Impact Of A Scholarship: Rob Abiamiri

Robert Abiamiri's heart has always belonged to his home state, Maryland. However, it only sometimes belonged to the game of football. 

The Baltimore native, who graduated from the University of Maryland in 2005, did not start his football career until his freshman year at Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore. 

Growing up, Abiamiri participated in many sports like soccer and track, but his real love was basketball. In fact, his ultimate goal was to play in the NBA one day.

While not exposed to the football culture until later in life, Abiamiri was encouraged by his older cousin to try out for the football team in the fall of his freshman year. 

"He told me to 'Go' and I said 'Okay, alright I'll go to football tryouts.' I wasn't even planning on it. I just went, played, and had a great time and eventually started having a lot of fun with it and kept it going from there," Abiamiri said regarding his introduction to the game.

His football career progressed as he began to play more and discovered that he had more success on the football field than on the basketball court, soccer field, or track. The hidden football talents Abiamiri possessed took him by surprise. With that, the game slowly started becoming more than just an after-school activity; it was becoming his future. 

"At first I was just out there having fun and competing. I was having success, but I didn't know that I had a chance to go play in college. But slowly over time, you start to develop that desire and that passion. And then you're like, 'Okay, well, how good can I get? How good can I be?' And then you've got to start dedicating more time to it, you're working out, you're training, you're investing in camps, equipment, training, trying to just get better." 

Through the recruitment process, Abiamiri's abilities were praised by his high school coaches and college recruiters; this attention drove Abiamiri to be a better and more dedicated football player. 

Intending to follow in his older cousin's footsteps, Abiamiri considered furthering his athletic and academic careers at the Naval Academy post-high school. However, when taking a further look into the team's offensive strategies, he decided that playing there was not in his best interest and that he wanted to play at a school where his athletic abilities could be used and displayed as much as possible. 

"I wanted to be somewhere where I had a chance to develop as a receiver and catch a lot of balls and score a lot of touchdowns and do all that kind of stuff. That's how I ended up in College Park. I felt like I had a better opportunity to do well there."

Like any other freshman, Abiamiri's transition from high school to college ball was intimidating and doable. He reflects on his first game-day experience as if it was yesterday.

"I think the first time you stepped on the field as a freshman, the first thing you feel, is a, a little bit of doubt, like 'Am I ready for this? But then all the work that you've put in, all the preparation, all begins to feel like it is paying off. You learn that, if you work hard to prepare yourself, right, then you become more confident. Because no one else has prepared as hard as I have for this game, no one else is as ready as I am for this game, and then and then the whistle blows, and you just play, and then things just calm down that first hit that first catch that first block, whatever it is, everything starts to settle down and your mind just is in the game. It's almost like an out-of-body experience for like three hours."

While playing with the Terps, Abiamiri experienced ups and downs within the football program and as a player.  

In the winter of his redshirt-freshman year, head coach Ron Vanderlinden was fired after the Terp's fourth straight losing season. The regime change shook the entire program, causing a sense of defeat within the team's culture. Yet, when Ralph Friedgen took the position in 2001, attitudes immediately began to change, and the program felt like it was on the right track again, something Abiamiri admired as a player and knew he wanted to succeed under this new coach.

"There was definitely a difference, a big difference in how [Friedgen] ran the program. He just taught us how to win. I think we had been a team with great talent, but we just didn't know how to win and I think Coach Friedgen brought that to our program. So I think we all collectively, as a team, just learned how to be quality players, students of the craft, and the importance of studying and watching film. He brought an increased intensity to practice and that is what we needed."

The following season, the Terps went 10-2.  

"It was just amazing to see. It was all the same guys in the locker room from one year to another, so the change in mentality and for us to go 10-2 was a huge highlight for sure."

Everything changed sophomore year for Abiamiri. After a collision with another player, he received a shin injury, causing a stone-like calcification between his tibia and fibula, resulting in a lot of pain. After debates on whether to treat this injury, how to treat it and the possible results of the treatment,  Abiamiri decided it was best for him to stop his career and just be a student for his last two years. 

Fast forward to the spring of his junior year, Abiamiri's injury had healed itself. No one was more surprised than he was, and he wanted to return to the field with his teammates immediately. However, during the time he took to heal, the formation and dynamics of the team had changed. The only way for Abiamiri to get back onto the field was to work extra hard, put on weight, and change his position from a wide receiver to a tight end, which allowed him to play in his last two years with the Terps. 

Abiamiri has many fond memories of his time as a Terp; one of the biggest was the Terps' victory in the ACC Championship in 2001. Being a part of the Terp family has had an ever-lasting effect on Abiamiri's life. The biggest and most important takeaway from his career is the importance of teamwork—how all 11 players on the football field need to work together and communicate for a positive result. The idea is that an end result doesn't solely reflect on the work of each individual but of the entire group on the field working as one unit. He carries the lessons he has learned through playing football with him throughout his life. 

Abiamiri notes that his teammates made his experience at UMD the most memorable. 

"The time we spend, the relationships you develop in the locker room and on the buses, going into games, and working out, just the bonds you build with your teammates, those are the things that you carry with you, that you continue to carry well after you're done playing. And we can look back and tell stories about, you know, some of those experiences that we had."

After his career at the University of Maryland, Abimiri was picked up as a free agent with the Baltimore Ravens. It was a dream come true for a boy growing up in Baltimore. 

He's been at Facebook for the last seven years as a Data Center Connectivity Manager and then promoted to Data Center Connectivity Regional Manager for the East Region.

Receiving a scholarship to play football at Maryland allowed Abiamiri to get an education which became the foundation for everything he has in his life. Without the generosity of the donors, Abiamiri wouldn't have been able to go to Maryland and contribute to the team and program's success while they were there. 

"I think of it in terms of an investment that compounds. My scholarship allowed me to go to Maryland,  have experience, and continue to develop the program and make the program successful, which also helps the team be able to recruit and get the best talent in the future. It kind of builds on itself over and over, where if we invest, and we continue to invest in making sure that we have the scholarships available to get the best talent that we can get into the program, to eventually result in wins that will continue that cycle of bringing in great talent, having a successful program. This all brings excitement to the program. Without the scholarship, we can't do that. It's fundamental to the program."