Getting to
Know ... Dan
Snyder
Click photo to enlarge
Q: What baseball memory stands out the most for you?
A: Playing in the Jr. Legion Pennsylvania State Championship Tournament
with Marion Center. We lost our first game vs. Boyertown and worked our way
through the losers’ bracket winning five straight games to play for the State
Championship. As is turns out, we took 2nd in the state.
Q: What is the best part of being a college athlete?
A: Simply doing the things that athletes love to do, compete! Being a
college athlete enables one to continue to develop competitiveness. Being a
college athlete also opens up a world of opportunity to display maturity and
leadership both on and off the playing field.
Q: What are some of your favorite things to do in your spare time when you
are not playing baseball?
A: I enjoy the outdoors, traveling and listening to good music.
Q: What is the best advice you have ever received from a coach?
A: Success is not always measured in terms of wins and losses. There
is much more to life that winning and losing a game. Success is the ability to
overcome adversity, give a 110% in all that you do and develop humility through
it all.
Q: Who is your most influential role model?
A: My mother. Without her support and encouragements, none of my
accomplishments would have been possible.
Q: What celebrity would you most like to meet?
A: Lance Armstrong
Q: Do you have a favorite type of music you listen to?
A: Country and Rock and Roll.
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Gladiator
Q: What is your favorite sports movie?
A: For the Love of the Game
Q: Do you have a favorite food or meal?
A: Steak and potatoes.
Q: What is your favorite holiday?
A: Christmas. Gifts, family, friends… and a break from school… Nothing could be better.
Q:
What is your favorite professional baseball team?
A: Pittsburgh Pirates. One must stay true to their hometown team.
Q:
Who is your favorite professional baseball player?
A: Miguel Tejada
Q: Name one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you.
A: I was home schooled K-12. I have only ever been ejected from one
sports game ever…and that was the Jr. Legion State Championship final game for
throwing my bat after flying out.
Q: What is the place that you haven’t traveled to, that you would most like
to visit?
A: New Zealand
Q: What would be your dream job?
A: Working for Westinghouse or Respironics as a Safety Engineer in
Western Pa!
Q:
What is it that attracted you to IUP?
A: I grew up near Indiana, and they offer one of only 12 academic
accredited programs that I wanted to pursue: Safety Sciences.
Q:
What do you like most about the city of Indiana?
A: It’s not too big and it’s not too small. You don’t have to drive
very far to be in a major city, and you don’t have to drive very far to be in a
rural setting.
Q:
What baseball team in the PSAC would you most like to beat?
A: Slippery Rock.
Q:
What is your favorite thing about the sport of baseball?
A: There is no time clock, or play clock. It is just you, your
teammates, and the ball. Whenever the game is over, it is over. You can’t
blame time.
Q:
What is your earliest baseball memory?
A: T-ball in Elderton, Pa
Q:
If you could play any other sport in college, what would it be?
A: Wrestling.
Q:
What (if any) pre-game superstitions or rituals do you have?
A: I say a short prayer thanking God for the opportunity to play a game
I love and for the desire to compete to the best of my ability.
Q:
What are some of your favorite things to do in your spare time when you are
not playing baseball?
A: Hang out with my girlfriend, teammates and family. After that, I
enjoy getting a breath of fresh air by going on short hikes and or running
around the yard with my dogs.
Q:
What was your favorite TV show growing up?
A: Darkwing Duck
Q:
What is your favorite TV show now? Do you have a favorite character on that
show?
A: Everybody Loves Raymond. The Grandpa is my favorite character.
Q:
What are your career goals
A: To be challenged in whatever tasks are set before me and to succeed
in them.
Q:
What does it take to be academically successful at IUP?
A: Discipline, hard work and determination. Success will be measured in
terms of your effort. The more you put into it the more you will get out of
it.
Q:
What does it take to be athletically successful at IUP?
A: The same goes for being athletically successful: Discipline, hard
work, and determination. You need discipline to manage your time, both
athletically and academically. You need hard work at practice to become a better
athlete and to become a better student. But most of all you need a will, a
vision and a determination to set your self apart from everyone else.