Andrew Kowalewski '11 Recruiting Profile

My name is Andrew Kowalewski. My parents tell me that I started swimming before I even started walking. I got on ice skates when I was 3 years old. I started learning and competing in gymnastics, swimming and martial arts since I was 5 years old. I won hundreds of competitions in karate, swimming and gymnastics. I continued swimming for many years, and for the last two years I swam on the varsity swimming team and I qualified for the State competition in the 100 yard Butterfly style. However, I enjoy team sports just as much and played lacrosse, football, water polo, hockey, and soccer. I played football for two seasons in high school, but due to my size at the time, I decided to concentrate on other sports like lacrosse, karate, wrestling and swimming where my skills and aggressive personality mattered more than size. Besides swimming for high school in the fall, I wrestle in the winter and play lacrosse in the spring. I participate in sports all year round after school, and additionally train in karate. As you can see, I have trained in many sports and I consider myself a versatile athlete. I would love to continue doing sports through my college years. I consider them as part of my education. Besides learning individual motor skills, sports develop my character; they teach me stamina, commitment, devotion to the team, leadership qualities and mental and physical strength. I consider sports a vital part of my education. I realize that I may not be the top dog to participate in the highest level of competition such as DI, but I will certainly contribute strongly to any team with all my heart, skill, effort and enthusiasm. I am capable of sparking a team and turning games around, and my physical aggression is contagious. Through many years of martial arts fighting and wrestling, I know how to take a hit and I can certainly give one; it shows in my stats for ground balls (50 in 11 games). With 22 goals and 15 assist last season in these same 11 games, I can also score. My stats in the previous years were similar. I would love to have an opportunity to try out for a college team, lacrosse, football, water polo, swimming, wrestling or any other sport that I have played. In the middle school and the first two years of high school I played RB and WR in the offensive line and different positions in defense and on special teams. I played lacrosse for 6 years, I was always in the top three scorers and in number of ground balls won, and considered the most physically aggressive player, check some of my videos. I was the co-captain of my lacrosse team last year. My Water Polo team won the State Championship last year and I scored in the winning championship game. Besides these team sports, I wrestled through the 4 years of high school and swam on the swim team. My specialty is the butterfly stroke with which I qualified for State Championships in the last two years. Besides school sports, I have been involved in outside sports as well. My biggest achievements are in Martial Arts which I have trained in since I was a child. Gymnastics, which I did when I was a small child, gave me an edge in Free Style Martial Arts which involve acrobatic moves on top of the traditional karate kicks and punches. I travelled all over U.S. to compete and have won over 20 Grand Championships in fighting, traditional Okinawan forms, and free style acrobatic and weapons forms. This summer, I am intending to train with Throw-down, our local Boise MMA fighting team, to stay in shape.