Salisbury Alum Donovan Zong
- © Keystone Sports Extra
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Wilkes-Barre, PA - April 29, 2025: The majority of high school student-athletes start playing their sport at a young age. When they graduate from high school and move on to college, they usually will have had four or more years of experience. Once in a while, we hear of an athlete who starts a sport late, yet they end up excelling in the sport. Keystone Sports Extra recently chatted with a college student-athlete who did just that, playing tennis for four years when he never competed in that sport prior to college.
Donovan Zong is a 2020 graduate of Salisbury High School which is located just outside Allentown. Salisbury is a member of the Colonial League within PIAA District XI. Donovan is currently a graduate student at Wilkes University which is located in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He joined the Wilkes tennis team at the start of his sophomore year, having never played the sport competitively before this time.
Donovan wanted to play tennis in high school but COVID prevented him and many others from actually playing their sport for some time. Donovan then caught Lyme disease, which prevented him from starting college at Wilkes. Instead, while recovering, he attended Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC) where he took classes his freshman year that Wilkes had pre-approved for transfer.
Donovan always played sports growing up. He played football early on in his youth days and then played baseball and basketball throughout his high school years at Salisbury. Donovan said basketball was always his favorite sport. However, he was dealing with an injury which affected his ability to continue playing basketball.
Donovan then turned his focus toward his academic and long-term career goal of pharmacy. Wilkes was close to home and had a tennis program. He was still interested in being a college student-athlete so Wilkes became a good fit. It was the “only school I applied to,” said Donovan. I wanted to be there my freshman year but a health issue prevented that, he said.
I had to “develop my tennis skills from the ground up” once at Wilkes if I was going to compete,” Donovan said. And he had to do it while pursuing dual degrees in Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration (PharmD/MBA). I had to really focus on the “tennis IQ,” Donovan said, and learn to attack the other player’s weakness and “think” about the game, compared to just hitting the ball hard and getting it over the net.
Donovan said he had to learn how to effectively manage his time in college since he is involved in so many activities both academically and athletically. College is more structured than in high school. It wasn’t easy but he was willing to work hard to achieve his goals.
In the spring of 2024, the hard work came to fruition as Donovan was selected to the Academic All-District Team at Wilkes by the College Sports Communicators. To be chosen for this award, a student-athlete had to have been at least a sophomore academically and athletically, have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale), and must have competed in 70 percent of the total matches played by the team that includes team scores. Nominations were limited to a maximum of four student-athletes per school.
Donovan made it a point to say that being on the debate team at Salisbury was very beneficial to his growth, especially in public speaking. He reflected on his time with his debate Coach, Mr. (Michael) Barna, a social studies teacher at Salisbury, who really made “debate” fun and rewarding. Donovan said debate helped him to confidently express his thoughts to an audience in a succinct and subtle manner and that he uses the skills learned from debate all the time.
When KSE recently visited Wilkes to chat with Donovan, the tennis team was taking on Lycoming College. It was their last home match of the season. Donovan usually plays both doubles and singles but on this day, the team was trying to get some athletes additional playing time since it was the last home match. Donovan was more than happy to sit out in order to see a friend of his and teammate get a chance to play in a doubles match.
In singles, Donovan helped his team to a 7-0 shutout victory over Lycoming. Donovan easily won his match 6-2 and 6-1 for his sixth singles victory of the season. Donovan also recorded eight wins during the season in doubles.
After the match against Lycoming, Donovan said: “It was a nice one out there today, with all the rain and postponements lately, it was nice to have an 80 degree day. I played very well. My shots were going in and my forehand was feeling really good today.”
“It’s Coach Veith’s first season here at his Alma Mater and he has turned some other programs around, he has been a decorated Coach,” Donovan said. “I am very excited to see how the future of Wilkes tennis goes because I have the utmost confidence in him to create such a good culture here, and he has a lot of (good) people coming in.”
Athletically, Donovan’s career is over, but academically and career-wise, Donovan is looking forward to the future. Donovan will complete his classes at Wilkes in a couple weeks, but he will start “rotations” in the summer and they will continue for a year before he can actually graduate in 2026. Clinical rotations are similar to internships where Donovan will “shadow” workers in his field of study. The “rotations” will take place at various companies or medical facilities in the area. Donovan’s first “rotation” is at nearby Sanofi before he returns to the Lehigh Valley area for a few others. Donovan is excited and looking forward to returning to his home area.
Donovan’s long-term goal is to go into “pharma industry” and use his conversational skills to explain new products to healthcare providers and the medical world. He believes his rotations will help him determine further, and more specifically, what he will actually do for the rest of his life. He also said that his MBA will play a big role in his career.
Donovan is involved in so many organizations and activities at Wilkes. It was impressive to hear about all of them, including being a member, as well as serving as the Sergeant at Arms, of Kappa Psi Delta Omicron, which is a fraternity for “advancing the profession of pharmacy.” He is also a member and “historian” for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), the Secretary of the Network for Collaborative Oncology Development and Advancement (NCODA), and a “chair” for the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA). He has also completed a Walgreens Pharmacy Internship.
When we asked Wilkes Tennis Coach Scott Veith about Donovan, he said: ”Take a look at Donovan and you get a good glimpse into the world of a typical Wilkes student-athlete. He's a good kid from a good family, and he's involved in everything. He represents himself well, he competes hard, and he is very coachable. As we look to grow Wilkes Tennis to the best program we can be, I'm going to need more people just like Donovan. He's a worker, he's trustworthy, and he's fun to be around.”
In conclusion, KSE asked Donovan about some interesting or fun things in his life: He’s a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan…”Go Birds.” He commented that the Eagles will likely repeat in 2026. He said if he could sit down and meet/chat with one athlete, past or present, it would be Saquon Barkley, not only an Eagles great but a local Whitehall High School graduate. He picked WaWa…”all the way and without any question,” over Sheetz. Donovan laughed and said that a WaWa “recently and finally” opened near Wilkes and he found himself going there five days in a row (laugh). Donovan is a very healthy eater and does not like to eat heavy before a competition. He said if he had to choose a pre-game meal like that, it would be a burrito or pasta dish. Donovan is a “big science guy” so he enjoys listening to the Andrew Huberman (a Neuroscientist and Professor of Neurology & Ophthalmology at Stanford University) podcast. Donovan also enjoys music and/or playing the guitar when he has some down time. He commented that some of the best and funniest times he has with his roommates/teammates is at his off-campus apartment playing Rock Band. “We have so much fun,” he said.
Keystone Sports Extra would like to thank Donovan, Coach Veith, and Wilkes University for the opportunity to meet and talk in order to complete this article.
