Before: everything that could go wrong went wrong

I had convinced myself that my options were limited, when in reality, my vision was limited.

I had only been running track for three years, which made me question whether I was even good enough to compete at the collegiate level, and that insecurity influenced the way I approached the entire process: I targeted schools where I already knew people, chased programs because their names would look impressive on my resume, and became fascinated by beautiful campuses, rather than asking the questions that actually mattered: Does this program have a roster spot for me? Do they develop athletes in my event? Does the school offer my major? Can I afford it? Would I actually be a good fit here?

My vision became so narrow that I started feeling as though I had almost no options. I got committed, then decommitted, and eventually forced to take a gap year after high school.

I was waiting to be noticed instead of giving coaches a reason to notice me.

I spent far too much time waiting for coaches to discover me, and when messages went unanswered or I got ghosted, I took the silence as a sign that I wasn’t good enough instead of recognizing that recruiting requires consistent, intentional follow-up.

When I did get the opportunity to speak with a coach, I often couldn’t clearly explain why their specific program was the right fit for me.

I thought that if a coach showed interest in me, that alone meant I had made it, so as soon as one coach started a conversation, I would stop exploring other programs and put all my attention into that single possibility.

I didn’t understand the recruiting process well enough to prepare for the opportunity I was hoping would come.

I didn’t understand the different college divisions or how the recruiting landscape actually worked, and because I was focused almost entirely on finding a roster spot, I neglected many of the practical pieces that could determine whether an opportunity actually became an enrollment.

The cost of tuition, room and board also felt intimidating, and instead of approaching those numbers strategically and figuring out how I could create financial value as an athlete, I allowed the price tag to make the dream feel even further out of reach.

After: I developed a clear vision and started maximizing every opportunity

I stopped searching for a prestigious school and started searching for the right program.

The biggest shift happened when I decided to believe that there was a college program out there where I could earn a roster spot, qualify academically, contribute athletically, and continue developing, and that belief completely changed the way I searched.

I became open-minded about programs I had never heard of before, spoke with alumni, researched schools I would have previously overlooked, and stopped assuming that a program had to be famous for it to be valuable.

Instead of asking, “Would this school make me look good?” I started asking, “Would I be good here?”

I stopped trying to navigate the recruiting process alone and started building relationships around my goal.

I realized that I didn’t need to know everything myself, so I actively looked for help from people who understood the recruiting process better than I did and could help me navigate the parts I had previously found confusing or intimidating.

I became intentional about building relationships rather than simply sending messages, and instead of expecting coaches to figure out why they should care about me, I learned how to communicate my story, my ambitions, my athletic development, and the reasons I was genuinely interested in their program.

I prepared for the opportunity before I had an offer, so I was ready when the offer finally came.

I started treating recruiting like a process that required preparation long before a coach ever put an offer in front of me. That preparation completely changed the dynamic.When an opportunity finally came, I wasn’t scrambling to figure out what needed to happen next; I was ready to move.

I had the documents prepared, understood the process, and could submit the required information quickly instead of giving uncertainty or delays a chance to cost me the opportunity.

Result: I went from taking a forced gap year with no roster spot to earning a five-year Division I full ride.

What once felt like a dead end became the beginning of the opportunity I had been chasing all along.

I went from being an international athlete who wasn’t being recruited, who had questioned whether three years of track experience was enough, who had wasted time targeting the wrong programs, who had been ghosted by coaches, who had even gotten committed and decommitted, and who once considered giving up on college sports entirely

to becoming a Division I recruited athlete on a five-year full ride as an incoming freshman, with my scholarship covering both my undergraduate and graduate studies.

The biggest lesson wasn’t that I suddenly became a completely different athlete. It was that I became a completely different recruiting candidate.

I built the vision, created the strategy, maximized the opportunities, and made sure that when the right opportunity finally came, I was ready to take it.