Wheaton Academy Basketball :: wheatonacademybasketball.com

Pat King, Al Mila, Nick Fichera and now Jason VanderVeen. Those first three players etched their names in the marble of Wheaton Academy boys soccer lore in recent years, and the fourth is just putting down the chisel.

Jason VanderVeen is a senior for the Warriors, a center midfielder whose all-around skills have marked his four-year varsity career. He’s exceptional in the air, has great field vision, his work rate is unsurpassed, and he can finish in big games — as his two goals in last year’s Class A sectional final win over St. Francis showed.

After he netted those two balls, VanderVeen’s versatility was then put to use at sweeper, helping to secure the win that put the Warriors in the 2004 Elite Eight.

VanderVeen’s all-around abilities were literally put to the test earlier this year, when he participated in a skills competition at the 32-team Pepsi Showdown tournament. More than 150 players underwent six individual tests of agility, speed, endurance, etc., and VanderVeen walked away as the highest-rated player tested.

“He could play almost anywhere and be dominant at that position,” said Warriors coach Chip Huber. “I don’t know that I’ve had anybody that could do the number of things that he can do.”

But as the point guard on the Warriors’ basketball team will tell you, there’s one thing he enjoys doing most: finding the open man. VanderVeen had 19 goals and 19 assists through Monday’s sectional quarterfinal win over Wilmington — 53 goals and 46 assists and counting for his career.

“He’s first of all a distributor. He’ll put a ball on a guy’s foot from almost anywhere on the field,” Huber said. “When the ball is at his foot, you’d better start running to space, because it’s going to be there. You have to expect it.”

“For whatever reason I know what’s around me and I see well on the soccer field and the basketball court,” VanderVeen said.

There’s also evidence that it may simply befit VanderVeen’s nature to feed soccer balls and basketballs to other people.

“He’s generous. He doesn’t like to take. He likes to give,” said Warriors senior Josh Luetkehans. “Everyone loves him at school. He’s friends with everybody.”

“He hangs out with everyone from the freshmen to the seniors. You wouldn’t know that he’s an all-state soccer player,” said Warriors athletic director Tom Jamerson. “He’s just real. He’s genuine.”

Which makes VanderVeen’s Jekyll-and-Hyde act somewhat surprising. Because driving the even-keeled, generous senior is a fire in his belly for competition that rages on, in stark contrast to his laid-back demeanor.

“He burns,” said VanderVeen’s father, Ken. “In everything he does, he’s competitive.”

“Any little thing, I always want to win,” VanderVeen said. “Whatever it is, I want to be the best. It comes back to bite me sometimes.”

In the preseason Wheaton Academy and its student enrollment of roughly 550 was slated to make the private-school jump up to Class AA, before petitioning the IHSA and being granted Class A status for this season. The Warriors instantly became a favorite to vie for the state crown, but VanderVeen’s competitive nature spurred his initial reaction to the announcement.

“Some of us were ecstatic, that we had an awesome chance of doing well this year,” Luetkehans said. “Not (VanderVeen). He wanted the harder competition. He wanted to play the best of the best, which is just how he is.”

As someone who loves to measure himself and his school against the Class AA giants in the area, VanderVeen was also wary that a program traditionally fueled by its underdog mentality would become slightly cocky once it became favored to make a state-title run.

“It can bring out an arrogant mindset, to some degree,” VanderVeen said. “I was worried that we’d have a letdown, and that’s just what happened.”

The Warriors hit a lull after the announcement but got back on track in a game against Benet in which they trailed 4-2, but scored twice in the game’s final 10 minutes to force a tie. VanderVeen had 2 goals and 2 assists in that game.

Wheaton Academy took a 13-6-4 record into sectional semi-final play thanks to a defense that needed time to jell, a midfield that benefits from the recent move of Bryan Burke from the back line, and a pair of scorers in Jimmy King and Alex Earl whose offensive skills and contributions have been instrumental in taking pressure off of VanderVeen.

“We’re playing well,” VanderVeen said. “The younger guys are getting it, and we’re defending well.”

The atmosphere that student-athletes enjoy at Wheaton Academy is unlike anything you’ll find at larger schools. The campus almost has a small-town feel to it, where everyone knows one another, cliques don’t exist, and notions of faith and community are supremely important.

VanderVeen may take a crack at playing Division I soccer next year, or NAIA, or he may opt for Division III and the homier, small-school feel to which he’s accustomed.

Whoever gets him will get someone who leaves it all on the field, all the time, which may well be his lasting trait as a Wheaton Academy soccer player.

“Give it everything you’ve got,” VanderVeen said. “If you don’t, what’s the point in being on the field?”