College bound athletes

Although some students play sports recreationally, many athletes always hold the dream of getting recruited and earning scholarships for college. Samo has always been a leading school in athletics as well as academics, so it is to no surprise that a few of our students got recruited. Here are just a couple of the students at Samo who achieved this.This past summer, Sophie Major (’18), an indoor and beach volleyball player at Samo, got recruited by Cal State Long Beach to play beach volleyball. Major has been playing indoor club volleyball since she was 9, and beach club since junior year. It has always been her dream to play volleyball in college.“The coach of Long Beach contacted my beach volleyball club coach, Chris Covey, saying they were interested in me,” Major said. “They saw me play at several beach tournaments, the most important one being ‘Get Noticed Beach Volleyball’ (GNBV), which is how they found me.” Major later followed up with an email, a tour of the school and a verbal commitment. Major says she still has to apply to Cal State Long Beach. However, if she meets the required SAT score and the GPA she needs, she will automatically get accepted into the school. She says she isn’t applying anywhere else, because she is guaranteed a spot and loves the school. “Make sure you visit the school, and research it before you make any type of commitment,” Major said. Although Major still receives emails from different schools trying to recruit her, but they are mostly for indoor volleyball and Major feels like beach is where she belongs. Also, she chose Cal State Long Beach because she feels it is the right fit for her. Rip Economou (’18) recently committed to play basketball in college. Economou has been playing basketball seriously since he was in eighth grade, and finally committed to Seattle University this past summer. “The process started first by me choosing to play basketball seriously, as in pursuing it not the way most people do,” Economou said. “I put in many hours everyday at the gym, and that’s what I feel distinguished me from others.”Economou says that he received many division one offers; however he settled on Seattle where  not only does he love the city and the school, but everything just seemed to click when he visited the college. “My long term goal is to play professionally, whether that is in the NBA or overseas” Economou said. Payton Moore (’18) was recruited this past summer to play basketball in college. He will be attending Rice University in Houston, TX, next fall.“My dad played professionally overseas so he shared the love of the game with me at an early age,” Moore said.He plays club basketball for Splash City, which is a club centered out of Oakland, and they are sponsored by Under Armour. Like other Samo athletes, Moore got offers from many different schools such as Boise St, USC, Nevada, UTEP, Portland St and Rice. “Colleges came and evaluated me both during my club season and when I played at Samo,” Moore said. “Then the schools called and texted me with their offers. I chose Rice because they were the most active in recruiting me. They sat courtside at all of my games last year, and they were the only school to come to my house and visit.”  Education is also very important for Moore, and Rice is one of the highest academic achieving college in the country. He wants the opportunity to make an impact right away on the court and in the school community. Moore’s biggest advice to aspiring players is to not necessarily choose the biggest school right away. In his experience, bigger schools sometimes don't value players as much as other schools. “Go to the school that likes you the most and pick a school that you would go to if you weren't playing a sport,” Moore said.Veronica Johnson (’18), a Samo volleyball player, recently committed to NYU to play volleyball. She has been playing volleyball since she was seven and began looking into colleges as a sophomore.“I went to college camps and talked on the phone with coaches.” Johnson said. “When I started narrowing down between D1 and D3 schools I picked D3 since it was the best way to have a good balance between volleyball, school and social activities.” Like many of the other recruited athletes, Johnson received offers from many other colleges such as Colorado College, Oberlin and Wesleyan. A combination of factors helped her make a decision.“The coach from NYU is really great and her coaching philosophy is amazing,” Johnson said. “Besides, when I went to visit, I loved the city.”Johnson hopes to enjoy her four years of college volleyball and to maybe coach club volleyball after.