Nate Robataille: Local
Sports Hero and Stonehill Athlete
By, Craig
Riotto
Nate
Robataille is a freshman at Stonehill College and a member of the varsity
football team. He graduated from Attleboro High School in Massachusetts. In his
senior year, Robataille gartered honors as the Attleboro Athlete of the Year.
He was selected as part of an elite group of football players to participate in
a national combine at the Reebok Headquarters where he was named the number one
prospect.
Robataille
studies communications at Stonehill College and plays cornerback for the
Skyhawks football team.
We sat down
with him for an exclusive interview that illustrates his career in football
from childhood to the present.
Riotto: How did you get involved in
football as a youngster?
Robataille:
When I was a youngster I was about 6 years old and played for Attleboro Pop
Warner all the way from 6 to high school. I went to private school at Bishop
Feehan, I was there about 3 months, and after that I transferred back to Attleboro
and that’s where things took off.
Riotto: When did you realize you
were good at football?
Robataille:
Probably around 8 or 9, our team in Pop Warner won 5 super bowls straight. We
never went to Florida because we would lose to the inter-city teams. I started
off playing QB, I was good and confident and started getting more confident and
enjoyed it.
Riotto: Do you have any favorite
moments from your pre-college career?
Robataille:
Winning the super bowls when I was little; all of the traveling that we did after
we won the super bowl in Pop Warner was awesome, we would go to New Hampshire
or Connecticut or Rhode Island to play teams in some of those states.
Another
favorite memory was in high school, it was my senior year, we were playing
Foxboro high and we were down with 30 seconds left and we drove from our 30 yd
line all the way down to the 1, and I threw a slant pass for a touchdown with
no time left and we won.
Riotto: Did you feel pride in
representing the Attleboro community?
Robataille:
Oh yeah definitely. They have, like, little sports camps and I was always
involved with the young kids. Even today they (the kids) always have me up on
the Facebook chat, “hey Robataille, hey Robataille, what’s up.” And it’s just good
to keep in touch and give them words of encouragement and give back to where
you came from. So that’s how I do it.
Riotto: You were a three sport
athlete in high school, what made you decide that you wanted to play football
at the next level instead of basketball or track?
Robataille:
That’s a funny story because my mom wanted me to play basketball because it was
indoors and there was less of a risk of getting hurt. I don’t know. Football is
my first love so I have always loved football and that’s what I wanted to do. I
just told my dad I was going to put my nose down and stick with football.
Riotto: Why did you choose
Stonehill?
Robataille:
I got recruited kind of heavily out of high school by DIAA schools and DII
schools, I kind of ruled DIII because I didn’t want to go to DIII. It’s not bad
but I just didn’t want to go DIII. But it really came down to money issues, to
be truly honest. Stonehill kind of fit, my parents love the campus, I love the
campus, the people here are great, and it’s a really good fit I think.
Riotto: Do you see yourself playing
professionally?
Robataille:
I’m striving for that, I’m really striving for that. I hope one day I can play
professionally in hopefully the NFL, UFL, CFL, or arena football league. I
mean, I just want to keep this going as long as I can.
Riotto: Stonehill just had an
athlete go professional, Stephan Neville, is that encouraging for you?
Robataille:
Oh yeah definitely, we played in the same league in high school so that is
definitely encouraging. And I kind of got the best of him a couple of times, so
I’m thinking, “hey if he can do it then maybe I can.”
Riotto: What are your plans for the
future?
Robataille:
Besides going pro in football I definitely want to be around sports somehow.
Definitely sports broadcasting, sports journalism, kind of be on the sidelines.
My dad said it would be an ideal job to be on the sidelines and just
interviewing on the sidelines with athletes and getting to travel all over the
united states, different stadiums and meeting different players. So, if
football doesn’t work out, that’s what I want to do.
