College Recruitment

I walk into double doors in the front of school. I see mothers dropping off their daughters in their one of a kind grey kilts, I picture what life will be like if I attended Notre Dame de Sion. Butterflies flutter in my stomach as the thought of starting in high school fills my thoughts. Those nervous thoughts are pushed aside when I saw smiling faces greeting me at every hallway. I begin to relax.
Four years later and I have that unsettled feeling again. This time I am 32,000 feet above ground on a plane heading to a part of the country where I have never been: Cincinnati, Ohio. I received many phone calls from college coaches asking if I would spend a weekend with the cross country and track team to potentially become apart of the team for next year, but I never thought this day would come again: the feeling of being an eighth grade shadow .
Questions start to swim through my head as we are heading to the Xavier University’s cross country/track coach’s office. I kept thinking, what if I don’t like my host, what if I hate the school? Or even what if the team doesn’t like me and tells the coach that I don’t fit in? I felt like I needed to pretend to be someone that I didn’t need to be.
As I walk into Coach Orner’s office, I see about 20 other girls and boys pictures and their best times. I realize that I am no longer competing for first place at a track meet, but rather a spot on the team.
But just like hearing Mrs. Sharon Radovich’s special welcome when I first entered into the school, Coach Orner’s voice soothed my inner thoughts when I walked into his office. He explains what life is like as a student-athlete at Xavier and talked to me about the past, present and future of the Musketeers. After about an hour of conversing, it was time to meet my host for the entire weekend.
I did not receive a goodie bag of candy and a purple folder signed with other athletes’ names, but I did feel a belonging. After I said goodbye to my mother, Haley, my host, and I trudge my bags across campus to her suite style dorm. I immediately sat down on her sofa and we turned on the TV. It felt like a normal Saturday in Kansas City.
After four hours, some movies, and many questions, it was time to go out to dinner with the other recruits and the coaches. I hung to every movement and every word Haley told me about the college and what to expect to do later tonight. I wanted to dress, act and talk like a college student, trying to impress others. We were to meet three other recruits at 6 p.m. in the center of the campus.
Dinner was Barbecue and I was not going to complain because I felt like I was back home in Kansas City. As the dinner went on, everyone became more comfortable with each other through many laughs including asking for bibs just in case the ribs became a little messy.
Going on a college visit was similar to the first day I stepped foot at Sion. I wasn’t sure I would fit in here or if I even would like it. Through an overnight stay with my host, I was able to get to know the school, other girls, and be a part of a new environment.