April 5, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - It was 6 p.m. on Thursday, the day before the quarterfinals of the Atlantic10 men’s Basketball Championship in Atlantic City, N.J., the game the entire season was building up to, and team manager Mikel Kosich was still at Philadelphia International Airport.
 
Kosich, a freshman at La Salle who is also a member of the men’s tennis team, was just arriving back from the Explorers’ week-long spring break trip to Florida.
 
But he was determined to make it to Atlantic City for his usual pre-game duties with the basketball team.
 
So he hitched a ride with a friend and was there to hand out the team’s uniforms before La Salle took the court against Temple.
 
That type of balancing characterized Kosich’s life for several weeks in February and March as the tennis team began its spring season while Kosich still maintained his basketball student-manger duties.
 
When Kosich, a native of Parker, Co., traveled across the country to join La Salle’s tennis team, he had no idea that he would have a dual role in the athletic department.

“It was a spur of the moment decision,” Kosich said. “I played basketball when I was in middle school and love college basketball. I was thinking how I could get involved.”
 
He e-mailed Sean Neal, the Director of Basketball Operations, and Neal invited Kosich in for a meeting with himself, as well as the Explorers’ Video Coordinator, Terrence Stewart.

Kosich learned about the duties involved, such as keeping stats, rebounding during practice and shoot arounds, having water and towels ready and helping with logistics during away games.  
 
The freshman settled into a routine, attending practices and games, including many of the away contests as well.

“Mike was a tremendous asset to the men’s basketball program,” Neal said. “From the very first day he joined us, you could see that Mike took a great deal of pride in his role as a student-assistant. Mike, along with the rest of our student assistants, contributed significantly to the program this year.”

But as the basketball season was reaching its crescendo, the spring tennis season was just beginning.

A scholarship athlete, Kosich said he needed to prioritize tennis and the basketball staff understood this.

“I basically didn’t have any free time,” Kosich said of February and early March.  “Some days I went right from basketball to tennis. But it worked out where there weren’t too many conflicts on a day-to-day basis.”

One did occur during the opening round of the A-10 Championship when the Explorers traveled to play St. Bonaventure on March 8, while Kosich competed with the tennis team in Florida.

“But we watched the game as a team on my cell phone in Florida and went crazy when La Salle won,” Kosich added.

After playing mostly at No. 6 singles in the fall, Kosich has since been moved to the No. 1 singles position, a place where head tennis coach Ed Colfer believes he can help the team.

Kosich recently picked up a No. 1 singles victory against Chestnut Hill and helped the Explorers post a four-match winning streak from March 20-29.

La Salle will wrap up the season at the A-10 Championships in Saint Louis from April 15-17.

Maybe after that Kosich will find some free time.