Throughout the academic year, the Southern Conference will feature a student-athlete from around the league in a series called the SoCon Spotlight. This provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the student-athlete in a different light. The question and answer session will focus on a student-athlete who contributes on the field, course, mat or court through community service.
This SoCon Spotlight focuses on Georgia Southern's Jake Ware, a junior from Statesboro, Ga. He is an infielder on the Eagles' baseball team, and when he's not on the field, he's helping with student groups on campus. Ware also traveled to Nicaragua last summer as part of a mission trip with Athletes in Action. We recently sat down with Ware to talk about his trip to Nicaragua as well as his experiences as a student-athlete at Georgia Southern.
Tell us about yourself.
"This is my fourth year at Georgia Southern. I'm on the baseball team. I went to Statesboro High, which is where Georgia Southern is located, so playing baseball in my hometown is pretty neat. My dad has been a football coach my whole life. He's currently back coaching at Georgia Southern. I have a lot of ties to the university both with sports and academic wise."
You mentioned your dad being on the football staff. What else led you to decide to attend Georgia Southern?
"Coming out of high school, I never really considered Georgia Southern as much. I loved the school, and I always kind of wanted to get away, but something drew me to Georgia Southern. Coach Hennon asked me to be a part of the program. I'm so glad I made that decision. It's been such a blessing to be at Georgia Southern. The people, the fans, the town, it's one great community that really supports us. It's a great place to play."
You walked on to the baseball team as a freshman. What was that experience like?
"It was pretty neat. I missed the first fall after my high school graduation year. I walked on and had to meet a lot of people on the team. That was kind of an interesting experience because they already had their team together, and I sat out in the fall and watched and redshirted in the spring. Walking on was a neat opportunity to try to work hard and impress teammates and meet new friends. It was a good experience. I really enjoyed the walk on aspect of it.
You've been involved with a program called Athletes in Action. Will you tell us more about that?
"Athletes in Action is a group that uses all kinds of sports to spread the message of Jesus Christ. It's more mission based. That was something that I found out about last fall from my hitting coach. He asked me about it and asked me if I could go. He said they have a lot of different teams, so I checked out the options. I went to Nicaragua this summer with them, and it was one of the best experiences of my life."
Tell us about your trip. What all did you do while you were there?
"We were there for three weeks. We went around the whole country pretty much, to different cities, and we would play local teams there. We played almost a game every day for about three weeks. We would go and play the teams and some of the fields ranged from very nice fields, to nothing like we play on here. There were pigs and chickens in the outfield. It was unbelievable. A lot of times we would go and then after the game we would talk to their team. One person would share a testimony. We would get to know them and try to share our faith with them. It was a great experience."
What were your expectations going into the trip?
"I really didn't know what was going to happen. I'd seen pictures of the cows in the outfield. I had never been to foreign country, so this was my first time. I really didn't know what to expect. I'd researched Nicaragua a lot, but I had no idea. It blew me away when I got there."
What did you learn about yourself through your experience there?
"You never really know what you're going to experience when you go to a foreign country. It really blew me away the type of poverty they have and the type of blessings we have here in America. I'd never seen it first hand, and to see the kids the way they love baseball. It really just taught me no matter how good things are going or how bad things are going on the field that there are kids that would die for what we have. That really spoke a lot to me, and hopefully I can try to keep continuing that here."
You met a lot of different people there I'm sure. What did you learn from them?
"I just learned how blessed we are and how much the simple joys that they have in life can really please them. Just giving them a baseball, a wristband, a sweatband or t-shirt or something, it just made their day. So many times we take for granted the things that we might get, the material things. They just loved every minute of it and loved to play us. Just the joy for the game I think is what they taught me."
What was your biggest challenge that you faced while you were there?
"Nicaragua is a third world country. We stayed in a nice place, but sometimes the food ranged from just exotic foods and also we couldn't really wash our clothes every day. Here we always wash our clothes after games, but it was kind of a challenge to have dirty clothes. That's just the way it is in Nicaragua. You kind of have to move on."
You are majoring in international studies with a minor in Spanish. How did your experiences in Nicaragua influence your possible plans after college?
"I've researched Nicaragua a lot, and I love my major, international studies, and I'm trying as much as I can to speak Spanish. That really helped me in that regard, trying to communicate in Spanish with them. It really taught me to see another side of the world firsthand. It was really eye opening. No research you can do could ever prepare you for going to Nicaragua. They always say to know there, you have to go there. It just really influenced me more to try to study more about international studies."
