Sayre's Wampole to play basketball at CCC.
By: The Review | Towanda Daily Review | June 29, 2018
2018 NTL and District 4 News
SAYRE — It's taken a little longer than many, but Sayre grad Blair Wampole has decided that she will be playing at Corning Community College next basketball season.
"It was a recent decision," Wampole said. "I knew I wanted to play but I didn't know where. I didn't want to go too far from home or too close to home. Corning is a happy medium."
Sayre girls basketball Coach Eileen Sparduti said Wampole grew up learning the game on the asphalt at Snyder School with three older siblings who took no mercy on her.
"That was good preparation for coming and playing for me," said Sparduti, with a smile. "She's been — and she would laugh at this — sometimes frustrating because I knew that there was more in her than we were seeing that night. On other nights she's been a delight because she was more than I ever thought she could be. I'm excited to see her carry this on and have an opportunity to perform."
Wampole said she visited the CCC many times throughout the school year and was always impressed.
"I always liked the campus and they have a really good education program, which is what I'm going for," said Wampole. "I have a big family with a lot of little kids and I was always the babysitter," she said. "It never bothered me because, "oh, yeah. I get to hang out with little kids.'"
Then it came down putting things together.
"I know I love to do this and I know that I love to work with little kids" she said, adding that her focus would be infants to kindergarten and that she hopes to open her own day care eventually.
In the meantime, though, she gets to continue playing the game she loves.
Wampole said that the coach (Mike Wright) has told her that she'll probably be the team's tallest player.
"It'll be the five (center) or four (power forward) position," said Wampole, adding, "probably more of the five position."
Wampole said that Wright is also looking for her to shoot the three and be a ball handler.
"I didn't put up a lot of threes, but at the end of (my senior) year I started to," said Wampole. "I've been working on my shot and my ball handling skills to get me ready for what's coming."
She also said she's been getting some help on her interior moves.
"I have my sister (Paige, who attends and is a rising junior who plays for Miseracordia) to help me work on them. She's good, so I'll continue to have her come and show me some other ways I can do some things."
Pitt-Bradford and Lock Haven were also in the running.
"I was looking at Pitt-Bradford," she said. "My sister and I are very close. I sat down with my sister and we talked. I said, 'I really like the school, but I don't know if I can be that far away. We're both homebodies. She said, 'honestly, you're probably better off with the closer choice. I love my school, but sometimes, I feel like I'm too far away.' Lock Haven is so far away it was taken off the list fast."
"I'm excited and happy for Blair. I think this is a great choice on her part," said Sparduti. "She's hemmed and hawed and worked through this for most of her senior year. I think it's a sound choice academically and I think that being close to home to play is good — family is very important to Blair. She has a large extended family and the family will be able to see her play. Blair tends to play well when her family is in the crowd. There are a lot of positives and I hope she has a solid beginning there."
