Local Soccer Players Headed To England For A Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity

Tampa Palms resident Patrick Callahan (left) and former Liberty Middle School student Julio Plata both earned two-year scholarships to play soccer in England.

Like most serious soccer players, Tampa Palms’ Patrick Callahan has dreams of playing professionally, and there are few places better to do that than in England’s Premier League.

And, while he is still years away from playing at that level, the chance to play and study nearby in one of soccer’s hotbeds was too good for Callahan and recent Liberty Middle School student and Lutz resident Julio Plata to pass up.

Both players were recently awarded scholarships to Brooke House College football academy in Market Harborough, England, less than an hour north of London by train.

Brooke House College is similar to Bradenton’s IMG Academy and Saddlebrook Prep in Wesley Chapel, in that it attracts international athletes to board at the school while undergoing intensive training in their sport while maintaining high academic standards.

The two-year scholarships are valued at roughly $45,000 per year. That includes travel costs; the academy went to Budapest, Hungary, for a tournament last month.

“They have a lot of great facilities,’’ said Callahan, who completed his freshman year at King High last spring. “It’s a great school, they have a really nice gym and training facility. When you train, they have you wear a vest tracking everywhere you run, it’s state of the art. School is like 5-6 hours a day, with small classes, tutoring and you train like six days a week. That’s the amazing part, that you get to play that much.”

Callahan’s father, John, encouraged his son to accept the scholarship offer. John was pleased with both the athletic and academic aspects of the program.

“He will be SAT-ready when he’s done,’’ he said.

The 15-year-old Callahan currently plays club soccer for the Temple Terrace-based Florida Soccer Club (FSC) Spirit of Tampa Bay U16, and already has some experience playing soccer abroad. His mother, Grace Amparo Callahan, is from Ecuador, and on past family summer trips to her country, he would often practice and play with the college players there.

“That’s what I’m expecting at Brook House, a high level of play,’’ he said.

The first day of tryouts for this unique “futbol” academy consisted of soccer drills and scrimmages, with Brooke House College coaches Mickey Adams and Lawrie Dudfeld looking on.

Callahan, who is tall and fast for his age, said was nervous at first.

“I remember I messed up one or two times, and they were like, ‘All right, big guy, get back to it,’” Patrick said. “At first I was playing kind of iffy. But in the scrimmage, I felt I was doing good and standing out. I felt that’s what got me to the next day.”

Plata, 13, who has been playing for the FC Tampa Rangers club team, felt he did well in the drills. A midfielder, he said he just tried to keep the ball at his teammates’ feet.

“I really just wanted to pass the ball and not lose it,’’ he said, smiling.

Day 2 featured a number of games, and Callahan remembers scoring a particularly impressive goal — beating two defenders before depositing the ball into the upper corner — that caught the coaches’ attention

The coaches pared down the group, and announced they would be picking two players to receive the scholarships. Callahan and Plata were among more than 20 finalists at the final day interviews.

Callahan wasn’t sure he pulled it off in the interviews, but was relived to hear his name called.

“At first, I was so excited,’’ he says. “I called my grandma, she lives with my aunt, and I heard them screaming and excited on the other line. I posted a picture with the news on Instagram and, in an hour, gained like 100 followers. That was really cool, too.”

For Plata and Callahan, the Brooke House College football academy opportunity is a chance to hone their soccer skills with top, hand-selected competition.

Founded in 2008, the program boasts more than 70 players ages 13-19 filling four club teams that play in the Junior Premier League and other leagues, while also competing in various cups across Europe, and has produced 12 professional players.

Callahan and Plata, though, both say that if they can come back better players than when they left, it will help their chances to play collegiately in the U.S.

They are both awaiting their visas from the British Consulate in New York, and are eager to book their flights.

“It’s a little nerve-wracking,” Plata says, “but I’m excited to go.”

Former Wildcat Hoops Star Ready To Pursue Pro Career

Erik Thomas worked out for the Portland Trailblazers three days before the NBA Draft. Although he wasn’t drafted, Thomas is pursuing opportunities in the NBA’s Sumer League.

When 22-year-old Erik Thomas was a basketball star at Wesley Chapel High (WCH), he drew attention from opponents for his always-tenacious effort on the court, from fans for his overall dominance and from the media for his mind-boggling, record-setting statistics.

What he failed to draw, however, was the kind of attention from big-time Division I college coaches that you might expect someone who averaged 33 points and 16 rebounds as a senior for the Wildcats would receive.

Blame it on his size, which was and still is 6 feet, 5 inches, and 215 pounds. Blame a torn ligament in his ankle that scared away some schools. Or, blame it on the game itself, which is more impressed by flash than fortitude.

