RRHS basketball player is a man of many talents; sang national anthem at The Pit

RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho Rams’ basketball season is long over, but it certainly was a memorable one. From watching forward Kayden Decker block shots to witnessing shooting guard Wyatt Rodriguez sing the national anthem …

Yup, besides playing varsity basketball and football, Rodriguez is also a trained singer.

“I’ve been singing for about 10-12 years … I think [I was] 4? But I was really shy, and my first time I was supposed to be in front of a crowd at a preschool church performance, I hid under the table while they called my name for two minutes,” Rodriguez, a junior, said.

Rodriguez also recalled that his first solo performance was in a fifth-grade musical at Sandia Vista Elementary School.

“My teacher was Mrs. Glunt. That’s what really started things with singing,” Rodriguez said.

Fast forward to 2024-25, and Rodriguez was called upon to sing the national anthem at The Pit for the girls 2A state championship.

“It meant a lot. I have a dad who served as a combat radar technician in the Air Force and a grandpa who served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and I knew it meant a lot to them,” Rodriguez said. “It was a really cool feeling keeping that on my mind while singing in front of all those people, which was, pretty intimidating, but halfway through the song, I felt like the crowd was with me, and I was singing with Americans, not to them.”

Throughout the basketball season, Rodriguez also sang the national anthem in the RRHS gymnasium.

However, singing and sports are not enough to keep Rodriguez occupied.

“The most common question I get asked is, ‘What do you wanna do when you’re older?’ When I was younger, I’d have definitive answers, but it didn’t take long for me to figure out that I wasn’t really sure. So, sitting in my room one day, pressed on what to say to that question, I decided, ‘Why not everything?’” Rodriguez said.

He is also the RRHS choir president, part of the National Honor Society, participates in DECA (which won state), was recently elected as the student body treasurer, sings on the praise team at Sagebrush Church and maintains a 4.2 GPA.

“Yes, it’s been a little stressful at times, but I’ve made the most of my high school experience so far, and I intend to only keep trying new things and continue to have fun doing it. So if I could give one piece of advice to the younger kids: Try everything, and when it gets hard, keep going,” Rodriguez said.

Despite all that Rodriguez is doing, it has been a tough year for him after an ACL injury prematurely ended his basketball season.

“Above all else, my faith and my family mean everything to me. I love my brothers and my family. They are what keeps me going through the sleepless nights between homework, studying and staying in shape with a busted ACL. And that the most important phrase I always keep in my head is that there’s always a ‘great big beautiful tomorrow,’ meaning that if today was the worst day of my life, then tomorrow’s gonna be beautiful,” Rodriguez said.