He’s been an athlete for all of his life, having played football since he was in sixth grade. Now, his friends think he does a great job in his leadership role as captain of the Point Park rugby team. It’s all just a hobby, though, given his professional aspirations as a multimedia major.

Jakob Como is a senior whose obsession with rugby lead to his current captain position, but behind his athletic feats is a man loved by his friends and family who wants a sports media job.

“Jake means well and has a big heart,” said senior sports, arts and entertainment major, fellow rugby player and one of Como’s roommates Richard Carver, via phone interview.

Como liked sports from a very young age, his father explained.

“He’s been involved in sports since he was able to be,” said Jake’s father Ron Como.

He ran track throughout his entire high school career and played football from his sixth grade year all the way up through his 12th grade year, all for the Butler Area School District. Fond memories fill Como’s mind when recalling his days playing football for the Butler Golden Tornadoes. His favorite memories are of the big victories, taking down tough opponents who were expected to reign supreme. The favorites for track were similar.

“The feeling of beating a top-tier team was amazing,” Como said while reminiscing about track.

Track wasn’t something Como enjoyed all that much as a sport, especially compared to football.

“The conditioning spent was really rough,” Como said.

It isn’t something he sees as pointless looking back, however. After all, he stuck with it for four years.

“It was good because it challenged me and made me competitive,” Como said.

His competitive streak and more favorable experiences playing football naturally lead to Como picking up rugby when he came to Point Park. He played from the very beginning of his college career as a freshman and still does today, this school year taking up the mantle of the team captain.

Como sees the rugby team, which is considered a club rather than an official school sport, improving this year. The relationship with United Student Government, the allocator of funding for all on-campus clubs, has been good and student involvement has been great, according to Como.

“Now we need two shuttles [to get the team to matches],” Como said. “We have 25 to 30 people now.” His fellow players think he does a great job as their leader. Working through disputes between players, for example, is something Como has a talent for, according to Carver.

“He is a very patient person,” Carver said.

On Sept. 25, the squad played an away game against Geneva’s rugby team. After jokingly telling his players to get off their phones and give their viewing of silly internet videos a break, Como waited outside the bus he rode in for each player to leave, at which point he bumped fists with all of them.

“Don’t let the light-heartedness fool you,” he warned earlier. “It gets intense.”

The team did indeed switch gears, shouting reassuring statements and some colorful language, along with quickly taking down other players on the field. Como got to work.

“Jake is the best athlete on our team,” Carver said. He is a versatile player who gets good results, according to senior cinema production major and fellow player and roommate Dan Helbling, via phone interview.

“Jake is not afraid to get in there and do everything everyone is doing,” Helbling said.

Despite Como’s work along with the rest of the team’s, Point Park ended up losing to Geneva with a score of 43-15.

“We started off strong,” Como said. “We were excited to play.”

One of the biggest things that hurt the team was the uphill battle fresh, inexperienced players had to climb, according to Como. He doesn’t blame the players, who he thinks did an admirable job, rather the tough situation they were in.

“It’s a hard game to play,” Como said.

Keeping his players’ heads up was something he tried to do during that game.

“We were trying to stay as positive as we could,” Como said.

On the bus ride back Downtown, Como didn’t yell at his players or do anything that would create negativity. Instead, he made sure he had the phone numbers of all of his players and was tallying votes from players for Man of the Match, a tradition for the rugby team. Whoever is voted for Man of the Match is considered the best player for that game and is given a deflated ball to hold onto for the week.

Como’s mind is constantly pre-occupied with thoughts of the rugby team, but his professional goals are snugly in the realm of sports media. He particularly likes social media, as it is representative of the direction media is going, according to Como.

“I think the way we’re moving is getting things quickly,” Como said.

Already getting involved in social media, He works for Point Park as a social media and digital content intern. Ideally, he would like to combine his love of sports with his media interests to do social media work for a sports team. It’s something Como’s father is happy with.

“It’s good for him,” Ron said. “It fits his personality.”

Both of Como’s parents make it out to his rugby games. Como recounted a time his father, who works odd hours, made it out from Plum, Pa. all the way to West Virginia for a game.

Helbling and Carver love their friend and find a lot of comfort in living together.

“They’re like my family away from my family,” Helbling said.

According to Helbing, Como is a good guy who is “confident in his own skin.”

“Jake is not afraid to drop whatever he is doing to help you out,” Helbling said.

While Como is also a great friend and son to his loved ones as well as an aspiring sports media worker, at heart, he is running across that field playing with his teammates.

“There’s nothing that makes me happier than playing rugby on a Friday or Saturday night,” Como said.