But, you can’t blame Thomas’ attitude, work ethic or competitive drive, which continue to propel him towards his dream of playing in the NBA.

On June 22, Thomas woke up with slight hopes for being drafted that evening’s second round. And why not?

Three days before the draft, the Portland Trailblazers called and invited him to a pre-NBA Draft workout. When he arrived, he found out he would be competing against a number of top college basketball players in a quest to convince team brass he was a worthy draft pick.

The group, invited to the sixth and final pre-draft workout held by Portland, included North Carolina small forward Justin Jackson (who ended up picked No. 15 in the first round by Portland but then traded), Oregon power forward Jordan Bell (drafted No. 38 overall by Chicago in second round), Kansas State guard Wesley Iwundu (drafted No. 33 overall by Orlando in the second round), and California’s Ivan Rabb (drafted No. 35 overall by Orlando in second round).

That’s pretty good company to keep, and Thomas held his own against the better-known players.

“I spoke to one of the (Portland) guys, he said they liked my performance,’’ Thomas said. “I think I did very well, considering it was my first pro workout. I was just enjoying the moment, honestly.”

After going undrafted, Thomas said he would be trying to earn a spot with an NBA team for their summer league, held in Las Vegas and Orlando.

“Everybody wants to be drafted, of course, and it was my dream to get drafted,’’ Thomas said. “But, if I can get on a summer league team and go there and perform, I’ll have more people watch me play. Hopefully, I opened up eyes at that camp.”

Impressive College Stats

Thomas has certainly opened eyes since he left Wesley Chapel as its most accomplished basketball player.

Thomas’ college career included one-year stops at East Georgia State College and Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC).

Erik Thomas with his sister Sthefany (left) and mom Fabiana.

While at BRCC, he earned Louisiana Junior College Assn. Player of the Year honors and attracted a slew of those Division I coaches that seemed to miss him at Wesley Chapel.

He ended up choosing the University of New Orleans. “My coach (at BRCC) called around, telling coaches I was transforming into a great player,’’ Thomas said. “He warned everyone in our conference, ‘Hey, you should watch this kid.’ I think some of the schools might be upset they didn’t recruit me.”

Like back in his days as a Wildcat, Thomas continued to draw attention from opponents, fans and the media. This past season, he capped his college career by leading the Privateers in scoring (19.5), rebounding (7.8), steals (45), field goal shooting percentage (59.1) and even free throw percentage (78.3). He earned Southland Conference Player of the Year honors, and guided his team to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 21 years.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Thomas said. “For all of us to be able to have that experience together, to win the conference title and get as far as we did, that’s just a story to tell later down the line to the grandkids.”

A Family Legacy

For local basketball fans in Wesley Chapel and even New Tampa, where his parents now live, the name Thomas is synonymous with hoops excellence.

Sister Sthefany also played at Wesley Chapel High, graduating in 2007 after setting the Pasco County career scoring record (since broken) with 2,563 points before going on to Division I Clemson University in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Thomas definitely ended up living up to his sister’s rep, scoring 2,138 points. They are the only brother-sister team in the history of the Bay area to each break the 2,000-point mark.

As a junior at WCH in 2011-12, Thomas averaged 21.7 points and set a school record by averaging 14.1 rebounds. That record didn’t last long, as his senior year, he averaged 16.3 rebounds, and added another school record with 32.7 ppg.

That included one game where he had 32 rebounds, and two games where he scored 45 and 46 points.

The Wildcats went 24-5 in both of his final two seasons, and he was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Player of the Year for Class 5A.

Brains & Basketball

Most of the top basketball players grow up dreaming of college offers from powerhouses like Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.

One of those calls may still come for longtime West Meadows resident Varun Ajjarapu, but his first one won’t.

That honor goes to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT.

Regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious universities, MIT called the Ajjarapu house two weeks ago and offered the 14-year-old Varun, who everyone knows as “V”, the chance to play his college basketball in Cambridge, MA.

“Unless Varun chooses to fall off the face of the earth, we’ll be watching him,’’ his mother, Sandhya, says MIT head coach Larry Anderson told her.

The Engineers (fitting, right?) were 21-7 last year at the Division III level, but it’s not the name that typically rolls off a recruit’s lips or makes it onto recruiting websites.

But academically, the school is superior to most, which makes it attractive for V, a straight-A student who attended Chiles Elementary and Williams Middle School. And anyone who has played basketball at the New Tampa YMCA or taken part in the Wharton summer basketball camp has probably seen V in action.

