‘Pressure is a privilege’

In knowing Chase Sitler, he’s already his own man, and I’m content being the rebounder of basketballs and in life when needed.

The 2025 Warren Area High School graduate had other options, but he wasn’t done exploring the game that’s helped him grow the strength and courage to make difficult and personal decisions; Sitler recently committed to play NCAA Division III basketball at Keuka College in Keuka, N.Y., beginning this fall.

“I like the saying, ‘pressure is a privilege,’” said Sitler. “Having all that pressure is stressful sometimes, but that’s what I like so much about sports, and that’s why I really wanted to give this a chance instead of, like, intramurals at a larger university. Even though stress is usually seen as a negative word, there’s something about having stress and pressure in sports that makes it so exciting and so worthwhile and so satisfying after you get a win.”

That’s a far cry from a youth tournament in Punxsutawney when his coach and grandfather, Larry Persing, had to search for a paper bag when heading to overtime caused a 9-year-old Chase to hyperventilate.

File photo courtesy of Mark Evans
Warren graduate Chase Sitler will take his basketball talents to Keuka College (N.Y.) next fall.

Ten years later, Sitler is comfortable taking his time finding the right path to becoming an environmental engineer, or a different field. After all, Chase’s father went to college for journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for 20 years before going back to school to become an English teacher.

Sitler was impressed by Keuka College’s “Field Project” study requiring students every year to gain hands-on experience outside of the classroom at businesses and organizations relating to your course of study.

If sports and basketball have shown him anything, he will grow and evolve beyond who he is right now. Chase’s dreams of becoming a WWE superstar changed to basketball almost overnight.

“I remember I was at my aunt’s house and an NBA highlight video popped up on my phone, and I thought it was really cool,” said Chase. “So I watched more NBA highlight videos and I was like, wow, I want to be able to do stuff like this. I’d say the NBA, the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, really got me more into basketball and sparked my love for it.”

Chase’s first sport was soccer, and he was always adept at playing defense. In high school, Sitler was a four-year starter and two-time District 10 all-star on defense.

File photo courtesy of Mark Evans
Warren’s Chase Sitler averaged 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

In basketball, Sitler was sixth man on Warren’s first District 10 championship team since 1983. This past season, he was Region 5 co-Player of the Year, and the Dragons won their first region title since 1983.

While head coach Jeff Berdine assigned Sitler to guard the opposition’s best offensive player, it’s scoring points that Chase likes best, so different than in soccer where he had only one goal in four seasons.

“There’s no better feeling than after you put the ball in the basket,” said Sitler. “Like, no matter how much it happens, it’ll always bring a good sense of satisfaction. Buzzer-beaters are definitely the coolest moments of my life, probably. Winning is, of course, one of the best parts about it. When I hit that shot, I knew I did my job.”

That’s what makes soccer and basketball so similar.

“There was nothing like a ball slipping through and I had to run it down and save the team from giving up a potential goal,” said Chase. “It’s just the idea that my team is relying on me and the pressure that goes with it.”

About the time Chase was getting a little bit better at both soccer and basketball, he met Bernard Edwards. Going to the YMCA every day to shoot didn’t match practicing “in the lab,” as Edwards would affectionately call his basketball workouts.

“During the summer after my seventh-grade year, I went up to The HUB (Praise Fellowship Church) with a friend to shoot around,” said Sitler, “and in walks this 6-foot-6 guy that I had never seen before. He came up to us and told us he’d give us five bucks apiece if we’d rebound for him. I found out he played for the Jamestown Jackals and got paid to play basketball. He asked us if we wanted to be trained by him and the rest is history.”

Sitler not only played AAU basketball for “Coach B” and B Edwards Elite and worked with Edwards year-round on his game, but they also formed a friendship.

“He’s been a huge part of my life ever since we met,” said Sitler. “I can’t name everything he’s taught me. He’s really taught me just how to get better, how to work hard and how to develop my skills and how to take them to the next level. He also really taught me how to be humble and just how to be a better person. He’s one of my role models. He’s who I want to be as a person. He’s just a really nice guy, really humble, gives everyone a chance. He’s what you would want in a coach. Like I said, the rest is history.”

