When I started my recruiting process, I was a freshman in high school. That means I was 14-years-old and was about to make one of the biggest decisions of my life. I had never been on a date before or had a driver's license, but I was supposed to decide where I was going to go to college?
This has become the norm for majority of athletic programs. People will turn around and say, "Why didn't you just wait till later in high school?" Well the problem with that is if all the top colleges are recruiting girls at a young age and you decide to wait, then you will be the one left behind. I was not good enough to tell college coaches to wait and that is the reality of the matter.
There were a lot of struggles that I went through, because of the way recruiting is set up but the biggest one was not realizing all aspects that were involved when I moved form Colorado to North Carolina. That is all the way across the country, which is either a 24-hour drive or a hefty plane ticket. Don't get me wrong I love the University of North Carolina, but when I committed at 16 years-old I did not truly understand how hard it would be.
When I moved across the country, my mom and dad put me on a flight and I was on my way. I cried the entire flight to NC. Being so far away from my family has never been easy, especially when the town has a water crisis and we are supposed to leave our dorms. Or the three times that there have been hurricanes and I have no idea what to do. When people say oh its only a plane ride away, they really do not understand how hard it is. Even the small details like finding somewhere to store your stuff over breaks or fall break when everyone goes home.
Thankfully, my team became a home away from home, but I never thought of the strain that moving away from my family would cause. My parents did there best to come to as many games as they could, but when I got injured they were completely out of the loop. They checked on me everyday and communicated with my doctors, but they had to put all their trust into my doctors.
I love UNC, but if I could go back and give my 16 year-old self a little advice. I would tell myself that I may think I want to move across the country, but maybe just go somewhere a few states away.