Throughout the year, GoIslanders.com's Christina Boothe will feature student-athletes from each of our 15 sports. Every Monday, we will bring you a Q&A session with a student-athlete, while Wednesday we will feature an in-depth story of a student-athlete. Be sure to keep tabs on GoIslanders.com as well as our Facebook (Islanders Athletics) and Twitter/Instagram (Go_Islanders) pages throughout the year for more information.
The Island often welcomes international student-athletes in many sports like tennis and women's golf. However, it is surprising to see such a growing amount of international diversity on the Islanders baseball team. Many of those athletes are locally grown, and with the exception of a few out-of-state gems like Tyler Ware, Brian Allec, and Nicholas Jenkins, the majority of the baseball roster hails from Texas.
But Islanders Baseball has become exceedingly more international over the past few years, welcoming athletes like Frankie Salas from Baja, Mexico, and Canadian members Evan Hanoun and Dawson Yates. Yates, a sophomore third baseman for the Islanders, sat down to talk about the transition to college in a different country, and what it's like to be so far from home.
GoIslanders (GI): You're a long way from home, to say the least. You've been here for two years now. Was that transition difficult at the beginning of your freshman year?
Dawson Yates (DY): It was a little difficult, being so far away from home. But the school made it so easy to transition from high school to college really quickly, especially the baseball part of things. They set it up really perfectly for us here.
GI: How does the baseball here differ from in Canada?
DY: It's a much higher level of baseball than I'm used to playing back at home. The college ball is definitely not nearly as high-level there as it is here. I think wherever you go for high school ball, you're going to see some talent, but there is a much larger number of polished players here.
GI: How was coming into that new level of baseball? Did you expect the change?
DY: I made a lot of trips to the States when I was playing in high school, so I kind of got a feel of what I was going into. But just playing in it every day is what makes the big difference.
GI: When you go back in the summer, do you play in Canadian leagues? And how is your competition?
DY: The league that I play at home has two Canadian teams and then several teams from Oregon and Washington, so it's really just a combination of things there as well.
GI: How do you like Texas as opposed to Canada, with the weather difference and all?
DY: I love it here. I've always been a big fan of the warmth. Today, it's going to be 70 degrees here, and at home, it's about to snow. Being able to play and practice baseball year-round is such a huge advantage.
GI: How do you like the Island?
DY: I love it. The Island Campus is beautiful. I lived on campus last year, so this year it's nice to get a little bit of distance from it, but I love spending every day here.
GI: What specific differences have you noticed within your teammates here in the States that you didn't have back in Canada?
DY: Honestly, it's about the same. It's sports, so everyone has the same mentality and wants to win baseball games. Everyone just comes together and tries to win.
GI: Do you plan on going back to Canada after you graduate?
DY: Probably, unless I find a wife down here who might convince me to stay. That's just because I'm so used to living in Canada. But I still love it down here. It's just not quite the same.
GI: What are the primary differences, aside from weather?
DY: Maybe the way people act, a little bit. We were raised differently. The way people talk is different around here. But people are people, when it comes down to it.
GI: Canadians are notoriously nice people, and Texas is known for its southern manners. Which place is nicer?
DY: I have to say that Canadians are a little bit nicer. But I've run into so many nice people around here.
GI: Is the dream to play for the Toronto Blue Jays?
DY: Toronto and Seattle are my favorite teams, but any opportunity to play after this would be amazing.
