Spread The Word!

Tweet

Email This

I‘ve have received a lot of requests for my opinion on going down south to run in the collegiate program. SO…I wanted to write my rant on heading down south with some advantages and disadvantages.

First off, I have successfully completed my NCAA career at a Division I school and more importantly graduated with a degree in my hand. And my brother is currently going through the system and absolutely loving it. I get the question asked to me all the time – Why did you go to the states for school? My response because my education is important to me, plain and simple. No matter how good I may become, I’m not going to run forever. Ya sure, if I stayed in Canada instead of going down south I may be running 9.9 now, since I left running 10.2 out of high school. Or I may not? But I do know, I would have had debt on my hands to pay for school in Canada and I probably would have been miserable (I do know that).

And I’m clearing the air that in no way did I not like going down south for school, and in no way would I ever tell someone else not to do it. People seem to think my brother and I don’t like the system. My brother can speak for himself, but I loved being down in the states. I would still be down there if I decided not to run track. Coming back up here (Canada) was the best option for me, not because it didn’t go well. THEN…I here people say “WELL…you didn’t run very fast?” Sure I wasn’t consistent but I had a best around 10.3 and under every year. Sure I wanted to run fast but I also wanted to get my degree, stay healthy and just have fun, enjoy my time that I would never have again. I loved being down in Texas and don’t regret or change anything that happened.

So here they are, my advantages and disadvantages of the going to school down in the United States.

Advantages:

- Your education is getting payed for! My #1 reason to head to the south. Whether you are on a full scholarship or partial scholarship, that is less money you have to fork out!

- You’re put into a system with intense competition, an intense schedule, and intense training. Before I left for TCU, I competed maybe once or twice a month at meets, and practiced more or less 4 times in a week. You wouldn’t get anything like that staying in canada…they don’t even really have an outdoor season for track. (Outdoor is the best part!) You compete almost every weekend running one event or two, just one final, or heat/final for the bigger meets…and really, it gets you prepared for what running like a professional would be like. USA is one of the best at the sport, so why not compete against the best as it makes you a better athlete.

- You get to grow up. I would have never learned about life staying home. I was on my own, I had to fend for myself, pay bills, buy food, cook my food (or at least try to lol), deal with apartment complexes or landlords, many things I would have never dealt with probably for a while being in canada.

- YOU MEET NEW PEOPLE. I’m tired of hearing, well I’m not going because my girlfriend is here and I’ll miss her or I don’t want us to be apart…CRAP! This is your life…and in the 4 years, you’ll break up with them anyway and find another person. Then you regret not taking that scholarship to the USA. If you’re that attached, do the long distance relationship and try it out…but my saying on it is don’t give up a great opportunity that you could receive.

- Study what you want to study! I’m sorry to say but the canadian schooling system is so stupid that you can’t decide for yourself what you want to do…they tell you what you CAN do. (and I sure hope it’s change I don’t know, but I’m speaking from back then). If I decided to do engineering in canada they would laugh in my face, because my grades weren’t 90% or higher. I was still a B/C student in high school mind you, I was an A student in math…I loved math but couldn’t pursue anything related to it because my average was B/C. At TCU I could have been an engineer if I wanted, a pre-med student, graphic designer, communication major…the degrees are limitless. You get to do what YOU want to do. Also if you head to one of the states schools-ie University of Texas (as opposed to a liberal arts school-ie TCU), you can finish your degree a lot earlier. Finish your degree in 2 years, finish your masters in another 2, and even start say a law degree or medical degree for your last year of eligibility.

- Be apart of a team (a REAL team!) It was nice having a group of guys to travel with, run relay with, joke around with, party with, have fun with…all of the above. And experience a new culture and atmosphere that is different than Canada’s. I was never really apart of a team even during high school and wouldn’t have been with a team during university because I trained with my coach all the time. I am a “by myself ” kinda guy, and at times I didn’t do things with the team, but it was nice having a change and having that option there just in case.

Disadvantages

- It could be hard to change. If you had a coach you were with for a while and things are going well, it could be hard to leave them. I’m a person who does not like change at all in anything, it took me a while to open up my mind and realize that change can sometimes be a good thing! Ask yourself this: Will they still be there when you get done?

- Some coaches will run you into the ground. I was lucky on my end and most of the other Canadians that I know didn’t have to experience running the 100, 200, 400, 4×100 & 4×400. I have heard of situations like that before and the only way to find out is to ask the sprinters during your visit. The coaches may put a lot of “gobble goop” around it to make it sound like its the best program in the states.

(As I think of more and hear more from others, I’ll be sure to update this post.)

So basically if your planning on heading down south on a scholarship, you and you alone needs to decided what is important to YOU! Your parents, family, coaches, friends, teammates are there to help and give their opinion but you need to make the decision yourself. I know a lot of people will doubt the decision you make and say you won’t last a year, and that needs to be turned around and used as motivation. That’s what I did and I too had this perception of the 4 years being absolute hell, but it really wasn’t and it was a great phase in my life that helped make me who I am today.

It is at least important to try. How are you going to know what its like unless you try? It may be for you or it may not and everyone is different. Let me here your advantages and disadvantages if you went through or are going through the NCAA system.

(image courtesy of urimiscott)

Tagged as: Canadians, NCAA, Scholarships, University