ERIN – Lacrosse player Cohen Jennings has been offered an athletic scholarship at the University of Tampa and is looking forward to the opportunity.
“It will let me live my life and get new experiences that I wouldn’t get here,” he said, and “the weather is exciting too.”
Jennings, a forward for the Orangeville Jr. A Northmen, attended Erin District High School before taking a gap year this year.
In addition to playing lacrosse, he spends his time working with his dad, who is a painter, as well as working out and hanging out with friends.
Jennings has not yet decided what he will study at university but is leaning towards business, the field in which he feels most confident.
The University of Tampa is a NCAA Division II university.
Jennings has accepted its offer of an athletic scholarship covering about two-thirds of his tuition in the first year.
In his second, third, and fourth year, the scholarship will cover 100 per cent of his tuition outside of housing costs.
Average tuition at the University of Tampa is $31,000 U.S. annually for out-of-state students.
“Playing lacrosse is so much fun,” Jennings said, adding he has had many “good experiences around the sport that make me keep liking it.”
What he enjoys most “is winning with my team and with my friends,” he said.
Cohen Jennings in action with the Orangeville Jr. A Northmen. Submitted photo
Jennings grew up in Orangeville, where he always felt “surrounded by good coaches who built a winning foundation around me.”
His ultimate “dream and goal is to make the NLL,” the National Lacrosse League.
“Another goal is to play as long as I can – as long as my body can,” he added.
Jennings said that if he didn’t go to university he could have been drafted next year, but now he will have to wait until 2027, after he graduates, for that opportunity.
His goals in Tampa are to make a good impression, try to be a leader, and try to win a national championship there.
When Jennings visited friends who attend other universities in the U.S. he realized he really liked the atmosphere at the University of Tampa, which is different from Canadian universities.
He chose Tampa specifically because officials there were very enthusiastic about wanting him to join them, and “because it’s such a nice spot, the weather is nice, and they have a great team.”
He said “it’s gonna be kind of scary. I’m not super nervous right now but when it gets closer I will be.”
However, he added it will be a “good change” for him.
