Hi Fireball Members!
My name is Sam Scala-McNeill, this is my first semester division 1 college experience and my journey to get there.
Starting off at college was a big shock to say the least, a lot of academic work along with the 6 days of training. This included 5-6 days of hitting for 2-3 hours a day, 3 days of strengthening and conditioning, 2 days of speed and agility. On top of that it was 10 hours of mandatory study hall a week (study hall is a student athlete only study room). It was a big struggle to manage time but with help from the college it made it much easier. Studying for year 12 and training, doing SAT’s for college and trying to work was pretty hard trying to manage my time along with playing tournaments, it was really good sometimes to take a break and relax for a bit but friends and family always supported me through the whole process which kept me going. I did many times tell myself I wasn’t going to make it and it was all getting really frustrating with most people losing faith because they weren’t seeing progress, I took this as motivation and also I just had to trust the process and see it through and get to my goal. Being able to study and play tennis has always been a big dream of mine and to get a scholarship along with a bachelors as a back up plan is a massive bonus, I extremely encourage anyone who has the work ethic and drive to reach there goals to go to college, it has been such an amazing experience so far and definitely looking forward to going back. I’m a bit of a family person and it is sad to leave them for long periods at a time but that’s the only downside, everything is a positive and you will struggle that’s just more reason to keep going.
If you see yourself a candidate for playing and studying in the USA and have questions about college or just general interests, contact our member services team and they will pass on my contact details!
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