Post by lashowcase on Dec 28, 2006 22:25:04 GMT -6
From Sports Illustrated on Campus:
The Bayou's golden boy
Lapira harnesses Ragin' Cajun style to star at Notre Dame
Posted: Wednesday December 27, 2006 2:05PM; Updated: Wednesday December 27, 2006 3:11PM
Louisiana native Joe Lapira scored 22 goals for Notre Dame this season.
Courtesy Notre Dame
By Kevin Armstrong
Long before Joe Lapira recorded 50 points in a season, worked the awards circuit to win Soccer America's Player of the Year award, earned SIOC's Male U Award, or made speeches in front of a national television audience, the long-haired, free-spirited attacking forward from Lake Charles, La., was unfettered to any collegiate decision.
As a junior at St. Louis Catholic High, Lapira contemplated living the undergrad party life at Louisiana State, licking the Cajun barbeque sauce off his fingertips and crashing on couches.
"I was pretty much set to go to school and have a good time with my friends at Louisiana State," says Lapira, 20, who was the 2004 Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana as a senior in high school. "No schools were recruiting me. It was Notre Dame or go to LSU with my friends."
Still, he pushed forward. After setting up a weekend visit to see his cousin, Melissa, at Notre Dame, Lapira sent soccer coach Bobby Clark an e-mail to arrange a visit and to see Notre Dame host Boston College in football. Ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time, the Fighting Irish stormed out of the tunnel wearing their special-occasion green jerseys, but it was Lapira wound up getting luckier than Tyrone Willingham's football team, which lost, 14-7.
"I was just a kid who stopped in," Lapira said. "They weren't recruiting me, but we spent about a half-hour to an hour in there, and [Clark] suggested some ways to get noticed and what tournaments and camps to attend."
Lapira walked out of the Joyce Center office and soon signed up for Notre Dame's summer camp that July. After an impressive week on the pitch, Irish eyes zoned in on Lapira. Three weeks later, the staff saw him again at an Iowa tournament.
"He wasn't tearing the world apart when we saw him, but there was a raw energy to him that we thought we could work with and get the most of," Clark says.
A scholarship was offered, and Lapira was on his way to South Bend, leaving the South and Cajun cooking for Indiana's cold winter.
"There was some adjustment when I got there," said Lapira. "The work was tougher than anything I had handled in high school, but the weather and being used to warmth was another thing all together. It's a different lifestyle."
Son of a Pittsburgh-born father, Paul, and Irish mother, Catherine, Lapira does not claim Cajun bloodlines. But he did need time to adjust to the climate. Accustomed to soaking in Louisiana's warmth and spirited revelries, he had never seen snow before, nor had he seen the sun go down so early.
Dubbed the "Ragin' Cajun" immediately upon enrollment, Lapira sported a grown-in beard and sprinted into his freshman season with unbridled enthusiasm and unheralded skills.
"I was never the star of my teams, but I just came in and wanted to be as active as possible," Lapira says. "I wanted to contribute and get involved."
And what did coach think?
"Oh, he lived up to that nickname," Clark says in his Scottish accent. "He was the true Ragin' Cajun. Such energy, but it needed to be harnessed."
Making sure to utilize Lapira in the most positive ways, the staff conjured ways to get the most out of their potential star. They needed to use him effectively and efficiently, not just allowing his energy to spill out effusively with no rhyme or reason.
"Our thought was hopefully he can be reined in and start to know where he's going all the time in the field," Clark says.
That reining-in process came together, and Clark saw the possibility for even greater success after his sophomore season.
"At the end of the season we talk with coach about what we can improve and how we go about it," Lapira says. "Last year he pulled me aside and said he thought I could be the Big East Player of the Year.
A swift mover and seamless ball sprayer, Lapira, who resembles legendary runner Steve Prefontaine when he dons a mustache, set out on a path to fulfill his potential, working on his dribbling last summer with senior midfielder Nate Norman.
"I'm definitely getting more out of my movement than I did in other years," Lapira says. "But I have such an array of talent to work with that my game feeds off of my team's play."
Having blossomed into a star as a junior, Lapira still traces his roots back down South, where his family and community survived the wrath of Katrina but Rita wreaked havoc.
"When I was watching the coverage of Rita, I was looking at the docks and piers, all places that I had been hanging out near a few weeks before," Lapira says. "It was kind of surreal, but it helped me put things in perspective."
Rita knocked a tree onto the Lapira house, where Joe had lived since he was 3. The house needed a tarp and some work, but Lake Charles is still home to the Lapira family.
Notre Dame takes on LSU in the Sugar Bowl, and the Lapira family, including Joe's younger sister, Maria, a freshman at LSU will be in attendance.
Back in the Bayou, Lapira no longer chooses between Cajun food and an Irish experience.
