Personal Statement
My name is Zachary Gaa. I attend the United World College of South East Asia - Dover Campus, Singapore. I pride myself in being a high-achieving student. I am enrolled in the IB right now and was enrolled in the GCSE for my Freshman and Sophomore year. I’ve had great success throughout all of high school, I’ve won many academic awards and am a straight A / A-star student.
My baseball career began in 2015, playing in Little League Fall Ball at the Singapore American School (SAS). Today, I am the starting shortstop for the Singapore Eagles 18U, the senior squad of the SAS Eagles Club baseball program. This program is run on a 9-month competitive schedule from 8U to 18U, with 2-3 contact days per week on average. We join several regional tournaments held in a year that we play mainly against top overseas clubs. Due to the Covid-related restrictions, most of my training has been sessions with my 18U coach and 2-3 other teammates. This has led to an intensive focus on my fielding and throwing strength. I was able to achieve a jump of 7 mph in my infield velo in 9 months. On top of my regular baseball training sessions, I go to the gym for strength and conditioning 5x a week. I focus mainly on strength building such as bench presses, deadlifts, and squats. I also develop a lot of functional strength when I do power training with some exercises to help rotator cuff mobility and strength.
My passion for the sport has grown leaps and bounds ever since I started more than 5 years ago. I love the game of baseball for its complexities - where a million different metrics can either make or break each fielding play or at bat. The precision and perfection that I am required to have, is what I am constantly chasing for. And of course, hearing the crack of the bat when I get a hit still brings me immense joy to this day. I continue to strive to be a better player each day and I dream of having the opportunity to take my game to the next level by playing in college.
