What college is "the one"?
What where some things that I thought about when switching colleges?
Many of you might know that I had a unique college experience. I first started college at University of Alabama on a waterskiing scholarship rather than a shooting scholarship. University of Alabama is a wayyyyy bigger college than I expected. Fun fact, I toured only once before deciding to go there and had absolutely no idea in what direction I wanted to go with major wise. You could say I winged it. Moving forward I eventually chose to switch from the big awesome Roll Tide to a smaller college Lindenwood University to shoot shotguns fully time. Yes, it was a big decision and from that decision I have learned a lot.
Here are some tips that I learned from winging it, moving to two different colleges.
1. It's ok to enjoy the ride. If you are unsure of where to go, know that things can always change. Where you first go doesn't have to be permanent. Yes, you can sign a contract but contracts do and can be changed. Take the fear out of making a decision to where to go.
2. All colleges will have pros and cons. No college will be PERFECT! In saying that if you have difficulty deciding between a couple of places make a pros and cons list. Write out things that mean something to YOU. (Examples: pros: awesome training facility, great coach. Cons: bad housing). Eventually you will decide what matters most to you and choose.
3. MOST IMPORTANT: Don't just live in the present. Live, plan, think for the future. I say that because sports are going to be a small piece of your life, don't just make a decision solely based on the sport. If you are going to college especially if it's fully funded, get yourself in a major that you can benefit from. For instance, if you have a chose between two colleges with scholarships, one has an amazing program in the field of study that you love and the other has an ok program. Choose the amazing program it will help you cultivate for the next chapter of your life!
Want to get involved!
I have a lot of people ask me how to get involved in shooting sports. The first step I would do is see if there's a local 4H program in your area or see if your high-school offers shooting sports in their athletic program.