University of Connecticut Athletics
Moving Around and Growing Up - Tony Cascio On The Move
10/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2011
By Myles Udland
Tony Cascio has always liked things that go. "I started riding dirt bikes when I was younger," says Cascio, a native of Gilbert, Arizona. "We always had 4x4's and my mom had horses." So when Cascio arrived in Storrs in the fall of 2008, walking from point A to point B was out of the question. But Cascio, now a senior in his fourth year at UConn, began his travels around campus modestly.
"My freshman year I had a Razor scooter with a little pink basket on the front," recalls Cascio. After some time, however, this method of travel proved inadequate. Cascio's first cold Connecticut winter left him wanting to get around campus quicker.
In his sophomore year, Cascio left his Razor behind and moved up to a bicycle. "I bought an engine kit and put a motor on [the bike]," says Cascio. Though as Cascio began to traverse campus more quickly, his motorized bike failed to get the job done. But the last improvement Cascio made to his own transportation changed not just his own way of getting around, It changed the way for many others, too. "Junior year I got a scooter."
A quick look around UConn's campus and one finds that scooters have become a dominant mode of transportation. Parked outside of residence halls, dining halls, and classroom buildings, motorized scooters can be seen almost anywhere. Athletes from the track and field, women's soccer, and women's basketball teams have all been outfitted with scooters with the help of Cascio. "When I got here freshman year, there were no scooters," says Cascio. "Now there are a bunch. Probably more than half of the scooters you see around campus went through me somehow. And that's a good feeling."
Cascio, a Communication Sciences major who has volunteered at Bolton Middle School and helped with Coach Ray Reid's soccer camps in the summer, knows that his time at UConn has helped him flourish as a young man. "Coach Reid's program kind of makes you a man. Or at least I'd like to think I'm a man; I have facial hair now," Cascio says with a laugh.
Cascio entered college like most 18-year-old freshman, looking more like a Razor scooter than a motorized one. But Cascio's time at UConn has allowed him to develop as a student, athlete, and member of the UConn community, and Cascio's bringing scooters to campus is the result of a student-athlete improving each year. And whether it is on-field play, or in-class performance, or on-campus travel, one can't ever ask for much more than that.
