Formal dance classes started when he was 5, mostly hip hop, which led to a two-year gig dancing in Los Angeles for the children’s music content platform Kidz Bop when he was 12.

Sport was also a constant factor in his upbringing. He has played soccer, football, volleyball and ran track. Sports and dance were never in competition with each other. For Tetkowski, they are two sides of the same coin.

“Both have become second nature and an outlet for me, in different ways,” he said. “Ballet and dance let the emotions that aren’t as touched on in sports. Like, my anger and all of that can be let out in sports. If I’m a kicker, if I get mad I’m just going to crush a ball. In soccer if I get mad, do a hard tackle. There are sides to each that balance. I need both.”

Not just emotionally, but physically the two disciplines complement each other. Tetkowski watches other players on the field and notes how dance exercises could help them excel.

“For punting, the higher I can get my leg the more power I get behind it,” he said. “In ballet, we’re doing kicks down the run the entire day. I’m learning how to get force behind my leg and really get up there to get power to kick a ball.”

“For place kicking, the more I rotate out on my hip, the more I can get the side of my foot, the more power it has. In ballet we work on turnout the entire class. It’s built my hips up and my groin up to where it’s a lot easier for me to turn out my leg,” he said.

Tetkowski’s kicking prowess landed him on the public school all-star team, playing in the Philadelphia City All-Star game in May.

He has to play for the nearby George Washington Eagles because the Arts Academy does not have a sports program, with the exception of a bowling team, for which it ranks second in the city.

And, yes, Tetkowski is on that team, too.