(Courtesy of Southern Maryland Newspaper) How are you rewarded for playing a particular sport, in this case basketball, since age 6 for basically free? How do you repay a family who gave you rides to and from practices and games?
If you are recent St. Mary's Ryken graduate Elijah Matthews, you perform well enough on the hardwood, the only place you have known since you were a toddler, to earn a full athletic scholarship to Pfeiffer University. Matthews recently signed his letter of intent to attend the North Carolina-based institution. "I am really excited, but just ready to get down there," Matthews said. "I am kind of nervous. I have to kind of show these upperclassmen what I can do. But, really, I am just going to go out there and try to have fun."
Matthews had a long list of suitors for his strong defensive skills on the floor and equal leadership abilities on the court. Schools such as Coastal Carolina, Mount St. Mary's, Holy Family (Pa.) and Philadelphia University, among others, each were after Matthews, but it was Pfeiffer and head coach Jeremy Currier who received Matthews' services.
"It's a good, Christian environment down there," Matthews said of Pfeiffer‘s campus. "That was the first thing that I noticed. People are very nice down there and really family-oriented. … It's a really nice campus and I was able to speak to a couple of the professors. I talked to a couple of basketball players that helped persuade me, too."
He said Currier expects a lot out of him coming into Pfeiffer, a Conference Carolinas school, but Matthews expects a lot out of himself as well.
"He told me he wanted me to come down and play big minutes," Matthews said. "He just wants me to do what I can do and help him get a championship."
Although he is talented on the court, Matthews said he understands what the game of basketball has meant to his life off the court. Openly admitting that life around him has been a bit tough at times, basketball is where Matthews always has been able to turn to.
"Basketball probably kept me out of a lot of trouble," Matthews admitted. "I have a lot of friends and some of them are dead, some of them are in jail, and basketball just kept me out of that. It's something for me to do, and I just love it."
The All-County honorable mention was the defensive stopper for a Ryken team, head coach Dave Tallman said, that set school records in overall wins, conference wins and conference team finishes this past season.
"It was really special this year," he said. "Breaking those records was really fun, really good for the school, especially with it being done in my senior year and being able to go out with a bang."
But with all of the numbers of points, rebounds, steals and statistics Matthews' biggest number just may be, in fact, zero, as in how much he will have to pay for school. And Matthews said he fully understands how special that is for him and his family.
"It's great," he said. "My parents don't have to pay for anything, so that's good."
