Basketball Career Ends on Up Note for Schmidt

When the curtain came down on the Friends School boys basketball team's season at home Friday night, Quaker senior Jon Schmidt was walking around in a daze.

After all, the team had come back from a 19-point deficit midway through the third quarter to squeak out a one-point, 54-53 victory in the final seconds against the Admirals of Severn.  Schmidt, a 6-foot-7-inch forward, had spearheaded the comeback, scoring 27 points, with more than half in the final eight minutes of play.

But it was more than a win for the star player.  It was the final game of a storied high school career that saw the four-year starter score more than 1,000 points and grab more than 1,000 rebounds.

For Schmidt, basketball is the most important of the three sports he plays for the Quakers.

"Basketball for me is extremely serious," said the Cockeysville resident who also plays for the school's varsity soccer and lacrosse teams.  "I'm really focused and just go out there and try to win and to play as hard as I can."

During his basketball career, Schmidt has progressed from a being a  freshman there to pull down rebounds to becoming the undisputed team leader in his senior year.

That leadership role did not come easily, however.

"It didn't seem right to me; I had trouble thinking that I was a ball hog a lot of the time," Schmidt said in an interview a few days before his final basketball game as a Quaker.  "I had to learn how to do that, and not think about what other people think about you—just go out there and try to do it for the team and know that what you are doing is trying to benefit the team."

And that is what first-year coach Bill Pace asked of Schmidt.

"I just demanded it of him," Pace said.  "This is your team.  You owe it to all the other seniors to lift everybody, to drag everybody up.  And he's done a real good job of becoming much more vocal, which is not really his personality."

Basketball provides Schmidt with an outlet to compete as hard as he can.

"It just makes me get out all of my energy and I love that," he said. "I'm always driven; I'm driven by competing, and basketball is just the most fun way for me to get out that competitive drive."

At one time, Schmidt considered lacrosse his serious sport.

"I don't know what my abilities could have been with lacrosse, but they probably could have been reasonable," he said. "I just like basketball more."

He described soccer as "more lenient" because he is not the best player out there.

"I can still work as hard as I can but I'm not playing the whole time.  It is a little bit easier for me physically."

The work ethic does not end in the athletic arena for Schmidt, who is carrying a 92 average at Friends.

"I just love being in the classroom.  I have a lot of fun, try to bring a lot of energy to the classroom and just love studying anything," he said.

Schmidt said Friends has helped him become the person he is today.

"I think that I embody the Friends School philosophy and I think that the teachings and the core beliefs at our school have really helped shape me into the person and player that I am today," he said.

And he considers himself a person who is not defined by certain things.

"I am kind of all over the board. I like to do a lot of different things," Schmidt says.

He plays the guitar and didgeridoo, he likes to juggle and work Rubik's cubes.  He enjoys other sports such as badminton and ping pong.  In short, he likes variety.

In addition to his academic and athletic endeavors, the 17-year-old is a member of the school senate and serves as a peer counselor to some of the school's eighth graders.

"I basically teach them about the high school environment, peer pressures, those kinds of things, so they have a better understanding of what it is like before they get there," Schmidt said.

Going forward, Schmidt hopes to play basketball at a Division I college and is focused on a career as a lawyer.

He has been accepted to several colleges for academic purposes, and has not discussed basketball with coaches at those schools. 

"I don't even know if I could play at Drexel," a school at which he's been accepted.

Pace believes Schmidt can compete at that level.

"With Jon's work ethic, he'll play wherever he goes," Pace said.  "I'll take maybe the ACC, Big 10, Big East off that, but if he goes to the Patriot League, any of those mid-major types, I think he'll earn playing time and continue to progress up the ranks."

Schmidt has applied to many schools but said it is not yet clear where he will enroll.

"I like the Ivy League a lot, I like the Patriot League a lot.  Anywhere that I can just compete and continue to play basketball and have fun," he said.