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10-12-2001 |  |
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Star basketball player accepts basketball scholarship to Cornerstone
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Calvin head basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. |
By Ross Weener
Sports Editor
The Calvin men's basketball team will not look the same this year. For the first time in three years the Knights will take the court without junior guard Bryan Foltice, as he has packed up his bags and transferred to Cornerstone University.
The transfer process, however easy it may sound, was actually quite complicated. While not all transfers are complicated, this case in particular turned into a five-week process. Ideally, the school at which an athlete begins signs a release that allows that student athlete the ability to play at his or her new school the next season. If the release is not signed, the student athlete must sit out one semester before they are again eligible.
The issue in the Calvin-Cornerstone situation lies in the difference in rules between NCAA(Calvin) and NAIA (Cornerstone) transfer residency policies. The NCAA rules specify that if one school wants to talk to a student athlete about transferring it must obtain permission from the school that the student is currently attending before being allowed to discuss anything with the student athlete. The NAIA, on the other hand, must only make notification that the student is interested before beginning talks with the student athlete about transferring. The Cornerstone athletic department proceeded by NAIA guidelines and notified the Calvin athletics department that it had indeed had a meeting with Bryan and that he was interested in transferring to Cornerstone.
``The issue was more between any kind of release form hitting our desk and Cornerstone notifying us of contact with Bryan; we learned in the Grand Rapids Press that Bryan had transferred and that they had accepted him already,'' Calvin men's Athletic Director Dr. Marv Zuidema said of the situation.
According to the Grand Rapids Press, Foltice accepted an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Cornerstone University for the upcoming basketball season. Cornerstone, a member of the NAIA, is permitted to award athletic based awards whileCalvin, a NCAA III member school, does not give out athletic scholarships.
``We thought it to be very important that this whole thing become deliberative, rather than just fulfilling Cornerstone's instant wish,'' Zuidema said. ``We wanted to have that process, and it included further dialog with Cornerstone and further dialogue with Bryan. The reason for the rule in the NCAA and NAIA structure is meant to make the transfer much more deliberate than just automatically doing it on a whim and a wish. In this case it wasn't very clear to the student athlete as well as it wasn't made terribly clear by Cornerstone what the obligation was and who was going to do it.''
Calvin men's basketball head coach Kevin Vande Streek also added, ``In my twelve years of being a head college basketball coach I have dealt with a lot of transfers. In my opinion this situation was not handled appropriately. As a result I hope we can prevent a bad environment to play basketball in.''
All the people involved in the situation-including the players- stress that they do not expect a negative basketball environment. Calvin has the possibility of playing the Golden Eagles twice in the span of two weeks, once when both teams take part in the Old Kent Classic on Nov. 23-24, and later at Cornerstone's Bernice Handsen Center on Dec. 4.
Junior power forward Jeremy Veenstra expressed his apprehension about the Cornerstone game.
``With the addition of Bryan to their team, it makes them one of the stronger teams on our schedule. I know all the guys are going to be fired up for this one, and it is going to be fun. I can't wait to play them.''
Vande Streek agreed.
``At this point my concern is that we play the game of basketball for the right reasons,'' he said. ``I think that playing them is little bit like playing Hope College when you have high school teammates playing against each other. The game at Cornerstone will never be as big as a Hope or Albion game, where there are conference implications on the line.''
With the loss of Foltice, Calvin will look to senior Jon Potvin and sophomore Josh Berghuis to run the offense, a choice that Vande Streek and Veenstra both agree will be beneficial to the Knights.
``I think that Bryan's transfer has brought us closer as a team,'' Vande Streek said. ``This year we are going to be more of a slashing team and I think that Jon and Josh will do a better job creating the opportunity to score.''
Veenstra was quick to add, ``Anytime you lose someone like Bryan it will definitely affect your team, but I am just as confident with Jon or Josh in the game to do a good job. I think that both these guys are able to do things that Bryan couldn't do, it just seems like they will fit our style of offense better.''