Lehigh University Athletics
From the Future: Dear Freshman Sarah...
4/7/2015 8:31:00 PM | Student Athlete
Dear Freshman Sarah,
ÂSo I'm pretty sure right about now you're trying to figure out if you're excited or terrified to start college. Get ready, that emotional confusion will be with you for the next four years. Don't panic just yet though...you're about to begin the best four years of your life. That couldn't be a more cliché saying or more true. You'll meet best friends who you'll realize you are stuck with for life. You'll take classes you care about and you'll hit so many highs playing the sport you love. You'll make tough decisions and learn from both success and failure while finding your way through the Lehigh student-athlete lifestyle. Here's a quick list of "DOs" and "DON'Ts" that I wish I would have tacked on my C202 Dravo dorm room on move in day.
ÂDOs:
1. Meet as many people as you can – everyone feels as lost as you do.
2. Rathbone brunch on Sunday lasts until 2pm, GO always. You'll miss it when you don't have a meal plan anymore.
3. Work as hard as you can with everything you care about. No regrets, right?
4. Ask questions. If you don't understand something, just ask! That's basically freshmen year in a nutshell.
5. Your team is your family. The more you treat it like that, the more you will get out of it.
6. Ice baths are your friend.
7. Go out and have fun.
ÂDONTs:
1. Don't be intimidated by the leaders on your team, they remember what it was like in your spot. Soak up as much as you can – what you like and don't like. It'll mold the leader you will be.
2. Don't panic if you haven't declared a major or aren't on track for med school. Some people have it figured out (bless them). Not knowing right now isn't wrong.
3. Don't underestimate how hard classes will be. High School was easy. Your classes here are going to be tough and you will definitely be lost and struggle sometimes. If you work hard, though, you are going to be just fine. Â Â
4. You play a Division 1 sport, you will get yelled at and corrected. Don't think it's an attack. Get over it, no excuses. Coaches and teammates are making you better. If you remember that, your four years will be that much better.
5. Don't put your teammates down. You'll have your fair share of bad days playing basketball.
6. Don't wait to do your homework on away trips, it just won't get done.
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I'm sure I'm forgetting four years' worth of advice, but half the fun of college is figuring it on the way. The only way to describe what is about to happen is a blindfolded rollercoaster ride – you'll be so excited that you'll sit in the front row. Then you'll inch towards the top and ask yourself why you even got on the thing in the first place. Then you'll fall face first with no control and somehow circumstances will pick you back up. You'll take on the rest of the way not knowing when turns, climbs, and falls are coming but ready to take them on all the same. Everything I am trying to say is an attempt to explain the growing that you are about to experience.
ÂAs I write this looking back, I feel nostalgia (of course), but even more so, I feel excitement and joy from everything I have been through and everything you are about to experience for the first time. It's like after finishing a great book or movie. You wish you could start fresh and try it all again. Enjoy it. You won't realize how little time this mountain gives you until you're about to leave. All I can say is, go into every moment with the notion that, come graduation. this will be the moment I remember best. Your four years will be extraordinary.
Good Luck!
ÂSenior Swills
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