Dear Athlete,

I get it. Playing in college is the moment in your life you have dreamed of since 5th grade. Dozens of college summer camps that turned into excessive emails to coaches before they could even "legally" reply to you that eventually turned to scheduling official visits. This is all you've known since the second you started playing your competitive sport; this is all you've known since you wanted to play in college and became D1 bound.

Your sport is not a hobby and never will be. Your sport defines you. It becomes a life style. It becomes your first priority; missing weddings, the SAT, dances, all for those tournaments that you hope and pray that one coach you want to be there shows up. Recruiting becomes your whole life dependent on these coaches that you've never even met before. Everything you've ever wanted is resting in the palms of your dream school's coach's hands, just so you can say every D1 bound athlete's favorite 3 words... the words placed in front of that school of your dreams: I committed to:________.

Believe me, I get it.

But here's what you don't get. It's okay if it doesn't work out, and you become a student rather than a student athlete. It is okay to be a "has been" on a campus with successful D1 athletes. It's okay that all you'll ever be is a NARP (non athletic regular person, yes there is a term for us). It's okay that you were just as close as they were, but no one knows that but you. And trust me, It's okay that you're giving up the only life you've ever known for a new and unfamiliar life.

Before I begin, playing in college could also be the best experience of your life. The hard work, the dedication, the blood, sweat and tears shed with your teammates that are basically your second family, the satisfaction after a victory of a hard game that makes the whole thing absolutely completely worth it. What I don't know is the bliss of how it feels after four years of D1 sports. So this letter isn't to take away of how incredibly proud I am of those that do play. They did it. They are a successful D1 athlete.

But I'm going to be harsh and tell you what I didn't understand as a D1 bound athlete, that I wish I knew.

You don't understand what "being committed" actually entails. Commitment, it means just what it says. It means not having time to join other clubs, greek life, activities, missing parties...it means giving up getting grades you liked to see on your transcript and settling for passing. It means giving up the major you want to pursue because you won't have time to study for all the classes in it. It means losing sleep between getting up for 6 a.m. weights and getting home from your night class you had to enroll in because it was the only one that fit around practice. It means giving up some of your college experiences all for the sport you love and live.

If you can handle this, go get 'em kid.

But here's another thing you don't understand. Anything could happen or things could take a turn at any time. Yeah, you're a star now, and maybe you will be in college. But everyone else will be, too. You might not get playing time. You might not even see the field until junior year. Coaches don't have to like you, and they don't have to be fair. They're paying your tuition for you to be here and they aren't here to babysit you. You could get hurt, and they could take your scholarship just as fast as they gave it to you. Your teammates didn't get a scholarship to be your friend, and if you don't get along, you better hope they're graduating before you are. And what you really don't understand, is they don't have to keep you. The team dynamic or coach could change, and they could decide you aren't a team necessity anymore. You could be cut from the team without any say in the decision.

If playing your sport will make you the happiest in life regardless of the chance of losing it, I believe in you, you can do it.

But if you had to think twice, maybe it isn't for you. And that is OK.

Of course, you're gonna miss it. And it's gonna be hard. SO hard. You're going to want to walk around with a stamp on your forehead that says "I'm an athlete, too." You're going to feel like playing at any other level is cheating yourself, so you'd rather not play at all. You're going to feel like all your work at the competitive level just disintegrated into space. But you get over that.

It's going to be OK. There's no telling what you might have been if you kept playing, but what you can tell is how happy you are now. When you realize how satisfied you are with pursuing what you want to in school and joining organizations and clubs, compared to what you might have been without those, you're going to realize it really is OK to be a has-been, too.

Here's the point. There's three types of college bound athletes: those that play for the pure passion of the sport, those that play because that's all they have ever known and they feel like they have to, and those that play in hopes of getting opportunity for a good school, scholarship and a family of teammates. Senior year, I played on a competitive team where all but 2 committed to colleges for sports. After two years, less than a dozen of us are still D1 athletes. So believe me when I say anything can happen. And ultimately in the end, it's about your happiness. Is committing to your sport going to give you the best experience of your college years, or is it going ruin them?

I loved my sport more than anything, but an injury took my D1 bound title away from me before even coming to college. And I never thought I'd sit here writing this letter--pleased to be in a sorority, clubs, taking a major and a minor, working out when I want to because I want to, playing club soccer and loving it, and truly happy with my college experience-- to tell you: I'm happy to be a NARP and everything is OK.

Much love,

A D1 bound Has-Been