From Eagle to... Polar Bear?: Guerrier recruited to play football at Bowdoin College

Sydney Guerrier is the most recent MV Eagle to secure an opportunity
to continue playing football at the college level.

Photo taken by: Kyle Manley

By: Amy Nguyen

The disparity between high school and college athletics can be immense. Not only are students older and more experienced in terms of talent when they reach the college level, institutions have a larger pool of players to draw from when it comes to recruiting than a typical high school. As such, it is often an exciting development when a high school student is invited to play at the college level, as is the case with Mystic Valley senior football player Sydney Guerrier.

Guerrier embarked on the recruiting process towards the end of his sophomore year, albeit with little expectation of ultimately being selected by a school.

“The lower school’s Dean of Students, Mr. Ernie Ardolino, had introduced the NESCAC conference to me, as he thought it would be a good fit for me and [class of ’15 graduate] Robbie Cummings,” Guerrier said.

The NESCAC, or the New England Small College Athletic Conference, was founded in 1971 and consists eleven highly selective liberal arts colleges--Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Wesleyan University, Williams College, Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Trinity College, and Tufts University--that compete at the Division III level.

Though other recruits may refer to the recruiting process as complicated or a “political scheme” based on the fact that many institutions can compete to attract the same recruit, Guerrier recalls his experience as “fairly smooth sailing.” He was able to display his talents during the football season and at camps to hundreds of coaching staffs, despite being from a small school.

Moreover, he collected highlights from last year’s successful football season and sent the videos to coaches from the NESCAC and other Division I or Division II schools. Unfortunately, due to his physical attributes, Sydney swiftly realized that he would not be able to actively play at the DI level.

Much to his benefit, he grasped that attending a NESCAC school would be a remarkable opportunity from an athletic and academic perspective, as the conference is devoted to maintaining the strength of their athletic programs in harmony with their educational missions.

Though athletic scholarships are not offered at the Division III level, the NESCAC league allows the institutions to financially support twenty-five players on their incoming roster as long as the players apply early decision.

“I was offered [this support] at Bowdoin and Bates, but [I] also had strong interest coming in from Oberlin, Colby, Hamilton, Wesleyan and Tufts,” Guerrier said.

Being small liberal art schools, these NESCAC schools were very similar, but Sydney was ultimately attracted to Bowdoin due to its atmosphere and location.

“Everyone up there was so nice and the feel of the campus and the pride that its alumni had for their school made me feel like I belonged,” he said.

Guerrier will enroll at Bowdoin and play for the Polar Bears starting in the fall of 2016.