Graphic by Liam Healy
By Angela Yee
Features Reporter
The senior class of 2023 has already had multiple classmates announce their monumental commitments to colleges across the country for sports such as basketball, track, soccer, swimming, and more. Features reporters highlighted three athletes’ processes and excitement for their upcoming collegiate athletic careers.
While some athletes have dreamt of playing a college sport since childhood, others do not consider it until high school. College sports are a time commitment, so students must decide whether they are willing to balance both athletics and academics.
Senior Maddy Genser shared how she never planned to play two sports in college: “I’ve always wanted to play a sport in college, and ever since high school, I started to love basketball again, and I wanted to play D1 soccer for a really long time. Junior year is when I realized I couldn’t give up basketball, so then I started to look at D3 schools and NESCACs.” Genser is committed to playing soccer and basketball at Colby College next year.
Most high schoolers feel additional stress during the first few months of their senior year due to college applications. However, for students recruited to play sports, junior year is when things can become extra hard to manage.
“It was definitely a lot to balance different schools, coaches and build relationships with all of them. For instance, in my junior year, I had a call every night with a different coach, but I think it’s very rewarding and fun to get to see schools through the athletic and academic lens from the coaches,” said Amelia Everett, who plans to run XC and track at Stanford University.
During the recruiting process, athletes are constantly being watched by coaches, whether that is through attending athletes’ games, tracking their times, watching video recordings, or participating in showcases.
Genser explained how she got into contact with her future school and many others, “I would usually go to showcases and email the schools that I was interested in and wait for them to email me back. I would tell coaches the times of my games and what number I am. At showcases, the best part was when coaches reached out to me. For instance, Colby reached out to me at a showcase, and that’s how it all happened.”
It is not easy choosing a school to commit to, and when you are committing to a sport, there are a few more important aspects to consider, such as teammates, coaches, level, training style, and academic fit. All colleges have something unique to offer, whether it is broader to the whole school or within programs and teams.
Sammy McClintock committed to swim at Emory University. She shared the tradition she is most excited about: “I’m looking forward to Emory’s “Blue Gold Competition.” During your freshman year, you get split up into either the blue team or gold team, which you stay on for your four years. Throughout the season, all the swimmers do a bunch of fun events, and then there’s one big meet at the end that decides the winner.”
A commonality among all these amazing athletes is that when asked who the biggest help in their process was, they said their parents. Whether you are being recruited for sports or applying regularly, a strong support system is one of the most important things you can have.
Congratulations to all of our class of 2023 athletes on their college commitments!
