Happy Back to School!

I hope you all are enjoying your first few days back for the school year. Don’t wish the year away, it’ll be gone before you know it! There are a few stories I would like to share (and reminisce a little about the days that I hated going back to school and now miss).
 
1. The random things you learn and then ask “When am I ever going to use this in real life?”
Trust me, it might not actually matter what geometry proof does what or who conquered what dynasty in China at what time. BUT it does help you make connections with people. So, story time. 7 years ago (yikes, 7 years) I was a sophomore in high school starting to get recruited. I was talking a good bit to the assistant coach at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts. It turns out that he was a history teacher before he became a softball coach. Well, I was taking two history classes at the time. Part of the connection I made to that coach was being able to talk about history intelligently - it made me more memorable than a player he only talked about softball with. I then, 7 years later, email said coach saying “Hey, I’m Quincy Lewis - the lefty with the drop ball that loves history too - can I have some advice on how to get into coaching.” Coach Wagner then asks for my resume and offers me a job at the college he is the head coach at. It isn’t always just who you know, sometimes it’s what you know too!
 
2. YOU ARE GOING TO SCHOOL FOR FREE. This may seem silly to you right now, but someday you’ll get it. You only have so long to go to school and learn new things, socialize, play sports, be in Spanish club, be a techie in the play, to do those fun high school memory making things. I mean, let’s be real - I just spent close to $500 on TEXTBOOKS for ½ a year. Take advantage of all the things you are given the opportunity to do outside of softball! Even something as small as helping with a donation table during lunch can lead to lasting friendships and experiences.
 
3. TIME MANAGEMENT!!!!!! You will appreciate learning this now for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. You are an athlete - this generally means you have practice at least two days a week and are playing weekends…and some of you are playing fall high school sports as well! I can’t count the amount of times I was doing homework in the car on my way home from a tournament at midnight on a Sunday. Take the time to plan ahead and get things done early. No one wants to be in a hotel with your team doing homework on Saturday night that you could have done on Thursday night instead of watching Grey’s Anatomy! I’m thankful every day that my parents helped me create great time management habits, because it now allows me to juggle the craziness that is my life as an almost adult!
 
4. A “full ride” scholarship can be deceiving. Yes, full ride means that you go to school for free, but it DOES NOT mean that your bills are completely covered by athletic scholarship. There are SO MANY SCHOOLS with such a small number of scholarships for a team of 20+ players. Coaches look for smart kids! A player with a good GPA will earn more academic aid, which means less money comes out of that coach’s recruiting budget but the player still receives the same amount of aid overall. This is especially common at upper level DII schools. If you are looking to play DIII ALL of the money you will receive is based on your academic performance and SAT/ACT scores. My own “full ride” was only 2/3 athletic and the rest was covered by academic aid based on my high school performance.
 
5. These years will be some of the last that you can really focus on what you WANT to do, and not necessarily what you NEED to do. Take advantage of the fact that your parents are supporting you by giving you the opportunity to do what you love and figure out who you want to be. Take it from someone who hasn’t lived “at home” in two years. Yes, I get to do what I love, but there are so many other factors now that I don’t live with my support system. The extra responsibilities of living on my own, being in school, and working sometimes create situations where what I want to do is trumped by what I need to do. Take the time to enjoy the freedom to do what you want while you can!
 
I wish everyone great teachers, little drama, and lots of memories this year! Have a great one!