He is now at Berkeley Prep, where he will be entering his sophomore year. But at a recent AAU tournament in Atlanta, he earned MVP honors, and caught the eye of MIT coaches at another basketball event at Yale.

V is a ways off from having to choose which college he will attend, but an offer from MIT at age 14 isn’t a bad way to start the recruiting process.

“Too good to be true,” Sandhya said.

New Tampa’s Brian Lee Nearly Goes Out A State Champion

Brian Lee pitched complete game wins in four straight playoff games to lead King to the Class 7A state championship game. /Photo courtesy of Jarrett Guthrie

By JARRETT GUTHRIE

Oftentimes an athlete’s competitive days end in a whimper, a slow spiral downward until he or she is forced from the field. Other times, they can end in a snap, a break, or a fluke injury. And still, there are times for a lucky few where an athlete gets to pick his spot and go out on his or her own terms.

New Tampa resident and King High senior pitcher Brian Lee made the most of his moment, capping a stellar senior baseball campaign with four straight, complete-game, post-season wins as he lifted the Lions baseball team into the Florida High School Athletics Association Class 7A State championship game.

The final moment on the field for Lee, a Tampa Palms resident who grew up playing in the New Tampa Little League and with the New Tampa Predators travel team, included a pair of seventh-inning strikeouts as the Lions won 3-1 on May 31 in the state semifinal. A large group of King supporters chanted his name as he walked off the field.

“I never imagined something like that would ever happen,” said Lee, who finished with a 11-3 record and sterling 1.00 ERA this season. “It’s kind of overwhelming to have all those people come to Fort Myers to watch you. It was really special.”

“It’s as a good a performance I’ve seen in my 42 years,” King High veteran coach Jim Macaluso said, “and I’m not saying just in King High School … I’ve never seen anyone in the county, around the state, that threw the pressure games he threw, and won.”

Unfortunately, King just didn’t have enough to finish the 2017 campaign with a championship, falling to Ponte Vedra Nease 11-0 the following evening.

Lee had a stellar career at King, winning 25 games in 43 appearances as a pitcher. Despite a average junior year, Lee showed signs in the offseason of having a breakout year.

“Brian had experience as a senior because he started in our rotation as a freshman,” Macaluso said, “but he kind of leveled off a little bit there through his junior year. Then, we saw something in the fall. You could see that bulldog in his face, you could see it in his eye, you could just see the type of competitor he had matured into.”

Lee said this was due to a reduced travel baseball schedule, which he said began to tire him out in his previous high school seasons. After his junior year, Lee said he focused on a weight-training regimen and eliminated the added wear on his throwing arm.

“I think it just all clicked for him that he just wanted to dominate,” Macaluso said.

Lee, who opted to attend King for its International Baccalaureate (IB) program, was a member of the National Honor Society and a number of service clubs. He said that when he started seriously looking at colleges in his junior year, baseball at the college level wasn’t an option.

By the time baseball had crept back into the college picture, he had already fallen in love with the business program at Boston University – a school without competitive baseball.

So, he knew his senior year would be his last. “It was a thought, but when I was looking for colleges I kept baseball separate from it,” Lee said. “By the time I realized I could maybe think about baseball in college, I’d already found the school for me.”

At just 5-foot-10, Lee doesn’t have an intimidating mound presence and there is no fireball coming from the lefty’s arm. What he did have was a variety of deceptive arm angles, some good movement on his off-speed pitches, a funky delivery that often saw his follow-through end with his head mere inches from the ground, an intelligence for the game, and most important to Macaluso, a determination that grew throughout his senior season.

“If you are going to throw a complete-game you are usually going to have an inning you have to (fight) through when the other team goes on a run,” Macaluso said. “We saw it go first and second, no outs and you’d see him take a moment. You could see it. You could feel it. He’d step behind the rubber and just say, ‘No, I’m gonna get through this.’”

That determination helped King reach the state semifinals for just the fourth time since the school opened in 1960, and its first-ever appearance in the final. Although it ended just shy of a championship, Lee said his final season will be something he will always remember.

“Yes, I’d have liked it to end a different way,” Lee said. “But, that’s baseball … and I’ll remember this team the rest of my life.”

Ehrhard Wins Saladino As County’s Top Senior

Drew Ehrhard
Saladino Award winner Drew Ehrhard (with trophy), is joined by ((l. to r.) Wharton assistant coach Joe Fernandez, his mom Shannon, his brother Zack, dad Rodney, Wharton head coach Scott Hoffman, Tony Saladino and Wharton assistant coach Wade Boggs.

