High School to College- Making the Transition
Learn what it takes to move up to the next level
As winter turns to spring, a number of high school athletes have to deal with making the transition to the college and university level. It’s not an easy task to transform into a college student-athlete, deal with independence, a larger media presence, more demanding coaches and juggling academics with athletics.
At the top of the advice list for a first-year college student is the need to juggle your own schedule and become independent. It’s no different for the student-athlete. Being able to manage your time between studies with things like practice and film study are important because remember: without staying academically sound, you cannot stay eligible on the athletic field.
College sports are a completely different animal when it comes to media and exposure. Some of the higher-profile high school athletic programs will have to deal with local and sometimes national media, but for the most part a high school athlete will have far less media-relation than most college athletes. A point in the favor of athlete’s just stepping foot on campus is some college coaches will not allow freshman to speak with the media. However, once you ascend to the upper-classmen’s level, it is fair game.
Think back to your high school games: how many of them were televised? Unless you attended one of the small percentages of high schools that had a portion of their games televised, you have never had the experience of playing with cameras and broadcasters looming over the field. Now is the time to get used to it, especially if you play one of the major revenue-generating sports like football, basketball and baseball. Nowadays, it’s not just the major universities that have their games broadcasted; it seems like every school has some form of TV or radio presence at games. And just think: you’re playing on television!
Almost every athlete has had a demanding high school coach. But at the college level it’s a different story because these men and women, for the most part, are being paid a lot more than the average high school coach and have a tremendous amount of pressure on a daily basis. Get to know your coach as much as possible; spend some time off the field and away from practice with your coach. You’ll find the pressures each of you face go hand-in-hand.
One final thing to remember when making the transition from high school to college sports: have fun. Only a small percentage of athletes get to play at even the lowest levels of college; it’s a unique privilege. And knowing how to handle certain new situations will make you a better student, a better student-athlete and ultimately, a better person.