"There's no choice for me now," Lapira says. "I'm taking the Irish."
The Bayou's golden boy
Lapira harnesses Ragin' Cajun style to star at Notre Dame
Posted: Wednesday December 27, 2006 2:05PM; Updated: Wednesday December 27, 2006 3:11PM
Louisiana native Joe Lapira scored 22 goals for Notre Dame this season.
Courtesy Notre Dame
By Kevin Armstrong
Long before Joe Lapira recorded 50 points in a season, worked the awards circuit to win Soccer America's Player of the Year award, earned SIOC's Male U Award, or made speeches in front of a national television audience, the long-haired, free-spirited attacking forward from Lake Charles, La., was unfettered to any collegiate decision.
As a junior at St. Louis Catholic High, Lapira contemplated living the undergrad party life at Louisiana State, licking the Cajun barbeque sauce off his fingertips and crashing on couches.
"I was pretty much set to go to school and have a good time with my friends at Louisiana State," says Lapira, 20, who was the 2004 Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana as a senior in high school. "No schools were recruiting me. It was Notre Dame or go to LSU with my friends."
Still, he pushed forward. After setting up a weekend visit to see his cousin, Melissa, at Notre Dame, Lapira sent soccer coach Bobby Clark an e-mail to arrange a visit and to see Notre Dame host Boston College in football. Ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time, the Fighting Irish stormed out of the tunnel wearing their special-occasion green jerseys, but it was Lapira wound up getting luckier than Tyrone Willingham's football team, which lost, 14-7.
"I was just a kid who stopped in," Lapira said. "They weren't recruiting me, but we spent about a half-hour to an hour in there, and [Clark] suggested some ways to get noticed and what tournaments and camps to attend."
Lapira walked out of the Joyce Center office and soon signed up for Notre Dame's summer camp that July. After an impressive week on the pitch, Irish eyes zoned in on Lapira. Three weeks later, the staff saw him again at an Iowa tournament.
"He wasn't tearing the world apart when we saw him, but there was a raw energy to him that we thought we could work with and get the most of," Clark says.
A scholarship was offered, and Lapira was on his way to South Bend, leaving the South and Cajun cooking for Indiana's cold winter.
"There was some adjustment when I got there," said Lapira. "The work was tougher than anything I had handled in high school, but the weather and being used to warmth was another thing all together. It's a different lifestyle."
Son of a Pittsburgh-born father, Paul, and Irish mother, Catherine, Lapira does not claim Cajun bloodlines. But he did need time to adjust to the climate. Accustomed to soaking in Louisiana's warmth and spirited revelries, he had never seen snow before, nor had he seen the sun go down so early.
Dubbed the "Ragin' Cajun" immediately upon enrollment, Lapira sported a grown-in beard and sprinted into his freshman season with unbridled enthusiasm and unheralded skills.
"I was never the star of my teams, but I just came in and wanted to be as active as possible," Lapira says. "I wanted to contribute and get involved."
And what did coach think?
"Oh, he lived up to that nickname," Clark says in his Scottish accent. "He was the true Ragin' Cajun. Such energy, but it needed to be harnessed."
Making sure to utilize Lapira in the most positive ways, the staff conjured ways to get the most out of their potential star. They needed to use him effectively and efficiently, not just allowing his energy to spill out effusively with no rhyme or reason.
"Our thought was hopefully he can be reined in and start to know where he's going all the time in the field," Clark says.
That reining-in process came together, and Clark saw the possibility for even greater success after his sophomore season.
"At the end of the season we talk with coach about what we can improve and how we go about it," Lapira says. "Last year he pulled me aside and said he thought I could be the Big East Player of the Year.
A swift mover and seamless ball sprayer, Lapira, who resembles legendary runner Steve Prefontaine when he dons a mustache, set out on a path to fulfill his potential, working on his dribbling last summer with senior midfielder Nate Norman.
"I'm definitely getting more out of my movement than I did in other years," Lapira says. "But I have such an array of talent to work with that my game feeds off of my team's play."
Having blossomed into a star as a junior, Lapira still traces his roots back down South, where his family and community survived the wrath of Katrina but Rita wreaked havoc.
"When I was watching the coverage of Rita, I was looking at the docks and piers, all places that I had been hanging out near a few weeks before," Lapira says. "It was kind of surreal, but it helped me put things in perspective."
Rita knocked a tree onto the Lapira house, where Joe had lived since he was 3. The house needed a tarp and some work, but Lake Charles is still home to the Lapira family.
Notre Dame takes on LSU in the Sugar Bowl, and the Lapira family, including Joe's younger sister, Maria, a freshman at LSU will be in attendance.
Back in the Bayou, Lapira no longer chooses between Cajun food and an Irish experience.
"There's no choice for me now," Lapira says. "I'm taking the Irish."
