Oct. 15, 2008
Note: Patriot League student-athlete spotlight stories will feature the on- and off-field achievements in all sports throughout the 2008-09 season. Stories will be released on Wednesday of each week.
by Ashley Hicks, Patriot League Media and External Relations Assistant
When Lafayette men's soccer senior defender John Griffith isn't in class, in practice or at a game, you'll likely find him in the laboratory, studying a plant pathogen called phytophthora infestans.
"It's the species that was responsible for the Irish potato famine in the 1800s," Griffith explained. "We look at specific genes that it incorporates in an infection mechanism."
The biology major is currently in the process of applying to 13 different medical schools, and has enough credits to graduate from Lafayette one semester early, in December.
"Hopefully, if I get accepted to medical school, I can have a semester off before the next six to eight years of medical school," he laughed.
Griffith's interest in medicine began at a time when his future in soccer became uncertain. The youngest of seven children, all of whom played soccer through high school and some of whom played in college, Griffith had been playing the game since he was four or five years old. As a junior at Xaverian Brothers High School in Franklin, Mass., Griffith suffered an injury that hurt him physically but also started him on his current career path.
"I ended up having arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum," Griffith recalled. "That was when I first got exposed to orthopedics and when I started being interested in medicine."
While his interest in medicine began to grow as he recovered from hip surgery, the slow recovery process caused interest in Griffith from recruiters to wane.
"I got injured in high school, in the prime of the recruiting process," Griffith remembered. "A lot of schools lost interest in me, but thankfully Coach [Dennis] Bohn was there for me, stuck with me throughout it all and continued to [do so] throughout my first year. He was able to show faith in me that I would recover, and he was caring and interested. Now, I've been able to thrive in his system. It's a unique relationship because I'm not sure a lot of coaches would've stuck by me the way he has. I can't thank him enough for that opportunity."
But Bohn's faith that Griffith would fully recover from his injury was not the only reason he decided to be a Leopard.
"I think the combination of the academics as well as the unique research opportunities were the important things that drew me to Lafayette," he said. "They have a lot of programs that focus on the student and research work. I've spent two summers here working as a research scholar, as well as doing an independent study."
Griffith ended up sitting out his freshman season in 2005 as he continued to recover from his injury. Watching his team win 15 games that season was bittersweet for Griffith, but he believes that season of observing and learning has paid dividends.
"Even though I didn't play a single minute and was injured the entire year, I still felt as much a part of the team as I felt any other year," he said.
From his first season at Lafayette, Griffith quickly bought into Bohn's defense-oriented scheme that has become Lafayette's trademark.
"From the first day of preseason when you come in as a freshman, one of the first things we do is a small, one-on-one defending drill," he said. "It just drills into your mind from the very first day that you're not going to step on the field unless you're willing to defend, no matter what position you play. Defense has always been our focus here at Lafayette. [Defense] is the bedrock of any championship team."
Griffith also observed the high level of competition within Patriot League soccer, and four years later, he still believes the level of intensity he witnessed as a freshman has not dropped off at all.
"Whether you're on the field or on the sidelines, you quickly recognize the intensity that every game is played with, the speed and strength needed to be successful," Griffith said. "In the Patriot League, you need to show up every week and put in a hard effort. There aren't going to be any easy games, they're all going to be hard-fought battles."
And after battling through the injury that closed some doors and opened others, Griffith understands the hard effort required to rise above adversity better than many.
