Brendan Kordana: A man on the run
Brendan Kordana is a guy on the run. Never staying in one place too long, on and off the court, he's always on the move – hard to get a hold of, hard to catch.
As a guard on the men's basketball team, that's the best quality he can possess.
Kordana got his start locally, on a third and fourth grade travel team. Raised in Adams, he played for Hoosac Valley during high school alongside MCLA teammate Adam Tarsa. As a Hurricane, he was selected for the Berkshire All-County League team in the '04-'05 and '05-'06 seasons. At one point, he averaged double digits for a good stretch, including a 33-point game against Taconic to clinch the Div. 2 title win in '05-'06. In that same season, the North Adams Transcript named him the League MVP.
When asked about why he loves the game, Kordana said, "I think I would have to say the competitive nature. I love the feeling of being in a big game, and all the fans are counting on the team to go out and win."
When it came time to choose colleges, Kordana picked Southern Vermont College just over the state line in Bennington, Vermont. As a freshman, he was awarded as All-Independent Rookie of the Year. Sophomore year, Kordana added All-New England Collegiate Conference Honorable Mention to the list of growing accolades. After the '08-'09 season, Kordana moved closer to home, citing financial reasons, and enrolled at MCLA. He joined the team as a junior shooting guard.
"At first (adjusting to MCLA) was a little hard, because being at Southern Vermont, I played against the MCLA team the two years before I came here," Kordana said. "So when I came in, it went from being enemies against them on the court to being part of their team."
Kordana has become part of the team quite easily, clocking almost 20 minutes a game on the court. This year alone he has averaged a solid eight points, aiding in MCLA's current 15-7 winning season, their first in at least the last five years. Having been in the same situation at Southern Vermont, Kordana knows what makes the MCLA men's basketball team tick.
"At my old school, the teams I was on never had a winning season and I know the guys here haven't had a winning season either, so we basically all have that common goal in mind and that is a conference championship," Kordana said.
"It also helps, when you have a first team all-conference player in Jon Greenburg and second team all-conference player in Chris Harris on the court with you. They really open up a lot for the rest of us because teams tend to focus on shutting them down," Kordana added.
Specifically, Greenburg and Harris constantly being pressured allows Kordana a space to work in. In his senior year, Kordana is 32-for-44 at the line and has a three-point average of almost 400, a significant improvement from last season. And while Kordana is proud of that, he believes that the team as a whole outshines his accomplishments.
"My season is going pretty well," Kordana said. "We are doing well as a team and that makes any lack in my individual game fade into the background. It has taken us a lot of sweat and hard work, but we are all focused on winning. "
His hard work starts off on the court, though, during his off-season. "In the summer, I get out of work, go lift or do cardio at the gym, then go down to the park and play 5-on-5. When the weather is nice, I am usually down at the part playing every night."
Though he doesn't believe in rituals before games all that much, Kordana has a certain way of going about getting ready for games: He packs everything in his bag the night before instead of the morning of and wears his high school practice jersey under his uniform every game, Kordana said, "beacuse it makes me think of all the hard work I put in while in high school to get to where I am today."
It's not just the hard work that pushes Kordana to succeed – on the court and off. He credits his family with his drive and ambition and his ability to push himself in the offseason. "My family has always instilled hard work in me, whether it is basketball, academics or whatever I am doing so I feel that really helps me succeed on the court," Kordana said.
The court, though, isn't the only place where Kordana excels. As a student-athlete, he takes the student portion of that phrase seriously. Kordana is a regular on the Dean's list and employs his own form of self-discipline to stay afloat in his classes.
"I make sure I am two days ahead of my school work throughout the whole season," Kordana explained. "When the season ends and I have a lot more time on my hands, I have a little more room to procrastinate, which I tend to do very well."
Anticipating a bachelor's degree in Business, Kordana is still unsure about where he'd like to go after college. "I have showed some interest in applying to General Dynamics in Pittsfield, because they are going to be hiring a lot of new jobs due to the new contract they had just received," he said. Other than that, though, "I am still undecided."
Until Kordana figures it out, he'll keep hiking, swimming, rollerblading and playing backyard sports and video games – all things he does outside of basketball. Most of them he can do with his husky puppy Cole, a staple at women's soccer games during the fall.
Brendan Kordana is a guy on the run. As a shooting guard, it's the best quality he can possess. As he approaches the beginning of the rest of his life, it's a quality he's going to use to his advantage.
(Kaitland Hager/MCLA Beacon)