Personal Statement
My name is Pavlos Stavrinides. I was born on November 1st 1999 and I live in the Republic of Cyprus, an island State (and Member of the European Union since 2004), situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. I attend high-school at the English School of Nicosia, which is a private school that teaches all its classes in English, follows the British educational model (seven years of high school instead of six) and prepares its students to take the British exams for University entry (IGCSE and GSE exams). I will graduate from the English School in June 2018 and I will then serve 14 months of compulsory military service in the Cyprus National Guard. I am, therefore, applying to begin University studies in the USA in the Fall Semester of 2019.
Basketball has been a major part of my life since I was a young child. At the age of 6 I joined the basketball academy of “Olympos Aglantzias” BC and continued training and playing for them until June 2015. I played for the U14, U16 and U18 teams of “Olympos Aglantzias” in the respective National Championships. As a 14-year-old playing in the U18 team, we reached the final four of the National Cup and we were amongst the top teams nationally.
In September 2015 I transferred to the biggest Division I basketball club of Nicosia, “Keravnos Strovolou”. In the 2015-16 Season I was in the starting line-up of the U18 team of Keravnos. We won the U18 Division I National Cup (a national knock-out format competition) and we finished in the 3rd place of the U18 Division I National Championship. During this season I was voted by the league coaches as the best U-18 player of the year and received best U-18 basketball player awards by the Cyprus Basketball Federation and the Cyprus Olympic Committee.
In the 2016-17 season I was selected to join the men’s team of “Keravnos Strovolou”, the top Division I team of Cyprus. I trained with the team and got some playing time in the Division I men’s National Championship. With the men’s team we won the National Championship and were also National Cup finalists. During this season I also continued playing as a starting player for the U18 Keravnos team, which finished in the third place of the U18 Division I National Championship.
At the age of 14 I was selected to join the development program of the Cyprus Basketball Federation which offers selected talented young players the chance to get additional coaching to develop their basketball skills and compete for a place in the National youth teams. I am extremely proud to have been selected for the Cyprus U18 National team, which participated in the FIBA European Division B Basketball championships in Skopje in August 2016. I was on the starting line up for the Cyprus National team in all games against countries including Bulgaria, Poland, Austria, FYROM and Ireland.
As a member of the English School Basketball team, in the 2015-2016 season we reached the state final and third place nationally. In the 2016-2017 season, when I was captain of the team, we won the state championship and reached the national final. I led the team in both scoring and rebounding.
Basketball is a part my being and I plan to continue playing while pursuing my University studies and hopefully play professionally after graduation. It is obvious that if I want to excel at my sport I need to play at the most competitive level and I need to get the benefits of interacting with and being coached and trained by the most professional and experienced people in the field. That is why I am applying for University studies in the USA at universities that have NCAA basketball teams. I am eager to train hard and listen to the directions and advice of coaches who will believe in me and give me the chance to play for their team. I also look forward to being part of a team whose players share similar goals and aspirations in academic and sporting life so we can all benefit from each other and help each other in achieving our goals. Other than my basketball skills I will bring into my team my positive personality, solid commitment and team spirit, hard work, as well as my international life and basketball experiences that will enrich the team chemistry.
