Issue date: 9/29/04 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Carrie Hollis Junior center Pascal Matla (left) waits to snap the ball during offensive line drills at practice in O´Brien Stadium Tuesday afternoon. After seeing limited action in his first year with the Panthers, Matla has started the last two seasons.

Media Credit: Carrie Hollis Junior center Pascal Matla watches from the sidelines during football practice at O´Brien Stadium Tuesday afternoon. While in Europe, Matla played for two club teams: the Zoetemeer Black Angels and the Saarland Hurricanes.

Eastern center Pascal Matla, 25, has had an unlikely road to success in football that has taken him across the globe.

Matla, originally form Voorburg, Netherlands, said that he is the only collegiate player to be recruited from that country. The two-year starter originally came to Eastern in 2001 and has developed into a leader on the offensive line.

"(Pascal) is one of the smartest linemen we have," offensive guard Steve Sobolewski said. "It's obvious when you play next to him."

Growing up, Matla, a six-foot five-inch 300 lb. junior, never saw the game of football in his homeland where soccer was the most popular sport. He played soccer himself until he had his first contact with American football.

Matla was on hand at a media day for the Amsterdam Admirals, a NFL Europe team, and got to meet some of the players.

"One of the players told me I was a big kid and told me I should play," Matla said. "So I went home and started looking for information on where to play."

He had limited options for finding a team since there are only around 500-600 football players in all of Holland, Matla said.

When he was 17-years-old Matla joined a club in Zoetermeer, located 20 miles from his hometown of Voorburg, that was part of a flag football league.

After flag football Matla was able to play in the 18-year-old full-contact division, which he described as high school football with 30-year-olds. But it wasn't long before Matla outgrew his surroundings on the gridiron.

"I felt like I couldn't learn any more in Holland," Matla said. "I had to go to the next level."

When Matla was 19, he contacted a club team in Germany, the Saarland Hurricanes, and joined the team not knowing what they expected of him.

"When it came time for college, I thought more about football than school," Matla said. "I told myself, 'If things don't work out in Germany, then I'll go to college.'"

Matla moved to Saarland, a six-hour drive from Voorburg, and took a maintenance job in a hotel when he wasn't practicing or working out. When he first arrived in Germany, Matla said he didn't know the language well and didn't know many people, but it introduced him to a football environment.

While playing for the Hurricanes, Matla was selected to a 20 and under European team that would get a chance to play against other national teams in Tampa the week of the Super Bowl.

Matla was part of a 36 man team from nine different countries, and he came to America for the first time when he landed in Miami with his European team.

"(America) was totally new. Everything was bigger: the roads, the cars, the food servings, the drinks," Matla said.

While taking to a couple of scouts in Tampa, Matla was introduced to a whole new world of football.

"That was the first I heard of college football. I didn't know about scouts," Matla said. "It was the first time I heard of something outside of club or professional sports."

Matla thought going to college in America would be too expensive until scouts told him about athletic scholarships.

Tapes of the European team's game in Tampa were passed on to the Eastern coaching staff. Eastern's Offensive Line Coach Steve Farmer, now at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, saw the tape and began recruiting Matla.

"It was frustrating because you don't know all the rules in recruiting international players," Farmer said. "But he wasn't getting recruited by anyone else. He's (at Eastern) because he wanted to be."

Farmer made several calls to Matla, and before long Matla was headed for the United States.

"I had no clue what I was going to do," Matla said. "I just packed two suitcases and jumped in a plane."

Matla joined Eastern's team in the summer of 2001 for workouts and drills.

"When he first got here you could tell he hadn't been in the weight room like our kids were," Farmer said. "But he worked out and lost some weight and got stronger."

Unfortunately, Matla's stay in America wouldn't be long. Because of mistakes in calculating academic standing for Matla, he wouldn't be eligible to play for Eastern that year and left America after only a month.

"It was very disappointing having to say 'we messed up'. No one wants to be in that position," Farmer said. "But he did everything he had to do to get back."

Matla went back to Holland for a semester until he was able to get his grades up to NCAA standards and returned to Eastern in the spring of 2002.

Since playing at Eastern, Matla has learned the fundamentals of the sport and learned he couldn't just out-muscle guys like he could before.

Matla keeps in contact with his parents and family at home with daily e-mails and weekly calls. His father, Hans, was able to come see him play in last year's homecoming game.

"My dad saw how big (football) was here and was amazed," Matla said. "There are no sports in school in Holland. They don't know anything about school pride or school rivalries."

While that may be something Matla is learning about now, the road he traveled to get here is something he won't forget about.

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