Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Tim Tebow
Favorite team: Clemson Tigers Football
Favorite memory competing in sports: Last year at CB East reaching the Final Four of states and going 22-3.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I may have peed my pants in the outfield when playing t-ball as a little kid…that’s when I knew baseball wasn’t for me and that I wanted to be a lacrosse player.
Music on iPod: Kenny Chesney, Avicii, Drake, Zac Brown Band
Future plans: Playing lacrosse at the US Air Force Academy
Words to live by: ‘Work like there’s always someone out there working harder than you.’
One goal before turning 30: Graduate college and serve in the Air Force. Also win an NCAA Lacrosse Championship
One thing people don’t know about me: If I didn’t play lacrosse, I would want to be a professional snowboarder.
By Alex Frazier
Six goals, one assist.
A record night for Central Bucks East’s Parker Self, who scored nearly half of the goals in Central Bucks East’s 14-4 win over the Pennridge lacrosse team Tuesday evening.
“I had a good night offensively,” said the modest Self. “I got a lot of good passes and made the shots.”
While six was goals was a personal record for the senior attackman, it’s not unusual for him to score three to four goals a game.
Self has been playing lacrosse since fourth grade. Ironically, it was his youth football coach that encouraged him to play.
“I love the sport,” he said. “I didn’t play football much longer after that.”
He played travel ball for Duke’s Lacrosse Club out of Philadelphia until he started high school.
He also dabbled in basketball, but quit that after middle school to focus on lacrosse.
When he started playing he was a midfielder, but switched to attack in middle school.
“It ended up we didn’t have enough attackmen and I always wanted to play that,” he said.
Self broke into the varsity lineup as a sophomore at East.
For a while he was on the small side, but he’s gained 25 pounds in the last year and a half. He is now 6-1 and 185 pounds.
“I got tired of being beaten up,” he said. “First year of varsity as a sophomore I got thrown all over the place, so I finally got in the gym.”
Besides being an outstanding player, Self is also a good leader and influence on the team. The Patriots have yet to elect captains, but Self would surely be an excellent candidate.
As East lacrosse Bruce Garcia described him, “He is passionate about lacrosse and trying to make everyone around him better. He is a leader on the field and off. Parker routinely can be found at the field working on improving his game or organizing extra team practices.”
Besides contributing to the lacrosse team, which is now 5-0, Self is also an excellent student. East doesn’t advertise student rankings, but Self guesses he’s in the top 25 percent of his class, probably higher, considering he carries a 3.9 grade point average on a scale of four.
He has taken a number of advanced placement courses, including statistics, calculus, economics, European History and U.S. History.
His course load was demanding “especially when you’re in a class with a bunch of kids that don’t have to go to practice right after school,” he said.
Self will be attending the Air Force Academy next year. He was recruited by the Falcons beginning the summer after his sophomore year.
“I visited all the service academies,” he said, “because I wanted to serve my country. I definitely knew I wanted to go to one of them.”
When he visited Air Force at the beginning of his senior year, he was sold and gave the school an oral commitment.
“I liked the coaching staff there and the kids there,” he said.
It certainly didn’t hurt that there are two former East players currently on the roster in addition to a player from his club team, who is leading all freshman NCAA players in goals and points.
Obviously, Self wants to start as a freshman too, but realizes he may have to wait his turn.
“If I get the opportunity I want to be on the field,” he said.
Applying to the Air Force Academy was a long, arduous process.
In addition to a battery of medical tests (hearing, eyesight medical exam), he had to fill out a lengthy application and be interviewed by a board of current and former Air Force students.
And he also had to get a nomination from his local state congressman.
He received his appointment about a month ago, along with more paperwork to fill out.
The whole process took close to a year to complete.
The Air Force Academy accepts only about 15 percent of its applicants, which is lower even than Harvard.
“It’s a long process, but it’s such an honor to be accepted that it’s worth it,” he said.
Self is interested in engineering, but flying is also a possibility. If he sticks with engineering, he will have a five-year service obligation when he graduates. If he pursues flying, he will have an additional two years of flight school plus an additional 10 years of service.
He has until his junior year to commit to a major.
“They really have good engineering programs there,” said Self, whose father is also an engineer. “I’m not really sure what I want to do yet.”
Outside of lacrosse, Self is also active in the community, his church, and with his club lacrosse team.
The lacrosse team at East has its own community service club called the Extra Man Opportunity Program.
He has also worked with Leaps, a program associated with his club team. He went to Girard College for a day to help introduce inner city kids to the game of lacrosse.
“It was a real fun day,” he said. “There were hundreds of kids that had never played lacrosse before.”
His club team also has a mentoring program. Four of the kids that are on his team now were ones he helped coach when he was a sophomore.
“One of them is already committed to Penn State and the others are also applying D-1,” he said. “My coaches thought I did a pretty good job of mentoring them. It’s definitely not all me, but it’s cool to see those guys coming up now and playing with those kids I used to coach.”
Self said he would strongly consider coaching once he’s finished school.
“I love to coach,” he said. “I love helping out.”
For his graduation project, he helped kids with strength and conditioning at MVP Sports.
“It was really awesome, “ he said.
He also performs community service with his church.
Last year he wrote a blog for Suburban One Sports about his high school lacrosse season.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I thought it was awesome.”
He will continue with that this year as well.
Self is appreciative of all those coaches who have mentored him along the way, including Garcia and the rest of the East coaching staff, Ebe Helm and the other Dukes’ coaches and Joe Schoenleber at MVP Sports Training.
While most students are enjoying their summer, Self will embark on the next phase of his life when he enrolls at the USAFA just two weeks after graduation.
“Parker is a man of exceptional character and determination,” said Garcia. “He is a tremendous asset to our team and our community, and I have no doubt he will continue to excel as he begins his career at the United States Air Force Academy.”
