It is that time of the year when athletes make a choice that will directly impact at least the next four years of their life. If they’ve committed to the sport that they have played all throughout high school, they will most likely have many offers from different colleges, hoping to recruit them to play on their team.

“I had many offers, but I’ve always had my eye on [Washington Baptist University], so I just contacted the coach and we talked to him. We went to one of their meets, and I talked to their coach, and he [was] invited to swim on their team,” senior Emma Starkman said.

Overall, student athletes’ families and teachers have shown to be supportive.

“My parents have been proud of me, this is just something that’s come up within the last year, so we didn’t really think college football was an option, some of my teachers, I mean, obviously, not all of them know, but the teachers that do, they’ve been proud of me and just encouraging me to keep my grades up,” senior James Miller said.

For some seniors, the recruiting process isn’t something they’ve been working towards since freshman year, but rather something that has come up over time.

“To be honest, I haven’t been trying to get recruited to play in college since freshman year. It probably started about last year, I think, at the end of the season. I thought that I had a shot in college, so I started trying to get recruited, put my name out there,” Miller said.

Some of these students, however, haven’t made up their mind yet as to which college they’ll be attending next year.

“Right now, I have four offers. So basically the process is that you, in some way, get in touch with the coach, whether you reach out to him or he reaches out to you, you may go and take a visit to the school, and if you like it, I mean, they’ll only give you the offer during the visit, and depending on how much money it is and how much you like the school, that’s basically when you commit to it because this way you’ll see where you fit in best,” Miller said.

Athletes commit a lot of time and energy when they sign on the dotted line.

“I’ve given that some thought, it’s just kind of different, you know, not knowing where you’re going to end up or if you’ll fit in, but I like to think that hopefully I’ll make the right choice in what college I’d like to go to and hopefully be successful there,” Miller said.