You've been involved with some other community service work while you've been at Georgia Southern. Can you tell us some more about that?
"I like to go to FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) at Georgia Southern. We have a really neat program there. We have a lot of athletes that come, a lot of people in the student body. We try to do a lot of cool stuff there usually every Tuesday night or so. Also our Student-Athlete Advisory Board is one organization that we use with our compliance system. It's kind of like student-athletes have a one-way line of communication with our administration. It brings the whole athletic staff and system together where we can mingle with other student-athletes in different sports. We see them, and we cheer for them all year long, but this is our time to be with them and get to know them."
What would you say to other student-athletes who are thinking about maybe taking a mission trip or getting involved in community service on campus?
"I would really encourage it. It was really a blessing for me to get to go. They always say that when you go on a mission trip you're helping other people. A lot of times, and I found in my case, that it really helps you as a person, not only other people. I just really encourage it. I think it's a great experience, especially while you're in college; it's a good time to go because you don't have that time to go when you're older. I really encourage that.
Do you have a favorite memory or favorite experience while you were in Nicaragua that really stuck with you?
"A kid there, he was about 14, and I have a younger brother who's 13, and he was playing against us. He was really good. I really looked up to this kid and respected him. After the game, I had a Georgia Southern wristband, and I gave it to him, just as a token of appreciation, just to say hi. I told him I had a brother, just trying to practice my Spanish. I didn't think I'd ever see him again. We played them again later on down the road about three weeks from then. He came up to me after the game - and I should say this, batting gloves are so precious there - he came up to me after the game and pulled out his batting glove, this little tattered batting glove, and gave it to me. It was really hard for me to accept it knowing how precious batting gloves were there. He wanted to be remembered. I was really, really pleased by that."
You were on the team last season that won the conference championship and earned a spot in the NCAA Regionals. What was that experience like, and what have you taken from it as you set goals this season?
"It was an unbelievable experience. Winning the tournament like that was awesome. Every guy on our team loved it. Dogpiling, getting a ring and going to a regional were great experiences, something that I'll remember for the rest of my life, and I know my teammates will too. It's also something we can build on, hopefully this year. We have a lot of new guys on the team, but we also have a lot of experienced guys, and hopefully we can use that experience that we have playing in a regional, winning the conference tournament, to keep improving, to do it again and to go further this year."
I know that was probably a really special memory, but do you have any other special memories from your time at Georgia Southern?
"That's probably my main memory, my best memory obviously, winning the conference championship. I think just day-to-day, the teammates we meet and the fans that we have, playing at Georgia Southern, it's such a great place. I've lived there for eight or nine years in Statesboro and gone to college here now. I'm so blessed by the fans, and it's such a great place to go to college and play ball. I think just that everyday, just knowing I have a great time and to go play at Georgia Southern and to be where I am. I'm just thankful for that."
What is the best part about being a student-athlete in the Southern Conference?
"Obviously in the Southern Conference we have a lot of pride. If I see another team in the Southern Conference playing somewhere, I'm going to root for them if they're not playing Georgia Southern. I think it's just great. When we go to road games, we know it's going to be competitive all the way around. We know the guys in the league. I think it's a good conference to play in, one that we all have pride in. We know that when we win the Southern Conference, we've done something. That's something I think we have a lot of pride in."
2009-10 SoCon Spotlight Featured Student-Athletes
Appalachian State - Sam Ramirez - Basketball (view article and interview)
College of Charleston - Emily Morgan - Soccer (view article and interview)
The Citadel - Lauren Fleming - Track & Field (view article and interview)
Davidson - Bryant Barr - Basketball (view article and interview)
Elon - Steven Kinney - Soccer (view article and interview)
Furman - Jessica Preeg - Tennis (view article and interview)
Georgia Southern - Jake Ware - Baseball (view article and interview)
UNC Greensboro - Emily Akiyama - Softball (view article and interview)
Samford - Patrick Wells - Track & Field (view article and interview)
Chattanooga - Maria Juliana Loza - Golf (view article and interview)
Western Carolina - Kristen Feemster - Basketball (view article and interview)
Wofford - Jordan Ingman - Football (view article and interview)