Rodney Ehrhard was supposed to talk about how proud he was of his son. How it had been great teaching young Drew how to play the game of baseball. How terrific his son’s senior season had been, and about how special it was to see him chosen as Hillsborough County’s best baseball player.

But he couldn’t. Not yet.

Overcome with emotion, Rodney could only stick a napkin in his eyes and walk outside to compose himself.

It was an emotional ceremony in the living room of Tony Saladino, the patriarch of one of Hillsborough County’s most prominent baseball families and the namesake of a popular spring break baseball tournament, as the 80-year-old host awarded Wharton High’s Drew Ehrhard the 47th Saladino Award, presented each year to the top high school senior baseball player in the county.

Drew led the Wildcats in hits (35), average (.422), RBI (24), doubles (9) and homeruns (4) this season, helping Wharton to a Class 8A, District 4 district title, two thrilling come-from-behind playoff wins and a spot in the Regional championship, where his team lost 2-0 to the eventual state champions from Tallahassee Lincoln High.

He became the first player in Wharton’s 20-year existence to ever win the prestigious award, which is voted on by the county’s coaches, and said he was shocked to win it.

“I didn’t think I would win it, to be honest,’’ Drew said. “I had always hoped I would, but I knew there was some good competition.”

He joins an impressive list of past winners of the award, including past major leaguers like Mike Heath (Hillsborough, 1973), Dave Magadan (Jesuit, 1980), Tino Martinez (Jefferson, 1985), Gary Sheffield (Hillsborough, 1986), as well as current Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers (Jesuit, 2012) and Chicago White Sox pitcher Tyler Danish (Durant, 2013).

“I’ve looked at the list, and it’s unbelievable to be a part of that crowd,’’ Drew said. “I have no words for it.”

Some Hall Of Fame Help

One major leaguer who played in Hillsborough County but never won the award, former Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Devil Rays third baseman and Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, played a big hand in helping Drew win it this year.

An assistant baseball coach at Wharton the past 17 years, Boggs — who teased Saladino about getting passed over for the award in favor of Brandon’s Sammy Spence in 1976 — said he remembers hitting ground ball after ground ball to Drew his freshman year as the youngster was converting from second base to shortstop.

Drew Ehrhard
Drew Ehrhard

Despite being undersized and having to adapt to making a longer throw to first base, Drew made the transition seamlessly and ended up, rather remarkably, playing every inning of every game in his high school career.

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog,’’ Boggs said, proudly.

Boggs, along with head coach Scott Hoffman, also helped get Drew to the Saladino home in Brandon while keeping the award a surprise.

“He told me some story about how there were some reporters down from Boston for coach Boggs, and we had to go to dinner to meet them,’’ Drew said.

The coaches managed to get Drew into Saladino’s home, even though he had to step over a Saladino Tournament doormat to enter — “I didn’t even see it,’’ Drew laughed — before it finally dawned on him that he, and not Boggs, was the evening’s actual guest of honor.

“I was kind of confused when I got inside,’’ Drew said. “I had always heard stories about being in Coach Saladino’s house and seeing all the memorabilia on the wall…I was like, ‘whose house am I in?” Then I realized, oh, this makes sense now.”

Drew found a large crowd waiting for him, including his brother Zack, who will be a freshman at Wharton next year, his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and baseball coaches.

While Boggs compared Drew to current Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, others see a more apt comparison to Rodney, who was a high school standout as an outfielder at Plant City High who was drafted as a catcher and went on to play in the New York Yankees minor league system, making it as far as Double-A.

At Plant City, many considered Rodney Ehrhard the best player on a team that included future major league pitcher Kenny Rogers. Rodney went on to star at the University of Tampa, and was inducted into the Spartan Hall of Fame last year.

When it came to playing ball, Drew also chose the Spartans. Like father, like son.

“I hear his family make that comparison a lot,’’ said Shannon, Drew’s mother.

“Both of them hit well, they always started and they always worked hard,’’ said Rodney’s father, George. “I followed Rodney around when he was at Tampa, and I’ve got some more following around to do now with Drew.”

His napkin gripped tightly in his right hand, Rodney finally spoke proudly of Drew, who was given a stuffed baseball and bat when he was only three years old. He never put them down, his parents say. Soft stuffing gave way to cowhide and aluminum, but Drew’s grip, his father said, never wavered. He watched his son grow into the player he is today, relying more on hard work and determination than on God-given ability, as the two spent countless hours sharing their passion.

“He’s always been smaller than everybody, but he’s always been really good,’’ Rodney said. “But, he made up for that in hard work. He never stopped trying to get better.”