Whether you want to go pro one day or you just want to play for a competitive college team, continuing to play your favorite sport in college is something that sounds appealing to a lot high school athletes, but only seven percent of high school athletes go on to play a varsity sport in college and less than two percent of high school athletes go on to play for a Division I sports team in college. To get committed to a college sports team you do not just need the talent to get there. There is a time-consuming and tedious commitment process that one has to go through if they plan on playing a sport in college. 

Most committed athletes have been playing their sport for a while. Elizabeth Swanson, a senior who is committed to Shenandoah University for their Division III soccer team, has been playing soccer since she was in kindergarten. It is a sport that she calls, “Her first love.” The average age college athletes begin their sport is five years old if it is an individual sport and 10 if it is a team sport. But there have been athletes who started their sport in high school and went on to play for a varsity college team. 

Not only do college athletes play their sports for years, it also takes up a lot of time in their day to day lives. What separates prospective college athletes from athletes who just play their sport in high school is the time and hard work they put into their sports outside of practice in school. They work around the clock to improve and get better for college. For Troy Almendras, a senior who is committed to Division III lacrosse at Kean University, it is “hitting the wall everyday” and completing “a shooting workout at least twice a week” and “making sure that [his] conditioning and strength are good.” Athletes who are trying to get committed, play their sport all year round on a club team in addition to playing on their high school team. They also train for hours and make sure that their skills are sharp and that they are fit even during the off season. 

The decision to start the commitment process is something that should not be made lightly. The commitment process is long and could be stressful and the commitment to play in college is a big one. Reasons that athletes are interested in furthering their athletic career in college fall under reasons like they are passionate about the sport or they are interested in pursuing it professionally as a career one day. Michael Lustberg, a senior committed to Moravian University for cross country and track and field, wanted to pursue the sport of running after high school because of “his love for it and the potential he knew he had in it.”  These sports that these athletes play become a big part of their life and become something that they cannot  live without. It is that type of passion and commitment that makes the decision to pursue their sport in college the right one. 

As mentioned before, the commitment process is lengthy and usually takes years. Elizabeth Swanson’s commitment process started all the way back in the eighth grade when she “started going on tours and talking to college coaches.” Athletes will engage in conversations with college coaches as young as the age of 11. The conversations become more serious around the athlete’s sophomore and junior year. Most people start the process late in middle school or early in high school. It is illegal though for college coaches to reach out to a student before around June 15th of their sophomore year. Before then the athlete needs to initiate the conversations. For the athlete, it is good to begin the commitment process no later than the beginning of their junior year. On the other hand some college athletes' commitment process is a lot simpler and in a shorter time frame. For Michelle Mercado, a senior who is committed to Caldwell University for track and field, her commitment process was shorter. It started June of her junior year and ended December of her senior year. The duration of the commitment process can vary from person to person. It all just depends on when you are ready to start, but also make sure you are not beginning too late.

If you are wondering what you have to do to get committed, these are the steps you should take. Not many people have a college recruiter reach out to them, so what you want to do is pursue coaches yourself. This can be through an email that expresses your interest to play on their team and your athletic qualifications as well as your academic achievements. People also use recruiting services that can aid them in this process. Other things you can do is attend showcases, tell coaches to come see your games, and set up tours on college campuses. It is important to always keep up correspondence with the coaches and admission officers and to keep an open mind when deciding which college you want to attend. At the same time you should keep your athletic skills up as well as your grades.

For Elizabeth Swanson, being a part of her club team really helped the commitment process. While being on her team she “would go to showcase tournaments and [she] would email college coaches and … be like these are my games, this is my jersey number, this is the color of my jersey, I have blonde hair and they would come watch [her] and they would email [her] back and talk about how [she] did.” After years of doing this, Elizabeth described how one college, Shenandoah University, and “how committed they were in writing their emails” and giving her feedback. Later she would go on to commit to this college.

For Michelle Mercado her commitment process was different. She reached out to the Caldwell University coach after she heard they needed hurdlers from her sister who currently attends Caldwell University. After hearing this “she sent in her times and [the Caldwell coach and her] started talking after that.” After talking, the coach knew he wanted Michelle on their team so once she got accepted to the college she signed the commitment form. Not every person’s commitment process is the same and nobody should feel discouraged if they do not start the commitment process before high school.

If you are feeling anxious about your commitment process, hopefully advice from the people that went through it and came out on the other side successful might ease your worries. 

Elizabeth Swanson advises people who are interested in getting committed to a college to “join a club team because getting exposure only playing in high school is really difficult.” She accredits the exposure she got traveling with her club team to her success in finding the right college to commit to. 

Troy Almendras wants to remind the prospective college athletes to “try to have fun with what you are doing like whether you are at practice or working out or in the game [because] when you have fun with that it makes you play good and pushes you to do more than you thought you were capable of.” This process will be stressful, but it helps when you focus on the fun of just playing the sport you love. 

Michelle Mercado cautions those interested in playing their sport in college to “be open minded and to not rush into anything because you want to choose a school that is going to help you athletically but also academically.” 

Michelle’s advice connects to Michael’s when he emphasizes to “take your time considering all your factors [because] you will be spending the next chapter of your life at whatever school you choose and it is vital that you choose an environment you will thrive in to better yourself and to be the best version of yourself you could possibly be.” 

The commitment process to a college is a draining one, but it is one that is worth the effort and is rewarding.