Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

Female athletes head to college and beyond

posted by ...Because I Played Sports
Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 10:45pm CDT

Photo credit: ThePioneer.com

What’s it like to head to college as a female athlete? I guess it all depends upon your sport and division.

Right now, millions of young women are packing up their cars and heading to campus (some have actually started classes and preseason already). So at the suggestion of a relative, I’m taking this opportunity to rehash what my experience was like. If you’re a female and you play a sport in college, chances are good that your experience of entering the “scene” of campus life is going to be quite different than ordinary students. Some of this is good, and of course some of it is not-so-good. At my college, all the dorky freshmen orientation events were important for social survival in the new environment. A lot of kids seem meet their best friends who live on the same floor. Then, they live together sophomore year and join the same sororities and fraternities junior and senior year, living together off campus. But those enrolled in sports don’t go through the same process. Ours is a little different…. First, it’s important to understand that athletes are just as scared – if not more scared – than our non-athlete counterparts. Not only do we have to now live out on our own, but we need to make new friends and generate tolerable relationships with our coaches. If you go to a high-level institution, chances are good that your new teammates were your biggest rivals in high school. And now you either have to live with them in the same dorm or spend most of your collegiate life in their presence. It’s ok though, because we don’t need any ice breakers. We enter this new world of sweat and indepence with at least 15-20 “automatic friends” - our teammates. Chances are good, as an athlete, you’re put through hell and back with a couple of weeks of conditioning/training. These “hell weeks” tend to accomplish the physical conditioning you need to be successful and, more importantly, the relationships with your teammates that you so desparately need. In my opinion, these bonds grow far stronger than those that can be formed in our freshman dorms. As for social life, I was lucky enough to have some awesome upper classmen (who continue to be good friends today). We would all meet and go out to parties together, as a group. It’s good to know that in case you do anything stupid you have at least a solid group of sisters right there to help you out. Not everybody has that. Then there’s the matter of hazing. While it did not happen at my school, I’ve heard stories from some that – I have to admit – while crude (and sometimes awful), sound a bit fun. Of course I don’t believe in any form of forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do, but I do believe that you should have some sort of fun ritual to accomplish before you’re “accepted” as a member of a team. Fortunately (or unfortunately – how ever you want to view it), my institution’s athletic department felt it was bad PR to allow such activities do occur and we were “strongly encouraged” not to partake in such activities. I understand this is the same feeling across a variety of schools in the NCAA. So if you’re a female athlete heading to college, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to work hard on the playing field and in the classroom, trust your teammates and be yourself. Other than that, there’s not too much in your control. Just try to have some fun. Otherwise, you’ll be blogging about what you should have been or done years later