Earlier this month, defenseman Ethan Mann (Hilton HS) announced his commitment to play at Oswego State next year. We caught up with Ethan and asked him a few questions regarding the FCA and him choosing Oswego State. We also asked Ethan if he had any advice for juniors and seniors during the recruiting process.
Here are Ethan’s answers below:
Q. Why did you and your family choose to play for FCA?
A. My family and I chose to play for FCA as we had heard it was something different from other clubs. It was more of a brotherhood than a lacrosse team. Some of my fellow teammates from Hilton had been on the 2019 team for a while, shared their experiences, and it was clear to me that FCA was the move.
Q. What has the FCA meant to you?
A. FCA has not only been a place for me to showcase my lacrosse skills but has ultimately been a second home. At first I was happy with how close knit everyone was, how I was able to make new friends and have the time of my life. But after blowing out my knee in the summer of 2016 it became clear to me that without FCA my first comeback wouldn’t have been possible. Now that I’m on my 2nd ACL road to recovery I still to this day have friends, coaches, and parents all from the FCA organization checking up on me and wishing me the best. It truly has been one of the most important aspects to my life.
Q. Who are your role models?
A. My role model would have to be Casey Powell. I trained with him down in Florida while on vacation and he shared with me after tearing my ACL a second time (via email) that he had been through the same catastrophe. One of the things I admire most about him is his resilience and will to get back on the field. Similar to me, Casey is a hard worker, his work ethic has made him one of if not the best lacrosse player to walk this earth. Hopefully after this recovery I can one day be the same way.
Q. What do you enjoy most about playing for the FCA?
A. One of the things I enjoyed most about FCA was all the opportunities I had provided for me. Whether it were attending 3D Bluechip or Adrenaline Blackcard. Even just getting to play in tournaments during the fall and summer. FCA has provided me endless opportunities I could not live without.
Q. Why did you choose Oswego State?
A. Oswego State was somewhere I’d never expected to land, but I couldn’t be more happy or excited to continue my education and lacrosse career with the Lakers. My teammate Aiden Kenyon was committed to the school and had told me great things about it. Personally I’d never considered the school as I had never visited or researched it. But once I dug deeper and began looking further into what Oswego State had to offer it became clear to me that this was home. Aiden gave me coach Bezek’s email address and I sent him a message talking about my interest in Oswego State and their men’s Lacrosse program. He later responded and asked if I’d want to set up a visit. That was where it all started. About 2 weeks later I walked to Oswego athletic facilities and campus with my future coach and absolutely fell in love. The campus is beautiful, class sizes aren’t very big, athletic facilities are top notch, and the coaching staff is determined to win the SUNYAC championship. It just felt like home to me and when Coach Bezek offered me a spot, it was clear to me I had to accept.
Bonus: Any words of advice for high school juniors / seniors going through the college process?
Okay, look. The recruiting process can be confusing, scary, nerve racking, etc. there are a multitude of different words that can describe the feelings I went through while in the process. Listen to what I’m going to say and soak it in well. If you don’t get recruited on September 1st of your junior year, if you don’t get a phone call from you #1 school, or if you don’t hear from them whatsoever. DO NOT panic. It is not the end of the world. The process is very complicated and may go a bit different than you expect. Be patient and don’t try and push things (ex. Sending multiple emails in a very short period of time, calling the coach every day, being “pushy”). Now, if your #1 choice isn’t interested once again DO NOT panic!!! The beauty of the situation is that there are hundreds of different colleges out there who would be lucky to have you. It all depends on where you land! One thing with me was I had hoped to go D1 for the longest time. I think that’s everyone’s dream. But after a while I realized and thought to myself “do I want to possibly sit the bench my freshman and sophomore year at the D1 level? Or do I want to be able to fight for a spot and play freshman year at the D2, D3 level?…” In my mind, it’s not the name of the school you go to. It’s the title you earn on the team you play for. For example you could commit to Hopkins and be on the bench for 3 years and say “I played for the Johns Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse team” or you could go somewhere like Oswego and have the opportunity to play all four years and say “I played for the Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team and was SUNYAC Player of the year my first year playing!” It’s all what you want for yourself. It’s a real commitment saying you’ll play for a school but you need to make sure that YOU want it.
Since 1954, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has been challenging coaches and athletes on the professional, college, high school, junior high and youth levels to use the powerful medium of athletics to impact the world for Jesus Christ. FCA focuses on serving local communities by equipping, empowering and encouraging people to make a difference for Christ – to see the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.
More information can be found at FCA.org.