Fourteen years...that is the number of years that I was titled a “Soccer Girl”. Not once throughout my high school career did I think about rushing a sorority when I got to college. The plan was to play soccer for all four years at my university…little did I know life was about to smack me in the face and reality was about to hit.
Soccer and I have always had a love/hate relationship, but it was always just something I did; that I expected myself to do and to participate in. What I didn’t expect was how monumentally different collegiate soccer was from other soccer (high school, club league) I’ve played before. I expected it to be harder physically but I didn’t expect the mental strain from playing soccer 24/7. Don’t get me wrong I loved my team and my coach and the feeling of being on a team and the amazing relationships I built, but the problem was with the sport itself. The one that I had always expected to be a part of became a part of myself that I hated. The mental strain I put on myself mixed with the unfamiliarity of being away from home for the first time in my life made for a pretty miserable semester. It wasn’t until that spring semester that I made the tough decision to leave the sport I had once loved.
Beginning my sophomore year this past fall I felt lost, for the first time in my life I didn’t have soccer to fall back on. Most of my friends were constantly at practice or in meetings and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Through talking with one of my best friends (who is now my Big) I decided to participated in Fall Recruitment for Greek Life at my university. That semester I went to my first football game, had free time to go out to dinner with friends, and most importantly my GPA raised a full point. Once I joined the sorority I had a "team" feeling again without all of the expectations and mental strain.
I'm in no way saying that collegiate sports are a bad thing, everyone has their own preferences and has to find their own thing that makes them happy.
So if you find yourself in a similar situation where you have to change a big part of your life, realize you need to put yourself and your happiness first. Then go from there you'll figure it out, just like I did.
