For athletes at Evanston Township High School, playing a sport goes beyond just the game. ETHS sports allow students to be competitive, be passionate, stay in shape, and create lifelong friendships and memories. Sports can build a foundation for someone’s life that wasn’t there before.
Sadly, high school doesn’t last forever, and going forward, students who rely on this foundation have to find new ways to continue playing sports. This could be done in a lot of different ways, but one of them is a long and scary process: College recruitment.
“At the beginning, I set my expectations really high, trying to play at these really big schools like Wisconsin and these Big 10 schools. But obviously, as I got more into the process, I found out that those goals are very hard to [achieve],” said senior Maddy Varela, who is committed to Amherst for soccer.
There are a lot of students like Varela who aspire to play for big Division 1 schools. But, while it is important to dream big, it is also important to set realistic expectations and know where you will thrive.
“It’s definitely about finding the right fit both academically and athletically,” explained Joyce Anderson, the college bound student athlete advisor at ETHS.
Anderson sees hundreds of students each year and helps them make the right choices for their future. She is the co-founder of Honest Game, which is a platform designed to help student athletes with the recruitment process, and it is used by lots of Wildkits.
“She [Anderson] was able to help me create a profile for myself, which I was sending to coaches. She was very helpful also with the academic side of things by keeping me in check and making sure I was taking the right classes,” shared Varela.
But even with guidance, the process is time-consuming and stressful for many. Showcases and camps—where athletes perform in front of college scouts—are pressure-packed. Rory Malia, a junior lacrosse player headed to Denison University in a couple of years, remembers the weight of those moments.
“There were definitely a lot of nerves knowing that there were coaches watching you from the sidelines at all moments,” remarked Malia.
And these showcases aren’t the only stressful things about this whole ordeal. Picking the college where you will spend the next few years of your life is daunting, and managing your priorities can be challenging. With scholarship offers, roster spots, and academic opportunities all in play, athletes often face painful trade-offs.
“It’s definitely about making sacrifices. Kids have to decide what they’re going to give up because there’s really no perfect college out there for anyone,” explained Anderson. “There’s always a concession you have to make. It might be cost, it might be location, it might be how big the school is.”
Despite the many difficulties, when all the hard work pays off, it’s very rewarding. But it’s not just the end result that makes it worthwhile — it’s the many people who worked with you, the hard work and accomplishments, and the unforgettable moments you create along the way.
“Being done with it was definitely the most exciting, and getting to go to a school that was one of my top schools,” said Malia. “But there were also little moments throughout the whole process that were exciting. Just like talking to coaches and getting to experience new things.”
