsaw basketball coach Doug Ogle. "Shaun is an amazing story. He has had to persevere through a lot of extraordinary trials. You have to be happy for him because of the way things have turned out. So many people in the community reached out to help Shaun. It was heart-warming to see Shaun go through a sectional like the one we just played and put the team on his shoulders and play big."
After averaging eight points per game during the regular season, Cabrera stepped it up in last week's sectional, helping the Tigers win the program's 35th sectional championship.
Against East Noble in Friday's semifinal, Cabrera was 12 of 13 from the free throw line. He finished the game with 19 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
In Saturday's championship game against Columbia City, a team the Tigers had beat just once in the previous six meetings, Cabrera was 5 of 7 from the field and 6 of 6 from the charity stripe. He led the Tigers with 17 points and six rebounds.
And when all was said and done, the final seconds off the clock and the nets ready to be cut down, he shared the moment with his family.
And being able to do that seems to mean more to Cabrera than any piece of net he could cut down or any championship trophy he and his teammates could hoist. [[In-content Ad]]
On the football field, he excels with good technique, speed and quickness.
On the basketball court, as the starting point guard, he shoots 50 percent from the field and averages four assists and four rebounds per game.
In life, however, it's a pair of broad shoulders that have helped 5-foot-11, 220-pound Warsaw Community High School senior Shaun Cabrera.
While he appears to do things effortlessly in athletics, life hasn't been as easy.
Don't tell Cabrera that, though, he doesn't come across as the kind of guy who wants a sympathy vote.
"It's happened, it's in the past," Cabrera said of some of the trials he's gone through. "Everything happens for a reason. There's a lot of people that have it worse than I do. Things could always be a lot worse."
This coming from a high school kid who "never had a relationship with" his father.
From a 17-year-old who said he didn't know what was going to happen to him and his brother, WCHS sophomore Andrew Spears, when his mother, Rebeca Spears, was diagnosed with Stage 3 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in February of 2004.
From a teenager whose older brother, Carlos Cabrera, was involved in a December 2004 automobile accident near Atwood that left him paralyzed from the waste down.
And then there was Shaun Cabrera himself, who garnered attention from Division I college football coaches after a junior year that saw him break the school record for tackles for a loss but missed the majority of his senior season with a knee injury.
"Things could be worse," said Cabrera. "There's people that have things worse than I do. I'm lucky because my brother and mom are still alive."
During a 15-minute interview Tuesday afternoon in the Tiger Den, sitting in a balcony overlooking the court on which he has been a varsity starter for two years, Cabrera answered questions with a smile.
It's hard to talk to him and not like him. His smile is contagious, and he comes across as a teenager who is just fun to be around.
Cabrera smiles because, yes, things could be worse.
His mom's cancer is in remission.
His brother Carlos is in a wheel chair but attends games - both home and on the road.
His mother, grandmother and younger brother Andrew attend games as well. Andrew went so far as walking away from the junior varsity team to help his mother get Carlos to the games.
"My brother (Carlos) didn't want him to quit, he doesn't believe in the word quit, but my mom needed help," said Cabrera. "It means so much to have my family there, especially the road games. It's hard to bring Carlos along, but they get there, and it means so much that there are people there cheering for me. I know that there's people that have my back."
Because Cabrera, who will play football in the fall for 2004 and 2005 NAIA national runner-up St. Francis, had his teammates' backs, the Tigers won the program's first sectional title since 2000 and will play in the Class 4A Marion Regional Saturday.
The Tigers (11-11) will play Muncie Central (17-5) at 10 a.m. at Bill Green Athletic Arena, while Fort Wayne Snider (16-7) and McCutcheon (17-6) play in the second semifinal at noon. The winners will play in the championship game at 8 p.m., with a berth in the northern semistate on the line.
"Everything happened to Shaun in a two-year time period," said Warsaw basketball coach Doug Ogle. "Shaun is an amazing story. He has had to persevere through a lot of extraordinary trials. You have to be happy for him because of the way things have turned out. So many people in the community reached out to help Shaun. It was heart-warming to see Shaun go through a sectional like the one we just played and put the team on his shoulders and play big."
After averaging eight points per game during the regular season, Cabrera stepped it up in last week's sectional, helping the Tigers win the program's 35th sectional championship.
Against East Noble in Friday's semifinal, Cabrera was 12 of 13 from the free throw line. He finished the game with 19 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
In Saturday's championship game against Columbia City, a team the Tigers had beat just once in the previous six meetings, Cabrera was 5 of 7 from the field and 6 of 6 from the charity stripe. He led the Tigers with 17 points and six rebounds.
And when all was said and done, the final seconds off the clock and the nets ready to be cut down, he shared the moment with his family.
And being able to do that seems to mean more to Cabrera than any piece of net he could cut down or any championship trophy he and his teammates could hoist. [[In-content Ad]]