Pitzer Entices Van Der Vaart with Baseball, Academics

Despite spending a portion of their childhood in Belgium, a country where soccer dominates, Felix van der Vaart and his older brothers fell in love with the game of baseball.

This spring Van der Vaart committed to play baseball for Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in California next year, a Division III program that competes in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He will study at Pitzer College, one of the five undergraduate programs in the Claremont Colleges.

The 18-year-old Flint Hill School graduate's love for the sport started with baseball cards.

"My two older brothers had a hankering for baseball cards for some reason, which is kind of funny," said van der Vaart, who is about 10 years younger than his brothers. "They used to collect all these cards and I don't really know why. My dad bought us some gear and we started playing baseball. From then on, it was a family thing."

The boys continued to play when they moved to Northern Virginia. Van der Vaart, 7 at the time, played for area youth leagues, while his brothers Henrik and Will played for Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology.

But baseball was not always the only sport in van der Vaart's life. In middle school, he played tennis at a high level, competing in United States Tennis Association championships as a ranked player in the Mid-Atlantic Section. 

He developed tennis elbow, which pitching only exacerbated. He had to sit out from both sports for four months. When he was ready to return, he found he was most anxious to play baseball again. From then on, baseball became his focus.

"The reason I love baseball is it's realistic. In baseball, you know exactly how well you played, you have statistics. You go 0 for 3, you know you had a bad day. It's logical for me. I know I'm playing well or I know I'm not," van der Vaart said. "You're going to mess up sometimes, but the good thing about baseball is you succeed three out of 10 times, you're a Hall of Famer."

From an early age, van der Vaart saw athletics as a legitimate path to college: Henrik had secured a spot on The College of William & Mary's baseball roster, while Will rowed for the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill.

"It's always been a dream to get as far as I can with it. And just seeing my brother go to William & Mary really inspired me in a lot of ways," van der Vaart said. "He worked with me as a pitching coach and developed me into a better player."

Van der Vaart was deliberate in his college search. He knew he wanted a college that could put him in a position to be drafted into Major League Baseball, but one that also prepared him for a life in business if baseball fell through. 

With multiple players from the Pomona-Pitzer program being drafted over the years, he feels confident he has a chance to have scouts notice him. But he is also impressed with Pitzer College's academics, as he plans to study Japanese, economics and quantitative statistics to prepare him for a career doing business between the West Coast and Japan.

"It just seemed like the dream school for me because it allows me to go out and play two-way, or at least try, at a school where I have a chance to go further with baseball, and it allowed me to go to a school that pushed me academically speaking, as well," van der Vaart said.

Van der Vaart hopes to play two-way — as a knuckleball pitcher and position player — for as long as he can through college, though he expects to eventually be pushed into one or the other. 

Tom Verbanic, head coach at Flint Hill School, sees the potential for van der Vaart to be an effective utility player at the college level.

"I would call him a dirtball. When I say dirtball, that's a great term to me. It means he just wants to play to win in any way possible," Verbanic said. "I think that Felix is going to be the utility guy who can play any position. He'll battle and fight. He'll find his way on the field. I don't know where it's going to be, but he will find his way."

For the one year van der Vaart played for the Huskies, he started at second base and pitched in relief. In the two years he played for Oakton High School, he pitched, played outfield and infield, and even served as designated hitter.

"The thing about baseball is, you never know when a new skill will just click for you," van der Vaart said. "Realistically speaking, I think I'll end up as a pitcher. But I've played everywhere. So for me, wherever I can help out is where I'll go."

To read about other local athletes who have committed to college programs, click here.

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