Junior Matthew Dawkins is in his first year of competing on the baseball team at Queens College. Last year he played and did extremely well at Bergen Community College.
A two-year graduate from junior college, Dawkins batted .419 and would like to hit this figure again or even better if at all possible, at his new ‘home’ Queens College, located in Flushing, New York.
“I did very good last year,” the starting center fielder said. However, he has this season been recently struggling at the plate.
Matthew is originally from Englewood, New Jersey, but his father is a native of Jamaica, West Indies, where his sport was not baseball, but was soccer. His father moved north from Jamaica to New York at a young age.
“Coming from New Jersey, my father tries to make the games,” he said. “He cheers me on. One thing that my father tells me is that school (academics) is important, to work hard and do what you love. Sometimes he would talk to me about the games (otherwise) he’s just a father figure).
“Now I stay in the dorms (on campus) instead of making the trip to Englewood every day.”
Matthews’ mother who is also from Jamaica, West Indies, encourages her son to study hard.
“She tells me to graduate and get a degree,” the six-foot left handed batter continued early in the season.
Matt came to Queens College because he thought it would be a great opportunity to continue sports and his academics. He wanted to help rebuild the program at Queens College and help to bring many players to contribute to the team.
“I like living on campus and it’s fun to do so,” the student athlete added. “It’s a big campus here. The coaches are doing a good (overall) job. (despite the record).”
All the student athlete wants to do is to get the wins for the Knights. “That’s what we think about,” he summed up.
At press time, Queens has a below .500 overall record and is struggling a bit. They compete in a tough East Coast Conference, comprising Division II colleges from the metropolitan New York area and even upstate.
