By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/3/16
Archbishop Wood 2016 goalie Benjamin McCloskey has been named the Pansini Law Group Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
The award recognizes senior and junior lacrosse players that excel in academics, service and athletics.
Benjamin McCloskey profile:
High school: Archbishop Wood
Year: 2016
Position: Goalie
College choice: United States Air Force Academy (as a student and walk-on candidate)
Extracurricular Activities
Performing Arts (Archbishop Wood and Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School)
Member of Archbishop Wood’s Choir
Member of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Church Choir
Member of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan All-Catholic Choir
Freshman Baseball Team Manager
Archbishop Wood’s Peer Leaders Program Leader
Member of the Bucks County Student Leadership Forum
Member of Archbishop Wood’s Athletes Helping Athletes Program
Member of Archbishop’s Wood Community Service Core
Member of the Boys Scouts: Eagle Scout
Attendee of the 2015 Boys Nation
Participant in Archbishop Wood’s Shakespeare Monologue Contest
United States Military Academy Leadership Seminar
Member of Archbishop Wood’s Choir- President
Archbishop Wood’s Mini-THON Cancer fundraiser Executive Director
Four Diamonds Leadership Seminar
Member of the 2015-2016 Bucks County Student Leadership Forum
Member of 2015 Keystone Boys State
Member of 2015 Boys Nation (Ranked 9th).
Community/ Service Organizations
Bucks County Student Leadership Forum- Drugs and Alcohol Prevention Team
The Boy Scouts of America
Community Service Core
Executive Director of Archbishop Wood’s MiniThon committee (Raises money to fight pediatric cancer) (Event Raised over $56,000 dollars)
Special Awards
Boys Scouts of America – Eagle Scout
Order of the Arrow Society- Brotherhood Member
Archbishop Wood’s Choir – 4 Year All- Catholic Recognition
Archbishop Wood’s Performing Arts
Academic honors/awards
4.0 GPA
Mandarin Chinese Scholar Award
American Legion Scholarship Winner
Nominated and attended of Boys Nation
PA House of Representatives Citation for Leadership Service and Outdoor Skills
Awarded 4 year Army ROTC Scholarship
Awarded 4 year Air Force ROTC Scholarship
Athletic honors:
US Lacrosse Academic All-American and Honorable Mention All-League goalie as a senior, Varsity captain; Varsity Golf; Varsity Soccer
What are your future goals?
McCloskey: “I plan on majoring in Aeronautical engineering. My future goal is to be a Combat Rescue Officer in the United States Air Force. I am still undecided whether I will make a career out of the military. If I don’t, I plan on working as an aeronautical engineering on the country’s newest technology after my service. They do have a Division 1 team which has open tryouts so I am going to attempt those. If that doesn’t work out, I’m planning on playing either intramural or club lacrosse at the academy.”
How do you describe leadership?
McCloskey: “”Leadership on the field to me is the person that can handle any situation no matter what the circumstance is. For example, if your team is winning by a lot of goals, a leader would make sure his team stays in line and doesn’t run the score up and finishes the game with sportsmanship. Vice versa, if your team is down by a lot of goals, a leader needs to be the one that doesn’t give up no matter how much they want to. They need to lead by example and a ‘no quit’ attitude can help their team finish with at least some feeling of pride. Also, a leader needs to be able to control his players and give commands on the spot that can help lead their team to a victory. When leading off the field, a leader needs to be there for others and put others before themselves. I learned from a few officers in the military that as a leader you will make decisions that others will disagree with. However, as a good leader you need to work tirelessly to back your decisions and show that those decisions are best for the group. In high school I was able to take a few leadership positions to help others. I was an Eagle Scout, captain of my lacrosse team, the Executive Director for my Schools MiniTHON, a peer leader at my school, and even the choir president. In all areas the values that a leader must exhibit were all similar. The mindset I had was that I want everyone to have the best experience possible and that if the work they’re doing is positive, than the work of the group as a whole would make a positive impact on the people and society around us.”
How do you balance lacrosse, school, and extracurriculars?
McCloskey: “Time management definitely was on my side. I had a lot of activities I did in school and I also worked two jobs during my senior year. The best way to be able to do so many different things is communication with those who run the programs. I was very fortunate because I had coaches and moderators who understood the many differ me things I did. If I had to for example miss a lacrosse practice to go to a MiniTHON meeting, I would make sure the next week that lacrosse had priority over MiniTHON. What really helped was that the moderators knew where I was and that I wasn’t just skipping. It also took constant dedication to all of the extracurriculars I did which meant I had a little extra homework I had to do every night to make sure I gave every program the time need for success.”
Coaches may nominate players for the Pansini Law Group Scholar-Athlete award through mid-June by e-mailing us at golax@phillylacrosse.com. The e-mail should provide all information on academics, service and lacrosse and a photo must be provided or arranged. All weekly winners will receive a $50 gift card and be eligible for the end-of-year overall winners.
