BARRE — Late in his freshman 12 months Shea Skowyra was mystified by his fellow Quabbin Regional athletes. He was seeing a sample that troubled him.
“I seen that youngsters weren’t actually excited by figuring out, in getting larger, stronger and sooner,” mentioned Skowyra, a standout basketball participant for the Panthers. “They didn’t need to put in any additional work. They simply needed to play their sport, or sports activities, and go residence.”
Then he met Nick Adams, Quabbin’s power and conditioning coach.
“He motivated me to put within the additional work,” Skowyra mentioned of Adams, who grew to become the Panthers’ power and conditioning coach in May of 2017. “He motivates the youngsters at Quabbin to put within the additional work to get higher. That’s one thing I might love to do; encourage children to get higher at their respective sports activities to be the most effective athlete they are often.”
It appears Skowyra goes to get that chance. The 6-foot-5 senior just lately dedicated to attend the Biddeford, Maine, campus of the University of New England (UNE). The 18-year-old’s future plans embody enrolling within the college’s utilized train science program and being a member of the Nor’easters’ males’s basketball staff.
Skowyra, a Hardwick resident, credited Adams with the selection of his discipline of research.
“Wow, what an amazing honor it’s to know I had an affect like that on one in all our student-athletes,” Adams mentioned. “We all the time talked store in school and I knew he had an curiosity in power and conditioning, however I didn’t know he was going to pursue utilized train science primarily based on our conversations. Shea was one of many first athletes within the weight room after I took over and he’s been a relentless all through. He is among the hardest staff I’ve seen.”
But that’s not all.
“I used to be fortunate sufficient to have Shea in our weight room courses and our conditioning courses,” Adams mentioned. “Shea was all the time motivating and inspiring the opposite children within the class, not simply the athletes. He was an actual chief in school, particularly with children who have been within the weight room for the primary time.”
Adams admitted he wasn’t utterly stunned Skowyra determined to comply with the athletic coaching, utilized train science path in school.
“I knew he was trying into one thing sports-related. You can normally select the youngsters who’re excited by these fields primarily based on the aspect conversations you have got with them,” Adams mentioned. “Shea all the time needed to know the why of what we have been doing, and he was all the time actually receptive of the reasons. Some children ask as a means to fact-check you, however Shea is all the time listening to the solutions.
“Shea all the time actually understood issues, which is one thing you don’t typically see from an 18-year-old,” Adams continued. “In most instances — even somebody coming proper out of school with simply e book studying and never precise software — just isn’t pondering at the extent Shea is pondering at.”
Adams believes Skowyra and the sector of utilized train science are made for one another.
“Shea goes to be good within the discipline as a result of he has the No. 1 high quality to have success with an train science main; he’s a folks individual,” Adams mentioned. “We’re out there of attempting to encourage folks to put within the exhausting work; do the stuff that no person needs to do to allow them to get higher at what they do.
“I believe Shea has that already. He’s in a position to encourage his teammates. He simply has a means of speaking to teammates, to different athletes; he’s actually in a position to attain them,” Adams mentioned. “Shea has a number of methods that he’s in a position to encourage folks. He’ll have a aspect dialog, excessive 5 a child and clarify to him that he wants to activate the vitality. Shea can activate the vitality; he will get hyped on the basketball court docket, too.”
Ah, basketball. The different purpose Skowyra selected UNE.
“This was actually the one college I utilized to the place I used to be additionally trying to play basketball. The different colleges I utilized to have been D1 colleges, North Carolina State and Siena College, and my recreation just isn’t fairly reduce out for a Division 1 college.”
Skowyra may match properly into a longtime Division 3 program searching for one other piece of the puzzle.
A four-year member of the Quabbin varsity, the final three as a starter, Skowyra averaged 13.2 factors and 12.1 rebounds per recreation for the Panthers, who completed the 2020-2021 season 6-5. In addition to being one of many prime 4 scorers and main rebounder in Division 2 in Central Mass., Skowyra took a team-high 14 fees and averaged half-hour of enjoying time every recreation.
Skowyra was just lately named as one in all simply six gamers named to the Massachusetts Coaches Basketball Association (MBCA) All-Sectional Team. He has additionally been named to this 12 months’s T&G Boys’ Basketball Super Team.
Skowyra completed his profession with 460 rebounds. He was on tempo — in a non-COVID-impacted season — to break the Quabbin college file for profession rebounds, 496, set in 1999 by Jehan Jourson.
Jourson additionally holds the Panther’s single-season rebounding mark, having grabbed 286 of his 496 profession rebounds within the 1998-99 season. Skowyra, with 133 rebounds in 11 video games, was additionally making a run at Jourson’s single-season mark. Had Quabbin performed a full season (19-21 video games) he might need taken that file away from Jourson as effectively.
“We use the Value Point System (VPS) Rating. It’s the identical one school and professional groups use. The VPS calculates the whole lot you do in a recreation and provides you a ranking,” Quabbin coach Dennis Dextradeur mentioned. “Shea’s VPS was 1.17, the very best on our staff. Any time you’re over 1.0 that’s actually good; that’s a wonderful ranking. What that defines is that he impacts all areas of the sport positively.”
Dextradeur believes UNE is a win-win for Skowyra.
“I believe it’s a nice touchdown spot for him. He was very extremely recruited at the Division 3 stage by numerous native colleges, too, together with Worcester State, Anna Maria and Nichols,” Dextradeur mentioned. “He was engaging to numerous colleges as a result of he’s a Swiss Army Knife sort of participant. He has lots of expertise. He can run the court docket, he’s a coach’s dream in regard to his work ethic, and for an enormous man he loves the transition recreation and that’s what coach (Ed) Silva runs at UNE.
“For an enormous man Shea can play within the publish, however he is aware of he has to find out how to deal with the ball if he needs to get enjoying time,” Dextradeur mentioned. “Shea understands that the sport of basketball has developed right into a position-less recreation, so he has to develop position-less expertise. But I believe he’ll achieve success at UNE as a result of he’s a relentless employee, a steady learner.”
Skowyra was sensible about his basketball future at UNE, which is a 2-1/2 hour automotive trip from his residence.
“I don’t suppose I’ll be enjoying proper off the bat,” Skowyra mentioned. “I believe it’s going to be like beginning out as a freshman in highschool the place you have got to present the coach what you’ve obtained and go from there.”
While it looks as if Skowyra has identified for some time that he could be going to UNE, he solely made his choice official a couple of weeks in the past.
“I used to be speaking to some buddies and I simply determined at that time, ‘ what, UNE is the college for me,’” Skowyra mentioned. “It’s in an space of Maine that I like, it’s a stupendous place, and it has precisely the foremost I would like. I used to be a bit of on the fence about what I needed my main to be, I wasn’t certain if I needed to do athletic coaching or train science, however as soon as I made a decision what I needed to do it actually grew to become clear that I needed to go to the University of New England.”