Coaches like Edwards and Jeff Berdine helped Sitler overcome a tough start to playing varsity basketball, adjusting to the physicality and not always having the ball in his hands.

“Something I’ve struggled with my entire life is being too hard on myself,” Sitler said. “Like having my teammates rely on me and I don’t perform. If we lose, or sometimes even when we won, I’d feel like I didn’t do my job if I didn’t score. If I had a couple of bad games, I was a wreck.”

Sitler said his junior year made him mentally strong.

“That was one of the most talented teams I’ve ever been on in any sport,” he said, “and our expectation was that we were going to win the District 10 championship.”

This season, he had a tough start scoring-wise, but continued to do the things Berdine preached, like defense leading to transition, passing, and rebounding.

Then came a high school career-high 29 points at Corry.

“That difficult junior year for me was a huge reason I succeeded my senior year when I got a chance to be one of the main guys,” said Sitler. “Having to fill a role (as fifth or sixth man) the year before really taught me a lot about patience.”

Sitler is certain patience he’s learned from high school basketball will help him overcome a dislocated elbow he suffered last month in a basketball tournament in Syracuse, New York.

“Everything’s going to be more difficult in college, and I love that,” said Sitler. “There will for sure be many, many hard things that I’ll have to go through and things that I’ll have to overcome. Those hard things that I’ve had to deal with the past couple years will make the hard things in the future easier because I’ll know how to deal with them.”

Sitler is most proud of the days he’s spent shooting and dribbling when no one was watching.

“I’m very happy that I can play for four more years,” he said. “I’m proud of myself, but it’s not the type of proud that some people might expect. This is just kind of what I expect for myself to do things like this. So I’m not over the moon about it. My goal was to be able to play college basketball and I expected myself to. I’ve played basketball probably 99% of the days I’ve lived, and that is something I’m proud of — playing that much and working that hard. Before I really thought about it, it didn’t seem like it was that special, but it’s just because I’ve come to expect it of myself. I think it would be very hard to play in college if you didn’t enjoy all the behind-the-scenes work. Everybody’s going to enjoy the games and the fun stuff, but you have to enjoy shooting 500 shots in a day you might be tired. You have to enjoy that to really get better, really get to the next level.

“My goal for college is to just be on the floor,” said Sitler. “There’s a difference between being on the team and being on the court. I want to find any way I can to be on the court and make an impact. Even at the Division III level, which I learned quickly in pickup games with the team, everybody can score. Everybody can put the ball in the basket. You have to be willing to defend with all 100% of your energy and do the little things, as cliche as it sounds.”

He enjoys the fact it won’t be easy.

“Having the opportunity to play the next level and overlook some other opportunities to continue his education at colleges where the opportunity for him to play didn’t exist wasn’t really an option for him,” said Berdine. “He strongly felt the continued need to be able to channel his competitiveness on a stage of his choosing. Chase and I discussed this when we were talking about opportunities for him to play sports at the intramural level in college, but he did not feel it would be the same experience and I 100% agree with him. His recent injury during AAU is only a temporary setback. In speaking with him, I know he is looking forward to getting back to being able to work on his game. The change in coaches at Keuka adds to his eagerness as well. Having an opportunity to play at Kueka, I was very happy for him based on my experience working with him. I viewed this as a great opportunity for him to continue being able to fuel the competitive drive that he has.”

Sitler played in 26 games for the 2023-24 District 10 4A champion Dragons (20-6) as a junior, and he started every game this season as a senior for Warren’s 17-5 Region 5 champs (13-1 in region). He was named a first-team region all-star by a vote of the region’s coaches. He did most of his damage against Region 5 opponents; he averaged 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals for the regular season, but averaged 16.3 points (114 points in seven games) the second time through the region schedule.

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As his father, and of course I’m biased, there’s nothing else I would have rather been doing on Father’s Day than writing this story, or rebounding his right-handed floaters (until he gets his left back).

To all the fathers out there, embrace every moment you can because before you know it, your best friend is off to college. At least I will have quotes like this to text him:

“Becoming a man means doing the right thing even though it may be hard or difficult. Boys do what is easiest. A man does what is right, whether easy or not.”