Centre Wellington is being well-represented in the Sports world.
Two students from the area, Mirek Sharp and Molly Beckham, have received Sports scholarships to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.
Both finished the year with impressive statistics and championship standing for their respective baseball and lacrosse teams.
Sharp has been honing his athletic skills at Lindenwood for the past three years. He is studying mass communication with an emphasis on Sports information, and received a baseball scholarship from the school.
Sharp got his start playing for the Centre Wellington Cougars when he was in high school, and quickly moved up in the game, playing for the Guelph AAA Royals and Oakville Royals. It was at one of these games he was recruited by a representative from Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he then spent two years with its team, the Chargers.
“We played against (the Chargers) one afternoon, and the coach ended up offering me a full scholarship,” he said.
Despite common misconceptions, Sharp says life as a student athlete is challenging and requires intense dedication and prioritizing.
“My typical day is class for two or three hours at least, and then we have a three-hour practice in the afternoon, and on top of that you have to do all your studies and do your weight lifting. It’s very busy, you learn a lot of discipline,” he says.
Although his involvement in baseball has opened doors he never thought possible, Sharp doesn’t see himself playing the sport professionally.
“I’ve been really busy with baseball, especially over the last five years, and I’ve enjoyed my time with the game, but I’m looking to taking a break from it for a bit … I’ve decided to move on and try to get into a profession.”
Sharp doesn’t want to completely leave baseball behind though. He says he’s looking into a job in the Sports information department at Lindenwood – a position that would allow him to cover all the university’s Sports, write stories and interview coaches and players.
Though he won’t be playing ball for the university next year, he finished his run on a high note this spring. His team, the Lindenwood Lynx won the USCAA Division 1 championship on May 21 with a score of 15-2 against defending national champions, the University of Cincinnati, Clermont College Cougars.
Sharp’s went three for five at the plate, had three RBIs, three runs, and caught a deep fly ball to end the game.
Earlier in the week at the USCAA awards banquet, Sharp was named Second-Team All American out of 1,700 players, and finished first on his team in batting average, with a perfect fielding percentage for the year.
The All American honour came as a surprise to Sharp, who didn’t consider it a possibility.
“I just kind of saw myself as a role-player,” he said. “I did the little things to help my team win, but I didn’t foresee myself putting up big stats and playing as big of a role as I did this year. So when they announced my name, it was quite an honour, especially in my senior year … the last go-around for me with baseball for a little while.”
While he doesn’t discredit Canadian post-secondary institutions, Sharp says schools like Lindenwood provide student athletes with unique opportunities worth leaving home for.
“I think there’s a little bit of an inferiority complex… I looked at all the American players as so much more talented … but once I was down there I wouldn’t exchange that experience or the confidence I gained for the world.”
Also at Lindenwood from Centre Wellington is Molly Beckham, attending the university on a lacrosse scholarship.
Beckham got her start playing box lacrosse when she was 12, and later switched to field lacrosse when she was 17.
She spent two years playing for Toronto’s Edge team, and was named co-captain and most valuable graduating player. She also helped the team qualify for the Ontario Summer Games, and win a provincial gold medal in 2011.
The Edge Lacrosse program gives Canadian players exposure to the American game, and networking opportunities leading to scholarships at universities in the United States. The program also has a strict academic component, requiring all players to maintain a grade point average of 75 per cent.
Beckham just finished her first year at Lindenwood in the exercise science program, but plans to transfer to pre-med next year and hopefully go on to medical school.
Although she’s in a challenging academic program, she says should wouldn’t trade being a student athlete for anything.
“Being on a team means you’re absolutely going to have friends no matter what, I’m with my team every day for hours on end. They’re my best friends,” she says. “The relationships you make with your teammates, they’re going to last for the rest of your life.”
Unfortunately Beckham’s team, the Lindenwood Lions, lost to Lock Haven in the Final Four Division II tournament held on May 17 in Salem, Virginia.
However, the team ended the season with a 15-4 overall record, and was the first Lindenwood NCAA program to reach the national semi-finals.
“It was very, very tough. It was definitely the most intense game I’ve ever been a part of in my whole Sports career. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but it was still a really good game,” Beckham said.
She is back in Elora for the summer, and though she says it will always be her home, she can’t wait to get back to Lindenwood in the fall.
“I had a neighbour that told me to play field lacrosse because I could get a scholarship and I didn’t believe him, and I have no idea how this happened,” she says.
“I still look back and I’m just so lucky and so blessed to have had this opportunity.”
