Senior Matias Prock finished up an excellent season on McLean varsity basketball, being awarded the Liberty District Player of the Year.

After this season, Prock was confronted with the question of how he wanted to continue his basketball career and academic career post-high school. He settled on going to Fork Union Military Academy and playing basketball through their postgraduate program. 

“I was looking at D3 options, but I figured if I was going to play for another four years, I wanted to try and see if I could play higher, and this was the way to go,” Prock said. 

Prock is hoping that this will allow him to get more out of his basketball career than the alternative of attending college straight after high school. 

“[My plan after Fork Union is] hopefully to get a scholarship for either a D2 school that we like academically or a low D1 school,” Prock said. 

There will be a lot of things that Prock will have to get used to when attending Fork Union. 

“I have to keep my head shaved – not completely shaved, but clean – I have to keep my shoes clean, my room clean, I wear uniforms, lights out at ten, wake up at six in the morning,” Prock said. 

These regulation are in place to support Fork Union’s overall goal. 

“Our mission is to educate, develop, and inspire young men in a college preparatory, Christian, military environment,” the Cadet handbook for Fork Union said. “Cadets build character and learn leadership, independence, confidence, responsibility, and discipline in a setting that encourages mental, physical, and spiritual growth.”

Prock is optimistic that this different environment will be a good fit for him. 

“I think I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s just going to be a competitive atmosphere that I want to be a part of. I think it’s going to bring out the best in me as well as other people, so it’ll be fun,” Prock said.