West Ottawa senior Blake Pedersen has decided to play college basketball at Calvin University next year.
It is not the route many anticipated he would take considering his family has a long history at Hope College including both of his parents playing basketball there.
"Hope is kind of like in my families DNA," Blake said. "This is probably something that a lot of people wouldn't have expected but I'm pretty excited about it."
Blake was deciding between Calvin and Hope and said that Knights made him feel more loved.
His mom, Sara, not only played basketball at Hope she played softball and volleyball for the Flying Dutch as well.
"We just really wanted him to make his own decision and I don't think we pressured him." Sara said. "If anything my dad is a huge Hope fan and my dad is really pressurey."
His grandpa was very happy for him.
"I definitely thought it would be harder to tell him that I'm going to Calvin," Blake said. "He has always been really supportive and stuff but I probably didn't expect him to be that excited for me."
Now the family will trade in their orange and blue for maroon and gold, at least for a few years.
"I definitely have a lot of shorts and t-shirts and stuff like that," Blake said. "Obviously I won't be bringing those to Calvin."
"When I heard he was probably thinking that way I bought a Calvin gray sweatshirt," Sara added. "With a tiny little Calvin right there."
The next scheduled Calvin-Hope men's basketball game is January 13th, 2021 in Holland.
