Former GTC student to play collegiate volleyball

John Joseph Salas poses for a photo after being introduced as the newest member of the volleyball team of the Ottawa University Surprise AZ last month. (Contributed Photo)

Former Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School student John Joseph Salas received an athletic scholarship and will be playing for the Ottawa University Surprise AZ in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

“Ottawa has offered me a generous scholarship and I chose to commit to the university this pring to compete in the upcoming season. Ottawa AZ is a new campus and will start competing in the NAIA and will be playing a variety of tournaments from different divisions and conferences,” said Salas, who will be graduating from Sunrise Mountain High School next month.

“I am currently a senior in high school and in the Fall of 2017 will be a freshman taking on a pre-med major in biology. From there I will move on to graduate school to pursue a career in dermatology or pharmaceutical sciences,” said Salas, who will play as libero for his new team.

The son of J.J. and Sam Salas of Capitol Hill, John Joseph started playing volleyball in 2013 in his freshman year in high school. The 17-year-old also suits up for travel teams during the offseason in school leagues.

“My favorite travel team was AZ Fear. I learned a lot from this club and expanded on my skills as we traveled to California to compete against higher-level teams,” he said.

Salas wanted to bring his act in the collegiate ranks so he took the initiative to find a team while he is playing in his last year with Sunrise Mountain.

“I reached out to the coach at Ottawa, Kyle Steele, through my online recruiting website. I e-mailed him saying that I have received offers from other colleges around the country but I was not looking to move out of state, and was wondering if he would want to watch me play. This is a strategy taught in recruiting, where student athletes reach out to coaches during the ends of the season to try and make an impression. From there, he watched my highlight videos, and came to watch me play at one of my high school tournaments. Following that, I visited the campus in Surprise where I was taken on a tour and offered a scholarship,” he said.

Salas developed his passion for volleyball despite not playing the sport when he was on Saipan.

“I resided on our beautiful island for the first couple of years of my life and then again from ages 7 to 12 and attended school at GTC in San Roque. I never played volleyball there, but I was a special batter for my father’s Little League team (Shell) when I was about 8 years old,” said Salas.

He is very thankful to be given the chance to play collegiate volleyball and encouraged other aspiring athletes from the CNMI to continue training and work their way up to high-level competitions.

“It feels amazing to be given this opportunity to play in the collegiate level. I have been blessed with a great coach and a beautiful campus to live on,” Salas said.

“I believe if you want to play in the collegiate level it is more than possible. There are coaches across the nation recruiting athletes every day. I did not notice this until I started my own recruiting profile and received emails from multiple coaches from different states. It truly is a mesmerizing experience receiving your first offer and seeing what you could be doing in the first milestone of your life after high school,” he added.