Keaton McAuliffe
Sports Editor
A few weeks ago, senior Maureen Schott went on a visit to the University of Connecticut and came back with a spot on the UCONN field hockey team. With now not only knowing that she’s going to be a college student, but a college athlete, a lot of questions arise as to what the layout of the fall will look like.
“I haven’t really talked to anyone doing field hockey in college right now,” Maureen said. “I have talked to siblings and past track athletes who played a sport in college and their perspectives helped me make my decision to play field hockey at UConn.”
Bridget Falcone, a graduate of NCHS last year, is now playing field hockey at Franklin and Marshall. Like Maureen, a family member educated her more on what it’s like to be a college athlete, “My sister played field hockey at Bates College so she was able to teach me about the differences between a high school sport and a college sport,” she said. “Other than that though I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew it would be more rigorous than high school but I didn’t know to what extent.”
Despite the anticipated rigor of collegiate athletics, Maddie Rusch, a first-year swimmer at Duke University, said that the transition was smooth and the college workouts manageable, “I already knew how demanding being a swimmer and a student was, so the transformation from high school to college swimming and academics was beyond manageable,” Maddie said. “I was for sure physically prepared coming out of high school. I knew Duke’s program wasn’t going to make me do things that were absurdly out of my comfort zone or out of my physical capabilities.”
Senior Alex Savoca will be rowing for Southern Methodist University come fall, and she admits she’s expecting a difficult training regimen, “Training will most likely be exponentially harder, especially since I’ll be in Division I,” she said, “but I think the routine of being a college athlete and balancing out student life with my sport as well as academics will really shape my whole experience at school and who I’ll grow up to be.”
“My old teammates all said that it was really important to pick a college program that fits you just as much as the school does,” Alex added. “The best advice they gave was to pick a team with the intensity level that keeps you happy, not necessarily just because they were the best team out there.”
Even more difficult than the physical aspect of college athletics is the balance between school and sport. However, Maddie felt that this too is manageable, “A typical day for me during swim season is practice from 6-8 a.m., and then again from 2:30-4:30 p.m. or 4:30- 6:30 p.m. depending on my class times,” Maddie said. “It’s challenging for sure, but I have a lot of time outside class and practice to do work, and I have a myriad amount of resources and people that I can talk to in order to make me excel in both the classroom and in the pool.”
Senior Stefan Pla, who will be continuing his swimming career at Middlebury College next fall, isn’t expecting anything too hard in terms of juggling school and athletics, “I think balancing my time will actually be easier than it is these days,” he said. “It’s no secret that in general people have much more free time in college, and my swim schedule will be less taxing in terms of time, from what I hear. While the temptation to do other things with my time will be great, I will have a lot of time on my hands to balance out all that I’ll have to get accomplished.”
Former NCHS senior Devaun Bouvell, who is currently running track at Boston College, admits that while scheduling can be busy the first few weeks, an established routine will ease up any initial stress, “The advice I would give for prospective college athletes is to let your first semester be a learning experience on how to balance school and athletics,” he said. “It has become easier for me this semester compared to the first because I learned how and when to schedule my classes. My work habits and schedule changed when I got here, so knowing how to set up my classes accordingly was key to balancing academics and athletics.”
Both Maddie and Devaun are also required to travel a lot for their schools as well, which can pose another challenge to balancing academics and athletics. However, Maureen says she’s aware of not only the travel schedule, but also what she must do to compensate for next year’s travel, “What also comes with field hockey is that you travel a lot. You are expected to talk to your professors about missing class and tests and also keep up with the homework while you’re going to and from games.”
While participating in college sports can be stressful at times, Bridget admits that her college experience wouldn’t be the same without it, “I would say that playing a sport in college was my best decision,” she said. “I was able to meet a lot of people of different ages who all became my really good friends.”
Stefan agreed that he is looking forward to continuing his sport next fall, “ I’m most excited to move on from high school and YMCA swimming and get to a team where 100% of the participants are there to compete, succeed, and motivate one another,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here but now that my senior year is drawing to a close I’m happy to have a new environment and team dynamic to move on to.”
