Saints Developing Leadership Skills with ROTC

Balancing practices, weight room and film sessions with academic demands is a struggle for many student-athletes. But Kyle Frimel ’22 and Abigail Eberle ’22 take time management to another level as varsity student-athletes who are also participating in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program. Their experiences have helped them learn just how much they can achieve, while also developing leadership skills they can use on the field and in military service.

Frimel, a sophomore on St. Lawrence’s football team, always knew he wanted to enroll in an ROTC program while in college. Inspired by his father, who was in the Army in the ’80s, and his brother, who is currently an officer in Colorado, the linebacker wanted to continue the family tradition. 

“I've always followed in my brothers footsteps,” Frimel said. “And once I saw that he was doing ROTC, it opened my eyes up to it and I began thinking about whether or not it would be a career for me.”

While the Army ROTC Program at Clarkson University certainly played a role in Frimel’s decision to study at St. Lawrence, football was equally important.

“Football was a big thing that brought me here too,” the New Jersey native said. “I was recruited here to come play football and everything seemed to check the boxes and I just felt at home with everything, with ROTC, with football, and with life here at St. Lawrence.”

Having the opportunity to football play in college was always a goal for Frimel, who’s been playing since he was five. School and football have always gone hand in hand with his daily routine.

And when all else fails, Frimel has the football team to fall back on.

“There’s one hundred and something guys on the football team, so that’s one hundred people that you can go to for anything,” said the aspiring math/environmental studies double major. “If you need help with schoolwork or something isn’t going right in your life or anything you need, all those guys will drop anything and go and help you. And that goes for the coaches as well. All the coaches, no matter what is going on, they’ll always have open ears and they’ll always help you out no matter what.”

Head football coach Dan Puckhaber believes that the men who participate in ROTC in college are always looking to go above and beyond. They “know how to get things done,” he said. Furthermore, Puckhaber spoke to the sense of responsibility that these students have and feels that they usually take college more seriously given that they’re paying for it themselves. Frimel is no exception.

“Kyle was a heavily recruited kid that we knew about his senior year,” Puckhaber recalled. “We spent a lot of time and a lot of effort on making sure that Kyle liked St. Lawrence because he is a really good football player and a really good person. For him, he really appreciated and liked how we do things here and what the expectations were. When he decided to make his college choice, it worked out in our favor.”

Puckhaber remains more than impressed with Frimel’s ability to get things done. He praised both Frimel’s leadership skills and strengths on the field.

“We had a game on a Friday night where he played just about every defensive snap and a couple special team snaps and then he woke up at 2 a.m. Saturday morning to get dropped off in the woods with a compass and had to figure out his way out with a map," said Puckhaber. "And that’s while he’s also a full-time student and a contributing member of our football team.”

Similarly, Eberle, a sophomore on the women’s lacrosse team and participant in the Air Force ROTC program at 
Clarkson has impressed both coaches and teammates.

“Abby is so kind and she cares so much about everybody around her,” said women’s lacrosse head coach Hannah Corkery ’11. “We have to remind her to put herself first sometimes because she does so much for everybody and I don’t think she has any idea the impact she’s made on her teammates and coaches lives. I feel like I am never able to express to her how much we appreciate her as a person, a student, an athlete, and an ROTC member. She’s one in a million.”

Some of those unique moments are shared amongst the entire women’s lacrosse program.

“One of my favorite memories was having our team see Abby at her training,” Corkery said. “We had a 6 a.m. practice and she was going to come late and I told her she didn’t have to since she was doing her physical training. The girls got to see her do it and see her outrun her male counterparts. I think for them to see that made them admire her and respect her so much more and I think that she has no idea. I’d been wanting that for her and for them and it was an amazing moment for the team.”

Eberle seconded Frimel’s remark that playing a sport in college aligns more closely with the ROTC training than people may think.

“The leadership training I learn there correlates so closely with how you would lead in lacrosse and be able to be a good teammate and a good follower and leader,” the Connecticut resident said. “Time management is key. I have amazing coaches that understand I’m trying to tackle both and if I didn’t have their support, it would be almost impossible.”

Frimel commented to the same effect, saying that the support from the athletic department has been a huge help.

“Ever since I stepped in here, I’ve felt supported,” he said. “I’m so glad that I did join the football team at St. Lawrence because I got a kick start into making friends and meeting people and developing those social skills.”

As to where Frimel and Eberle see themselves headed in 2022, both are eager to serve right away.

“If everything goes well, then I’ll be a second lieutenant in the Air Force when I graduate,” Eberle said. “So I’d get my first assignment within the year and I’d be off and running. I’m definitely trying to use career services as well, to make sure I can make connections with all the amazing alumni for my time after serving.”

Frimel’s plans are similar to Eberle’s.

“When I graduate, my main goal right now is to go active duty and commission as a second lieutenant," said Frimel. "I want to fly helicopters for the Army. After that, I want to follow in my dad’s footsteps again and become an FBI agent. It will be interesting to see where St. Lawrence takes me.”