QuoteHow does one do that ?Originally Posted by bwagner
Also could you source that article?
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."
How does one do that ?
Also could you source that article?
Sorry i had another part as the heading, i got it from a college sport site.
Also in the sunday mail yesterday there was a article on him and he stats he would be very willing to play for Ireland and he even wears and Ireland repica shirt around the campus.
They count goals + assists
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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New blog if anyone's interested - http://loihistory.wordpress.com/
LOI section on balls.ie - http://balls.ie/league-of-ireland/
unless his mother is like me... if i had a kid that was any good at anything, it would be a cold day in hell before I'd let him play for a U.S team as long as there was a chance Ireland would want him.
"A silent mouth is sweet to hear"
I live in Canada and know loads of lads who play in the NCAA division 1 against players such as Joseph. The league is ****in rubbish and any other forward in the Eircom league would tear it apart and score like anthony stokes. Don't read too much into him.
He's obviously Irish - Tiocfaidh ár Lá (P.I.R.A.).
according to BBC website this guy is going on trial with Aberdeen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...rs/default.stm
(bottom of the first section)
and why isn't ronnie o'brien involved in this "irish" squad
http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=49333&highlight=lapira
search function is handy
ah thanks,
i see he's been drafted into the irish training squad
Lipira has been included in training with the Irish team in the US at the moment
Because he's injured?
O'Brien has started the last couple of games for Toronto. I think he turned down an invitation to train with the squad.
Are you sure he not just carrying the bags? Maybe he is the Waterboy?
I don't blame him. When you look at the make up of the squad, what would it have cost Stan to give him a proper invitation. And the other lad for that matter.
Well Lapira has an Irish parent. Apparently according to Bobby Clark ex-Aberdeen goalie and his coach at Notre Dame, interviewed on Newstalk106 last night, a lot of US born soccer players at College level who have reasonable ability want to ply their trade in Europe. As US citizens they need to have played in 80% of their country's senior internationals in the previous year before they can get a work permit to play in Europe. If however they are entitled to citizenship of a European or EU member state, things change. Young Lapira is getting an Irish passport, hoping to play in the two games of the US Cup and maybe get a trial in Europe. I would recommend that he should try his luck here, if he is any use of course, given his Irish citizenship.
If he's crap try San Marino or Andorra
He was once the greatest player in the world in an internet poll if I am not mistaken
Time Magazine's Person of the Century I think it was, beating Mandela, the Pope, Gorbachev and others maybe a bit more deserving!
Maybe a silly question lads but can this guy actually play in these games or is it only training he is allowed to take part in?
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