Starting a new journey in life is always exciting, but never easy. Going into your freshman year as a student-athlete, you might have some high expectations for yourself, like earning a starting spot or at least to play a lot. Unfortunately, a lot of freshmen will feel that they should be playing more because in High School they could get by with pure athleticism and raw talent and not have to really work for anything. If you thought High School was easy, you have another thing coming. Legendary U.S. Olympic Hockey coach, Herb Brooks, once told his players that, "You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone." So for you incoming Freshmen, pay close attention to this article as it can help you prepare for college athletics without disappointment.

Now that you've already gone through the hectic and painful recruiting process and had a fancy "Signing Day," you're onto the next

step in life: College. I couldn't stress this enough to any freshmen I have ever spoken with, but when you get to campus, I promise you NO ONE cares what schools you were recruited by, that you had 100 offers from other schools, how many stars you were from recruiting websites, that you were all-conference, all-area, all-state, etc., that you won a state championship, and that you were allegedly the coaches' favorite recruit, which, for the record, every other r

ecruit heard the same thing. You are not, and I repeat, you are not entitled to anything based on High School achievements. You're starting all over and are at the bottom of the food chain. There's no politics in college athletics, so mom and dad are not going to be able to complain to coach about you not playing.

My next advice would be to get into your playbooks, frequently ask coaches or veteran players questions and watch a ridiculous amount of film. Why? The quicker you learn from the mistakes you've made in practice and fix those mistakes in practice, the better chance you have to see the field/court/diamond. Also, be coachable, be willing to learn from your coaches, if you can't handle constructive criticism in college athletics, you will have a very hard time earning any playing time and it's going to be a long journey I'll promise you that.

I always hear the classic phrase, "I worked just as hard as he/she did" But, did you really work hard enough? Anyone can work hard, but what separates the winners from the losers are the athletes that do the extra work after practice, whether it may be throwing more passes, shooting more shots, taking more batting practice swings, practicing takedowns, defending, or whatever the sport might require. Do one more rep than everyone else, and for the love of God, do not ever cut yourself short on a drill or a sprint. Coaches do notice that all the time and you're not only cheating your teammates, you're cheating yourself.

So, what is this "Process" everyone keeps talking about? Well to me it's a term that some might refer to the "grind," but really this whole experience is a process. Understand that it will take you time to truly develop into the student-athlete you want to be. So go out and make friends, establish connections and be respectful of others, no matter what.

Finally, what's most important is your academics. You are a STUDENT-athlete. Student comes first. Academics are extremely crucial in determining your future outside of sports. If you don't put in the work in the classroom, then you won't be able to participate on the field, simple as that. Hit the books early. Do not slack off. Not giving effort towards your grades will bite you in the long run, and I promise you'll experience all-nighters studying or doing projects. Also, please show respect to your advisors and tutors, because their goals are to see their students succeed in life, so use all of the help and resources you can get.

As I end this article, I ask that you be ready to work and stay disciplined! Good luck and remember, life starts at the end of your comfort zone.