Staats Battle Talks Irish Pro Ball

After earning a scholarship for his Senior season last year, Staats Battle is officially going pro in Ireland.  He has earned a spot in the Victory Scholar program, which is run by the Sport Changes Life Foundation.  While helping change the lives of the youth in Ireland, he will also be going to Graduate School at the University of Limerick and playing basketball for them in the Irish Premier Basketball League.

I caught up with Battle today, and he explained what he would be doing across the pond in more detail.

“The Sport Changes Life Foundation is an outreach program that helps the at-risk youth in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The idea of the program is to use sports as an avenue to build self-confidence in the disadvantaged and disengaged kids and teenagers so that they are able to stay out of trouble and achieve success,” said Battle. “I will be doing all types of work in the community…. anything from coaching and running basketball camps to tutoring and serving as a mentor in small group discussions. Also, through the program, I will be continuing my basketball career for another year as well as attending graduate school. I will be playing for a Irish basketball club and will be attending the University of Limerick, where I will be earning a Master’s degree in Financial Services.”

Battle believes that his time as a student athlete at NC State has prepared him for this next adventure, and whatever comes after that.

“When people hear about what I am doing next year, they always ask, “how will you have time to do all of that?” and I always laugh because my NC State teammates and I have been doing it for the past four years,” said Battle.  “We play basketball in the top conference in the country, while taking a full class schedule and performing several different community service activities throughout the year. NC State has helped prepare me for next year by training me in time management, giving me the self-discipline to work hard in the classroom and on the basketball court, and teaching me that giving back to the community is always the most important thing.”

The man with one of the best basketball names ever doesn’t know what will be next after his year in Ireland, but it will be in the world of finance.

“I am not sure exactly what I want to do after next year, but I know I want to do something in finance. I am doing a summer internship with CAPTRUST Financial Advisors and I am interested in the work they do with retirement planning.  I also chose the Financial Services MS because the course work could help me land a job as an equity sales trader or as an analyst in either private equity or investment banking.”

We wish Staats the best of luck, and will be pulling for him in Ireland, and wherever life takes him after that.