With college deadlines kicking in, there is a certain crowd relaxing a little more because their hard work did, in fact, pay off. The top-tier athletes on your school teams have now become college athletes. The Whitney Young athletics program has signed off on a school, record-breaking committed athletes. Their hard work paid off and now they’re off for bigger and better things. This process wasn’t a walk in the park for them, they were stressed, physically and mentally, and most have had a lot of sleepless nights. But at the end of the day, they had a target set and worked for that. They had to contact coaches, put the work in for the sport to be better than the rest, and keep their grades and tests scores up to make sure they weren’t derailed off track for the schools they wanted. This was an exciting time for many students because everything they wanted has come to this point and they’ve had a sense of accomplishment. I, myself, am proud of these kids because I understood their struggle. I was going to commit but I backed out since I didn’t want to play the sport after high school and all I wanted to do was focus on my academic career but after it, all these athletes are stellar in the classroom as well as out of it. 

J’Shawn Taylor, ‘20, states, “It’s very stressful because there’s a lot of work you have to do since freshman year. Going to camps, talking to coaches but once you have your top five schools it gets easier because then it’s you finding your best fit and making sure everything goes well and you stay on top of things.”

Aiden Cawley, ‘21, said, “I’m probably going to commit for water polo and it’s a tough and tiring process. I’m constantly going to camps, talking to coaches and making connections that the whole thing is tiring but let us hope for the best at this point.”

Zach Makowski, ‘22, said. “I won’t be able to be a college athlete but playings sports myself and seeing these players succeed makes me a little happy because I know the effort and amount of work they put into this and now they’re happy and ready!” 

At the end of the day. these athletes have trained the hardest compared to others in the sport, they’ve put in even more work and effort and have given up things like their time for socializing and have been awarded a very selective but excellent opportunity; this opportunity allows them to take their talent elsewhere and further their athletic and academic careers.